Allison's basic premise is that we can trust the patterns of the New Testament record, whether or not we believe the details. Neither believing everything literally, not complete sceptism are reasonable ways of treating the data we have.

He supports his thesis with completist lists of passages, from the gospels, the rest of the New Testament and from other ancient documents. While I didn't always read every list carefully, I found the insights into his way of working fascinating.

I also liked the way quotations were given in the language they were written in (with expanations). This meant not only a few German quotations, but also the various Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Coptic qotes from ancient manuscripts. His argument can be followed without these, but it was often interesting to see how closely certain NT passages followed LXX wording.

This is not a book aimed at a popular audience, but it should accessable to most people interested in his ideas. The hardest bit is not letting yourself be scared off by the academic apparatus. ( )