The Quest of the Historical Gospel explores the nature and origin of the gospel genre. Lawrence M. Wills compares the Greco-Roman tradition of the cult of the dead hero to the parallel traditions in ancient Judaism to consider a paradigm for the Christian gospels: the death and vindication of the revered hero. Wills explores the analogies between popular, novelistic biographies, such as the bawdy and satirical Life of Aesop, alongside the gospels, arriving at striking conclusions about the origin and function of the gospels.

Paraphrasing the title of Albert Schweitzer's influential work, Quest of the Historical Jesus this book provides a timely and provocative analysis of the gospels as literature, while placing Jesus in a definitive historical context.