The late Marcus J. Borg was one of the world's bestselling popular theologians and an internationally respected biblical scholar

Borg is an internationally respected biblical scholar whose books have sold over a million copies in English alone

Can the authentic words and deed of Jesus identified by the Jesus Seminar furnish a sufficient basis for a credible profile of the Jesus of history? That is the challenge faced by the contributors to this volume. Their efforts have resulted in a unique collection of studied impressions of Jesus. Here readers will see not Jesus the icon of myth and creed, but a provocative young man of first-century Palestine whose vision and determination to live the vision gave birth to a new form of faith and changed the course of history.

The image of the historical Jesus takes form in the words of the Gospel Q. The Lost Gospel Q represents the very first Gospel, older than the traditional Gospels and written by Jesus's contemporaries. It preserves Jesus's original words -- the Sermon on the Mount, Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, parables, and his counsel for a compassionate life.

The original of the Gospel Q was lost for 2,000 years, but for the past 150 years historians and theologians have been digging through the many layers of the New Testament to uncover the original Gospel.

Jesus and Buddha were separated by five hundred years, three thousand miles, and two drastically different cultures. Yet this trade paper edition of the highly acclaimed hardback juxtaposes passages from the New Testament and ancient Buddhist scriptures to illuminate the striking similarity between their lives, deeds, and teachings.

On February 9 and 10, 1996, six internationally known Jesus scholars participated in the first national symposium to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Talking about the historical, religious, and cultural significance of Jesus, these scholars drew mass media attention and inspired a phenomenally successful follow-up discussion group on the Internet. Jesus at 2000 makes the symposium available to those seeking an introduction to the controversial historical study of Jesus and Christian origins and to those wishing to examine the intricacies of this New Testament scholarship more carefully. In addition to the papers presented by Marcus J. Borg, John Dominic Crossan, Huston Smith, Harvey Cox, Karen Jo Torjesen, and Alan F. Segal, this book includes questions from the symposium as well as a concluding chapter introducing the historical study of Jesus and Christian origins to the newly curious. Readers will appreciate the wide range of perspectives offered, from historical Jesus scholarship to Jewish studies, early Christian history, world religions, and religion and culture. Written for a general audience, the book will be useful in both academic and church settings for those wanting to know what the academy is saying about Jesus.