by Dennis Ingolfsland People today ask the same provocative
question that Jesus once asked his disciples, “Who do you say I
am?” Modern historians present Jesus as a cynic, reformer,
revolutionary, mystic, and even a radical feminist. Their
particular interpretive criteria result in these options. Such
researchers frequently scoff at the idea that Jesus saw himself
as the Messiah, Savior, and Son of God and claim such thinking
to be unhistorical. And yet, if the critics consistently applied
their own criteria, an image of Jesus compatible with that of
the Gospels would emerge. Bart D. Ehrman, a prominent New
Testament scholar, broadly represents a majority of modern
nonevangelical Jesus scholars. His book, Jesus, Apocalyptic
Prophet of the New Millennium, essentially updates the position
espoused by twentieth century theologian and humanitarian Albert
Schweitzer. “This is a view of Jesus that has been maintained
for most of the present century by the majority of critical
scholars in both the United States and