Historical background of the New Testament that the Temple would not be rebuilt in their lifetimes, Christianity reflected the acknowledgment of early Christians that the Second Coming of Christ and the establishment of God's kingdom on earth was not to happen in their lifetimes. The critical analysis of the Gospels involves, at least in part, a consideration of how these concerns affected the Gospels' accounts of Jesus. According to historian Paula Fredriksen (1988: 5), critical scholars rely on four basic criteria for extrapolating an "authentic" historical account of Jesus out of the New Testament sources: As Fredriksen observes, these criteria do not guarantee an accurate historical
The Missing Gospels The Missing Gospels The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities is a book by Darrell L. Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. The book is concerned with later alternative gospels and 'Christianities' associated with the Nag Hammadi discoveries of 1945. The book focuses on the claims of early Christian diversity, the origins of Gnosticism, as well as the theology of the later alternative texts and communities. The book contains a foreword by Edwin M. Yamauchi. The book contains numerous endorsements by prominent Christian New Testament scholars and academics including Larry Hurtado, Martin Hengel,