• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Historical Jesus Books

Matthew78

aspiring biblical scholar
I want to ask everyone here: what is the best book or books you have read on the historical Jesus? Does anyone have a favorite? Maybe quite a few of them? Here are a few of the books on the historicity of Jesus that I really like most!

1.) Jesus of Nazareth by Maurice Casey
2.) The Historical Figure of Jesus by E.P. Sanders
3.) The Changing Faces of Jesus by Geza Vermes

There are still many more I would like to read but these have made the top of the list so far!
 

fallingblood

Agnostic Theist
I second that. A great series.

(just as a side note, I am not sure I am getting the name of the books completely accurate, but they are close. I just don't have the books in front of me right now and I'm trying to recall them from memory).

I personally also like John Dominic Crossan. He has the massive Historical Jesus book, and then a shorter one, a Revolutionary Biography.

Geza Vermes has a great set on Jesus as well.

I did like Ehrman, his Apocalyptic Jesus book, but now looking at it, I see it kind of as a half hearted attempt.

Bruce Chilton's Rabbi Jesus was an interesting read, and he has some good points, but I wouldn't call it the best on the subject. It is more for a general audience, and I think he takes some liberties with his information.

E.P. Sanders has a wonderful couple of books as well. The Historical Jesus, and Jesus and Judaism are great works.

I liked Borg's book Jesus, but I am a little biased there as I have grown more fond of him as I am attending Concordia, where is a graduate from. I just like that I am in good company there.

Finally, I have to say that I find Morton Smith's book, Jesus the Magician to be interesting. He does have some out there ideas, but I found him to be an interesting read.

Out of all of those though, I have to say I probably most attached to Crossan's The Historical Jesus as it was the first real scholarly book on the subject that I read.

On another side note, I do enjoy that different debate books on Jesus. Borg and N.T. Wright have a great one called Two Visions of Jesus. I have about a dozen or so such books, and I think they are very interesting as they give multiple views in a condensed form.
 
Top