Reinventing Jesus is divided into five parts consisting of 18 chapters together. Part one deals with whether or not the first Gospel writers were able to get the story right. Part two is an analysis of the transmission of the Gospels seeking to show that what we have now is incredibly close to what was originally written. The canon of the New Testament is tackled in part three, where explanations are given for why some were included in the Bible and others weren’t. With the reliability of the scriptures established, part four goes on to look at what the New Testament says about Jesus. Finally, in part five, Christianity is defended against accusations that it borrowed from pagan mythology.

Throughout the book, the authors interact with the claims of The Da Vinci Code and other more scholarly works that question the historicity of the Bible, but the central focus is more about a positive case for Christianity than a defensive one. At the end of the book are subject and Scripture indexes, as well as a thorough recommended reading list according to each part of the book.

Of the works that deal with claims like those in The Da Vinci Code, Reinventing Jesus is one of the more scholarly. That said, it does a commendable job of making the scholarly discussions accessible and relevant to “motivated laypersons” without dumbing down the material or making the reader feel dumb. The book covers a wide hosts of issues related to the Bible and Jesus, but due its focus on a positive case for Christianity, lacks a thorough critique of Gnosticism or “the sacred feminine.” Ultimately, Reinventing Jesus is a great book for readers who want accurate first-hand information from scholars about the historicity of the Christian faith in light of “novel speculations."