George Aichele 
Simulating Jesus 
Reality Effects in the Gospels

Can the different pictures of Jesus in the New Testament be reconciled? Or are they simply simulations, the products of a virtual Gospel? ”Simulating Jesus” argues that the gospels do not represent four versions of one Jesus story but rather four distinct narrative simulacra, each of which is named ’Jesus’. The book explores the theory and evidence justifying this claim and discusses its practical and theological consequences. The simulations of Jesus in each of the gospels are analysed and placed alongside Jesus simulacra elsewhere in the Bible and contemporary popular culture. ”Simulating Jesus” offers a radical understanding of Scripture that will be of interest to students and scholars of biblical studies.