We begin with a thought experiment. Modern critical biblical scholarship often points out how the church’s teachings about Jesus have become encrusted with tradition so that it is hard to see what the core documents—the New Testament—really say about him.

Now, with the insight of 200 years of modern critical scholarship and assuming an audience that includes both the well-churched and the non-churched, how should the church present the story and identity of the central personality of their faith, Jesus of Nazareth? Many people will be surprised at the story they hear.