This is not your typical introduction to the New Testament. Rather, Bellinzoni invites the reader to understand how biblical scholars employ the historical method to understand better who Jesus of Nazareth really was and how and why oral and then written tradition about Jesus developed into the New Testament. Instead of simply summarizing the results of biblical scholarship, Bellinzoni discusses the rules of evidence and the tools of the historical method that scholars use. He then approaches the text of the New Testament by leading the reader step by step through relevant biblical texts in...