Jesus Before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior

The bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus , one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today examines oral tradition and its role in shaping the stories about Jesus we encounter in the New Testament—and ultimately in our understanding of early Christianity.

Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally—including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament—how the telling of these stories during decades of oral transmission not only spread Jesus’ message but helped shape it.

A master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, Ehrman draws on a range of disciplines, including the psychology of memory and anthropology, to examine the role of memory in the creation of the Gospels. Explaining how oral tradition evolves based on the latest scientific research, he demonstrates how the act of telling and retelling impacts the story, the storyteller, and the listener—crucial insights from New Testament scholarship that challenge our typical historical understanding of the silent period between when Jesus lived and died and when his stories began to be written down.

As he did in his previous books on religious scholarship, debates on New Testament authorship, and the existence of the historical Jesus, Ehrman combines his deep knowledge and meticulous scholarship in a compelling and eye-opening narrative that will change the way we read and think about these sacred texts.

This groundbreaking exploration of Christian history reveals:

The Power of Oral Tradition: Discover how stories about Jesus were told, retold, and transformed during the decades before they were ever written down, shaped by the needs of early Christian communities. The Unreliability of Eyewitness Testimony: Ehrman applies modern research from psychology and legal studies to question how accurately eyewitness accounts of Jesus could have been preserved and transmitted. The Formation of the Gospels: Go inside the silent period between Jesus's death and the first Gospels to understand how memories, myths, and legends were woven into the sacred texts we know today. Collective Memory and Early Christianity: Learn how social groups construct their own pasts and what the varying accounts of Jesus reveal about the different communities that remembered him.