There is much confusion among even educated people today–sometimes especially among educated people today–about whether the New Testament, and the gospels in particular, render a trustworthy historical portrait of Jesus (quite apart from the question of whether or not we should regard the Bible as Holy Scripture, of course).
As a professional historian myself, who has studied not only the Bible but also the history of Biblical studies, I understand why people hold various views on these matters.
Historical argument is never an open-and-shut case, but is always a matter of weighing evidence and argument for the most likely explanation. But after thirty years of academic historical study, I have come to this simple conclusion: There sure are a lot of good reasons to trust Matthew, Mark, Luke and John–and Paul–when they say that Jesus said this or did that. So I do.
I offer the following recommendations with assistance from Prof. Larry Hurtado of the University of Edinburgh, Prof. Robert Yarbrough of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Prof. Robert Derrenbacker of Regent College.
The 8 Best Books on the Reliability of the New Testament written at a popularly-accessible level by accomplished scholars:
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony by Richard Bauckham
"Winner of the 2007 Christianity Today Book Award in Biblical Studies, this momentous volume argues that the four Gospels are closely based on the eyewitness testimony of those who personally knew Jesus. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that the Jesus accounts circulated as "anonymous community traditions," asserting instead that they were transmitted in the names of the original eyewitnesses."
Check it out here: Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006).
The Historical Reliability of the Gospels by Craig L. Blomberg
"For over twenty years, Craig Blomberg's The Historical Reliability of the Gospels has provided a useful antidote to many of the toxic effects of skeptical criticism of the Gospels. Offering a calm, balanced overview of the history of Gospel criticism, especially that of the late twentieth century, Blomberg introduces readers to the methods employed by New Testament scholars and shows both the values and limits of those methods. He then delves more deeply into the question of miracles, Synoptic discrepancies and the differences between the Synoptics and John. After an assessment of noncanonical Jesus tradition, he addresses issues of historical method directly.This new edition has been thoroughly updated in light of new developments with numerous additions to the footnotes and two added appendixes."
Check it out here: The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: InterVarsity, 1987).
The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities by Darrell L. Bock
"Darrell Bock has written a timely and valuable study for anyone curious about the question of lost or missing gospels. The Missing Gospels is a breath of sanity!"
-Philip Jenkins, Professor of History and Religious Studies, Penn State
"A necessary book that corrects many still fashionable but even more questionable hypotheses about the origin of the Gospels, the Nag Hammadi texts, and the development of Christian theology in the first two centuries AD."
-Prof. Dr. Martin Hengel, Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Ancient Judaism, University of Tübingen, Germany
Check it out here: The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities (Nashville: Nelson 2006).
Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels by Craig Evans
"Why are scholars so prone to fabricate a new Jesus? Why is the public so eager to accept such claims without question? What methods and assumptions predispose scholars to distort the record? Is there a more sober approach to finding the real Jesus? Craig Evans offers a sane approach to examining the sources for understanding the historical Jesus."
Check it out here: Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
 The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church by Charles Hill
"How were the Johannine books of the New Testament received by second-century Christians and accorded scriptural status? Charles E. Hill offers a fresh and detailed examination of this question. He dismantles the long-held theory that the Fourth Gospel was generally avoided or resisted by orthodox Christians, while being treasured by various dissenting groups, throughout most of the second century. Integrating a wide range of literary and non-literary sources, this book demonstrates the failure of several old stereotypes about the Johannine literature."
Check it out here: The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).
The Canon Debate, Lee M. McDonald and James M. Sanders, eds.
"What does it mean to speak of a "canon" of scripture? How, when, and where did the canon of the Hebrew Bible come into existence? Why does it have three divisions? What canon was in use among the Jews of the Hellenistic diaspora? At Qumran? In Roman Palestine? Among the rabbis? What Bible did Jesus and his disciples know and use? How was the New Testament canon formed and closed? What role was played by Marcion? By gnostics? By the church fathers? What did the early church make of the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha? By what criteria have questions of canonicity been decided? Are these past decisions still meaningful faith communities today? Are they open to revision?"
Check it out here: The Canon Debate (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002).
What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History–Why We Can Trust the Bible by Ben Witherington III
What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History–Why We Can Trust the Bible "Utilizing a fresh "personality profile" approach, Witherington highlights core Christian claims by investigating the major figures in Jesus’s inner circle of followers: Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Peter, James the brother of Jesus, Paul, and the mysterious "beloved disciple." In each chapter Witherington satisfies our curiosities and answers the full range of questions about these key figures and what each of them can teach us about the historical Jesus. What Have They Done with Jesus? is a vigorous defense of traditional Christianity that offers a compelling portrait of Jesus’s core message according to those who knew him best."
Check it out here: What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History–Why We Can Trust the Bible (San Francisco: Harper, 2006).
 Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity? by N.T Wright
Check it out here: Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity? (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006).
