Rating: 
Summary: some valid points
Review: there're valid points to Johnson's critc & rebutall to Jesus seminar & other skeptics.however, i feel the same arguments can be applied to himself & other evangelists. So far, none of evangelists has produced work that's rigorous or scholarly enough. Not that Jesus seminar has either. the book leaves me unsatisfied & more confused because he does not present a clearer understanding or better approach of studing the historicy of Jesus. I know who Christ is but I want to know the man who lived. Evangelists fuse these two. so when one search what the historical person whould be like, they tell one the first picture (a divine being who's Son of God). He just repeats the standard doctrines that since the cannon Gospels are the best preserved of the NT documents regarding Jesus, & they converge on one point (resurrection) so it must be true & there's no need to search in extra-bible sources like apocrypha cause they're all unreliable & therefore rejected by Church.
Rating: 
Summary: Paradigm shift
Review: This book had a major impact on my own thought about Jesus. I originally read it expecting a generally conservative historical work, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Johnson devotes most of his space to questioning the idea of history itself. Making points about as the weakness of all historical theories, especially in this subject area, and the questionable influence that history should have on faith, he challenges the "historical Jesus" community to re-evaluate its methods and conclusions. The polemic against various scholars, particularly those of the Jesus seminar, is excellent, promoting a more sober approach to Jesus scholarship. As he points out (and as scholars now, fortunately, generally realize) subjecting isolated sayings to scrutiny by such methods as multiple attestation, dissimilarity, coherence, etc. is not good history.
Rating:
Summary: A good balance of Faith and Reason
Review: This book is a refutation of the 'Jesus Seminar' and it's belief that historical analysis will yield the 'true Jesus'. Johnson disassembles this concept then crushes each piece leaving the concept looking at first misguided, then totally absurd. After freeing us from a tempting but misguided concept, Johnson defines an approach to understanding Jesus that is a well balanced mix of faith and reason.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much data and EXTREMELY sad arguments...
Review: This book was a MAJOR disappointment. Yes, read my other articles and be shocked and amazed by what I just wrote. I say it again, do not buy this book! I am totally on Dr. Johnson's side, but not in the manner which he wrote this book. The book is small enough as it is (I think around 150 pages? How scholarly is that?) and basically, I read half of it and dropped it. Luke is against the Jesus Seminar. So am I. Luke uses everything BUT historical data to debunk the Jesus Seminar. That's where I put it down. He seems more wanting to put down Dr. Funk and the rest of his fellows as heretics against the church instead of bringing more scholarly opinions out to prove them wrong. He writes from the perspective of a Christian layman and enthusiast, not as a devoted scholar and, oh my, a man with a Ph. D and a monk! For heaven's sake, do not buy this book! If you agree with the Jesus Seminar, do not think that this is all that is out there against them, there is much better! If you disagree with them, find better material to back yourself up with, I highly recommend the Marginal Jew series, Jesus in the Dead Sea Scrolls by Charlesworth (not necessarily Historical Jesus, but much good proof of his relationship to the Qumran community and goes well with Marginal Jew Vol. 2) and most certainly "Death of the Messiah Vols. 1 & 2" by R.E. Brown. But unless you want someone just attacking the Jesus Seminar's spirituality, do not buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Saying so does not make it so.
Review: This book was hard to read and make sense out of. It opposes so many dogmatic assertions to the reasoned conclusions of quite genuine scholars. My reaction to this bit of cheap polemics is N.T. Wright's, who writes of it in his magisterial "Jesus and the Victory of God" (vol. 2 of "Christian Origins and the Question of God)"...I find myself in such total disagreement that I wonder if we are even talking the same language." N.T. Wright is a critic (but a friendly one) of the Jesus Seminar, a valuable project inspiriting a new interest among people who lament the marginalization and irrelevance of the popular churches and who would seek to inspirit and reform them in the light of an outlook respectful of serious scholarship. The magisteria of modern churches (with the possible exception of the Anglican communion) have drastically cut themselves off from the work of genuine scholars, religious and secular, and thereby insured their continued marginalization and irrelevance, or, worse, their culturally and intellectually stultifying influence.
Rating:
Summary: Clear and convincing writing
Review: What made this book so valuable to me was its clarity, and the fact that it was so thorough. I think its criticism of the quest for the historical Jesus was entirely justified and very illuminating. I'm glad the book is out there. I hope Johnson updates it from time to time, but no matter, his arguments are still tremendously important. Anne Rice
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