The Jesus legend

Did Jesus actually exist as a historical personage roughly corresponding to the various stories given in the four New Testament gospels and other Christian documents? Was he really born in Bethlehem and crucified by Pilate? In The Jesus Legend, G.A. Wells shows how the story of Jesus developed through telling and re-telling, from an early version in the letters of Paul (who does not mention Jesus in connection with any specific time or place) to the more elaborate and detailed picture later presented in the gospels.