N. T. Wright asserts that the third quest began with the Jesus Seminar in 1988. By then, it became necessary to acknowledge that "the upshot of the first two quests... was to reveal the frustrating limitations of the historical study of any ancient person". According to Ben Witherington, probability is all that is possible in this pursuit. Paul Montgomery in "The New York Times" writes that "Through the ages scholars and laymen have taken various positions on the life of Jesus, ranging from total acceptance of the Bible to assertions that Jesus of Nazareth is a creature of myth and never lived."