there is simply no end to the avalanche of books written about jesus. the author of the gospel of john was already of the opinion, at the end of the first century, that the world could not contain them!
This list is one person’s choice. it represents fixed points to which I find myself returning, profitably. I have presented the titles not in chronological order,[1] but in a suggested order of focus. one can start anywhere, but whatever you do, stay away from conspiracy theorists, the paranoid style of American pop-jesus research that goes by the name of ‘mythic’, and operates with the same historiographical sensibilities absurd than holocaust deniers and templar enthusiasts. .
You are reading: Books on historical jesus
1. Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Complete Guide (1998) In the great German tradition, this introduction does what it says on the tin: it offers a comprehensive guide to the sources, context, activities, and message of jesus those seeking an answer to the question, “why would we look for a historical jesus behind the gospels in the first place, and how could one do that?” you will find here a learned induction.
2. albert schweitzer, the search for the historical jesus (2nd german edition 1913; english, 2001)[2] this great scholar accomplished the seemingly impossible by writing an extensive history of jesus research in the 18th and 19th centuries that ended as one of the most fascinating books about Jesus ever written. Relentlessly pointing out the flaws in the work of his predecessors, Schweitzer presented his own vision of Jesus, drawing heavily on the Gospel of Matthew, as a failed apocalyptic prophet who heralded the coming of God’s kingdom but died disappointed that it had not come.
3. martin kähler, the so-called historical jesus and the historical and biblical christ (1964) writing in the 1890s, kähler rejected the very possibility of making a historical jesus work, since the gospels are entirely devoted to presenting Jesus from the point of view of Christian faith. kähler’s project found important 20th century heirs in scholars like rudolf bultmann and luke timothy johnson
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4. me. p. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (1985) and The Historical Figure of Jesus (1993) These two books, the first more learned, the second less, offer a vision of Jesus firmly rooted in the Judaism of his time. sanders proposes that jesus be seen as a proponent of ‘jewish restoration eschatology’, and sees jesus as an attempt to bring about a restoration of israel’s theological-political fortunes.
5. John Meier, A Jew on the Margin: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (1991) This ambitious undertaking (five volumes and counting) is the most rigorous application of a criteria-based approach to authenticating the words and actions of Jesus in the Gospels. applies its historical verification criteria: multiple attestation, embarrassment, discontinuity, coherence and rejection & execution–with vast learning and subtlety. Even those who disagree with Meier’s conclusions benefit from his learning and his captivating style.
6. chris keith and anthony le donne, eds., jesus, criteria, and the disappearance of authenticity (2012) here for critical consideration. Particularly focused on the turn to memory in recent historiography, these scholars raise sharp questions about the nature of human subjectivity as it pertains to the task of historical reconstruction.
7.dale allison, building jesus: memory, imagination, and history (2010) Along with his brief volume of lectures the historical christ and the theological jesus, this book offers the mature synthesis of a of the leading scholars of the historical Jesus. Allison proposes a move toward considering “recurrence” in the tradition as a kind of macro criterion to help us deal with the impact of Jesus on the memories of early followers of him.
8. richard bauckham, jesus and the eyewitnesses: the gospels as eyewitness testimony (2nd ed., 2017) bauckham re-investigates the role of the designated bearers (eg, matthew, john) of memories of jesus in the early church. he finds more reliability in some early patristic testimonies than has often been allowed, and rejects a long tradition of seeing the gospels as the end product of a long process of anonymous tradition formation.
9. joseph ratzinger/pope benedict xvi, jesus of nazareth (2007-2012) is not a conventional work of jesus historical scholarship (some of my colleagues will roll their eyes at this here), these three volumes offer a remarkable attempt to make serious use of the results of historical scholarship for the church. on the historical front the results are mixed; however, it must be recognized that these books would have been unthinkable a century ago.
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10. Shawn Kelley, Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology, and the Shaping of Modern Biblical Scholarship (2002); Susannah Heschel, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (2010); Halvor Moxnes, Jesus and the Rise of Nationalism: A New Quest for the Historical Jesus of the Nineteenth Century (2012) Finally, this trio of works, each in its own way, considers how the study of the life of Jesus has served to ideological programs. Together, they offer a salutary warning about the motivations and uses of historical reconstruction.
dave lincicum is an associate professor of new testaments and early christian studies at the university of notre dame. he is the author of paul and the first jewish encounter with deuteronomy (mohr siebeck 2010; repr. baker academic, 2013). His research focuses on the reception of scripture in early Christianity, the strange and hostile text known as the Epistle of Barnabas, and the history of biblical interpretation.
image: christ pantocrator in the apse of the cathedral of cefalù, c. 1130. photograph by andreas wahra [viawikicommons].
[1] or in the order of the standard division of “quests” for the historical jesus, which I consider to be a flawed historiographical periodization centered on germany [2] be sure to read the 2001 translation published by strong/scm press, which translates the substantially expanded second edition.Our “best books” feature asks a historian to recommend the most important books to read to get you started in your subject area. all these blogs will appear here, as they are published.
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