This new book (Biographies and Jesus, edited by Edward T. Wright and myself) provides essays analyzing ancient biographies’ use of sources, etc., showing that biographers saw their genre as requiring dependence on prior information. Biographies written within a few generations normally preserved considerable information about their subjects, a matter with relevance for the Gospels. It is somewhat technical (so it is not for everybody), but it provides serious research and documentation for subsequent work on which I and others will be able to build.
https://www.amazon.com/Biographies-Jesus-What-Does-Gospels/dp/1609471067/
“This collection deserves a wide circulation.”—Richard Burridge
“… a great book that will go a long way toward setting the record straight.”—Craig A. Evans
“Keener’s collection is to be praised.”—James H. Charlesworth
“The implications of these findings demand careful consideration by scholars of the Gospels and the Historical Jesus alike.”—Helen K. Bond
“Keener, Wright, Walton et al. have moved the needle forward in advancing our knowledge of the Jesus of the Gospels”—David P. Moessner
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