Just came across this excellent lecture by Dale B. Martin, a professor at Yale University, its part of a large and comprehensive course. It gives wonderful insight into the scholar's process, as well as biblical insight.
Christians (and even some non christians for that matter) frequently posit "Jesus said this" or "Jesus said that" and read the bible (NT) as though it just fell from the sky or was written down as events happened. The fact is, during the time of the alleged Jesus character's life, the Romans were fastideous record keepers about all manner of things. Do you know what was recorded about the miracle-working Jesus character during the alleged time of his alleged life? Nothing.
I recently finished Barrie Wilson's How Jesus Became Christian. I'm interested in seeing if anyone else has read this book, and if so, what they thought of it.