The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition?

Price's monograph presents a radical historical-critical assessment of the Gospel traditions concerning Jesus, arguing that the figure of Jesus as portrayed in the canonical Gospels represents largely mythological construction rather than historical memory. The work systematically deconstructs the reliability of Gospel narratives through rigorous application of form criticism, redaction criticism, and comparative mythology, ultimately concluding that virtually no authentic historical information about Jesus survives in the New Testament texts.

The study employs multiple methodological approaches to challenge traditional assumptions about Gospel reliability. Price applies the criterion of dissimilarity with exceptional stringency, arguing that sayings and deeds attributed to Jesus that parallel either Jewish precedents or early Christian theology should be considered inauthentic. He extensively documents parallels between Gospel narratives and Hellenistic mystery religions, Jewish midrashic traditions, and ancient Mediterranean hero myths, suggesting these sources provide more plausible explanations for Gospel content than historical reminiscence.

Central to Price's argument is his analysis of the Christ-myth theory's historical development, from Bruno Bauer through Arthur Drews to contemporary proponents. While not explicitly endorsing the complete non-existence of Jesus, Price contends that the available evidence renders such a position intellectually respectable. He challenges the methodological assumptions of the Jesus Seminar and other historical Jesus researchers, arguing they retain an unjustified confidence in extracting historical kernels from thoroughly mythologized narratives.

The work engages critically with mainstream New Testament scholarship, particularly targeting the "criteria of authenticity" employed by historical Jesus researchers. Price demonstrates how these criteria, when applied consistently, eliminate virtually all Gospel material as historically unreliable. His analysis of specific pericopes reveals extensive literary dependence on Old Testament narratives and Hellenistic biographical conventions, undermining claims of eyewitness testimony or early oral tradition.

Price's contribution to the God debate operates primarily through historical skepticism rather than direct theological argumentation. By dismantling the historical foundations of Christianity's central figure, the work implicitly challenges theistic claims based on Gospel narratives. The study represents a significant challenge to both conservative evangelical positions that assume Gospel reliability and liberal theological approaches that maintain confidence in recovering a historical Jesus behind the texts. His work exemplifies how rigorous historical-critical methodology, when applied without theological presuppositions, can produce conclusions that fundamentally undermine traditional religious claims about divine action in history.