I wanted to give a shout out to Dr. Rimm from Moody Bible Institute.  In my apologetics class, he encouraged me to write a thesis type paper analyzing James Dunn’s “Jesus Remembered” and the abridged version “A New Perspective on Jesus.”  While I researched this paper, I was, for the first time, exposed to the various “Quests” for the historical Jesus, the Synoptic Problem, and several other matters concerning gospel studies.  I was reminded of this today as I read this paragraph in Klyne Snodgrass’ work “Stories with Intent:”

We do not have the ipsissima verba of Jesus, nor should we expect them, and attempted reconstructions are not going to supply them.  James Dunn is right; the only Jesus accessible to us is the remembered Jesus, Jesus as he impacted his disciples.  Dunn’s position is reminiscent of Martin Kähler’s: the only Jesus that exists is the historic, biblical Christ.  Anything else is a figment of the imagination.  This is not to side with those who would deemphasize the historical analysis of Jesus, but it is a recognition of the nature of our documents.

It is always nice to explore new areas of study and find that old endeavors have already paved the way.