Indeed, if we decide, with Voltaire, that at least some contemporary advocates of the non-historicity of Jesus are really "more ingenious than learne… - Justin Meggitt

Although subsequent generations of Christians would become almost fixated by Jesus’ reputation as a miracle worker and produced ever more elaborate and fantastical traditions, there are good reasons to look closely at the earliest records of this activity.

If more New Testament scholars could be encouraged to recognise that they are already, to some extent, engaged in psychological analysis of the historical Jesus, and that they are already, as a matter of course, examining data of real potential psychological significance, much could be gained.

So, over the years, I was regularly asked such things as: Did Jesus exist? Was he mad? Did he ever heal anybody? And the essays included here, to a significant extent, reflect my attempts to answer them. In the world of continuing education, no questions are inadmissible, and no answers, as long as they are carefully and critically argued, are unacceptable.