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This study attempts to analyze the personality and career of Jesus by the acceptable methods utilized in the investigation of any outstanding character. It proposes to depict a naturalistic Jesus as he perhaps appeared to his associates, more or less free from the legendary embellishments which characterize the concepts of the Christian religion, and to emphasize the human side, the dignity and the emotional elements in the life of this man.
In the first chapter, labeled “The Logic of Personality,” the authors set forth their concept of “personality” in order to make it clear as to the particular aspects they have investigated. They assert that the word personality in scientific psychology has the same significance it has in popular usage. It signifies a person as he appears to others or, in more colloquial language, the “impression he makes on others,” and further elaborate by saying that every person has several personalities, showing himself in a different way to different people and in various situations; so in describing an “historic personality” a synthesis of these personalities