From four gospels back to one Jesus

From four gospels back to one Jesus

This basic unity of story outline within the plurality of portraits brings us to the second set of questions regarding the relationship of the four images to the search for the historical Jesus: what continuity is there between Jesus himself and the portraits? Do we talk of Mark’s Jesus, implying that this is his own creation – or of Mark’s view of Jesus, implying roots in a historical person whom the evangelist has appreciated in a particular way? Do the evangelists select appropriate material from their sources, or create it themselves? What is the relation between ‘his story’ and ‘history’ – and can ‘his story’ be true if it is not ‘history’ ?…