For some Christian apologists, the inerrancy is always the starting point. Before any other discussion, it must be demonstrated that every verse is completely without error.
While it is one option to show that Jesus is real because the inerrant Bible says he is, it is not the only option.
My preference is to start with the Gospels and epistles as being reliable historical documents, on the same level as other contemporary texts. The Gospels do not have to be inerrant to be useful in showing that Jesus was a historical figure.
If a person is struggling with believing that Jesus of Nazareth existed, they are not going to accept that the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible to be without error.
This doesn’t mean that the apologist has to abandon inerrancy, just that it does not have to be the basis of refuting the Jesus Myth Theory.
