Dr. James Barker is associate professor of New Testament at Western Kentucky university. He earned his Phd in New Testament and early Christianity from Vanderbilt University. 

Dr. Barker recently published his third book called "Writing and rewriting the gospels: John and the Synoptics" (2025, Eerdmans) in which he proposes a "snowball effect." He argues the gospel of mark was written first, and that the ensuing gospels built off of eachother as they wrote their accounts. 

In this episode, we talk about how the Gospels were really written. Did the gospel writers know Jesus? Did they know each other? Are they historically reliable? What sources did they use?