Eric Eve, Writing the Gospels: Composition and Memory (SPCK, 2016), 150.
[T]he problem facing the historical Jesus scholar is not merely one of trying to discern which of the deeds and sayings reported in the Gospels have the best claim to go back to the man Jesus of Nazareth, for what is of more interest is the overall picture that emerges (however important particular salient events may be to forming that picture). The Gospels are not ragbag databases of potential facts, but rhetorically shaped portraits that already configure the tradition to promote particular views of Jesus’ reputation as a particular kind of hero, and the historian has to reckon with these overall portraits every bit as much as with the elements that go into their making or else risk being bewitched by the Evangelists’ rhetoric.
The Amateur Exegete 
Hello Ben, have you already read Jesus, Skepticism, and the Problem of History?
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I have not. I did peruse the ToC and saw some interesting chapters/authors. Beth Sheppard has a chapter on the Sermon on the Mount that looks promising. Her book ‘The Craft of History and the Study of the New Testament’ was really good.
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