Distributor from jacket flap

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction : I will examine evidence concerning Jesus of Nazareth because of the uniqueness of the claims associated with His life and death -- Worship patterns in the very earliest church indicate an immediate veneration of Jesus as divine following His crucifixion -- In the Synoptic and Johannine gospels, Jesus used the term "I Am" (ego eimi), words that function as the Name of God in the first century; hence His conviction for blasphemy in His trial before the Sanhedrin -- Reliability of the canonical gospel accounts is supported by the historical evidence -- The means of communication of the gospel was through a reliable oral gospel tradition -- The resurrection is a plausible event -- The new and old gnosticism are based on fantasies, not on historical events -- One cannot logically maintain that all religions describe a path to the same reality -- How should one engage a person of another faith concerning diverse religious beliefs?

Whether Jesus was really the Son of God or not is a central question for Christians -- and one that has provoked heated debate since the time of Jesus' birth. Dean L. Overman examines the earliest Christian records to build a compelling case for the divinity of Jesus. Addressing questions raised by books such as Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus and Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels, Overman builds a carefully reasoned case for Jesus truly being the Son of God. - Publisher