Many BAR readers are familiar with the quest for the historical Jesus, but what of the historical Paul? James D.G. Dunn, Emeritus Lightfoot Professor at the University of Durham, asked this question in his contribution to a recent festschrift for fellow New Testament scholars Father Jerome Murphy-O’Connor and Father Joseph A. Fitzmyer.1 A popular theme in New Testament scholarship over the past two centuries has been “The Quest of the Historical Jesus.” The quest provided the main driving force behind the development of tools and techniques in Biblical scholarship for most of that period. It was widely recognized that […]
