Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-232) and index.

Here is the first comprehensive, balanced account of historical Jesus studies. Beginning with brief discussions of the early days of historical research into the person of Jesus and the methods developed by researchers at the time, Mark Allan Powell offers insightful overviews of some of the most important participants in the contemporary Jesus quests: Robert Funk, John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, E.P. Sanders, John Meier, and N.T. Wright, among others. Powell concludes by outlining issues and directions for research that will likely guide these quests into the next century.