The greatest story ever told was honed like any good performance, on the road in front of audiences. Acclaimed scholar L. Michael White challenges us to read the gospels as they were intended?as performed stories of faith, not factual accounts?and illuminates the agendas that motivated each of their authors. A fresh account of the gospels that have shaped centuries of Christian belief, Scripting Jesus offers important insight into how we can understand Jesus's story today.

L. Michael White is Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins and the director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of From Jesus to Christianity and has been featured in and co-written two award-winning PBS Frontline documentaries.