A good introduction for the study of Jesus
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This is a good introduction for those interested in studying the historical figure of Jesus. Deceptively short as the text is quite small, Sanders provides a welcome antidote to the sensationalist pseudo-history such as Holy Blood Holy Grail and others.
Sanders is correct to state that the study of the historical Jesus is a perilous and frustrating task, not least due to the lack of sources. Sanders cleverly provides a setting for Jesus, putting him fully in his times of first century Galilee and Judaea. He places Jesus vis a vis Judaism and the political climate of Jesus' time. The strength of this book is that it is not encumbered with theology, but is an appraisal of Jesus the man, someone who had, or believed he had, an intimate relationship with God and who saw himself as the man to prepare the Jews for the coming of the kingdom. As Sanders correctly concludes, as a result Jesus was more of a teacher and a prophet than a preacher of repentance.
All in all a recommended book for both Christians and non-Christians wanting a good introduction to Jesus, without sensationalism, be it theological or pseudo-historical.
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Infromative
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This is an excellent and readable study of the historical figure of Jesus.
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Certainly a Helpful Introduction
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This work provides not just an Introduction to reconstructing the life of the historical Jesus, but also to the modes of biblical criticism. The chapter on the Method and Setting of Jesus' Ministry is particularly valuable, and rightly points out misconceptions about the amount of time Jesus would have spent in Judea as opposed to his native Galilee. The book is well written, and the information it provides set down clearly for comfortable reading. In places more detail might be useful, especially regarding the primary and secondary sources that he uses, although these discrepancies are totally rectified by his more in depth works, such as the celebrated 'Jesus and Judaism,' and his work on Paul. As to his conclusions, they are both conservative and forward looking. This is not a contradiction, as Sanders really pioneers the view that much can be known about the historical Jesus, while at the same time not straying drastically outside generally accepted scholarly thought. His is a careful, but worthy, reconstruction of the life and times of arguably the most influential figure in history.
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Authoritative review of Jesus' life
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Whilst books like the Da Vinci Code continue to dominate people's thinking on religion, books like these based in fact provide a welcome read. This book in particular is probably the best historical book I have read.
Sanders has not only created a book that is authorative and intelletucual, but he does what other academics fail to do - he makes it readable. Sanders focuses only on what can be proved or dissproved and rarely goes into speculation. If he does he always tempers it with a 'we infer'. Sanders goes into some detail about the historical setting of Jerusalm and Jewdasim at Jesus' time to build his case.
What he doesn't do is go into great details about his birth or upbringing, because quite simply, he has no proof or knowledge of it.
Very much a recommended read for all those that interested in trying to understand the facts of Jesus' life as opposed to speculating on it.
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Enjoyable, informative, authoritative
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Professor Sanders must be one of those rare academics who can write well for the general public, neither over-simplifying the content nor boring the reader with excessive detail. The book has just the right balance of readability and credibility, and there are new insights on every page. Particularly interesting were the first few chapters, covering the historical and political background. We are all aware that Palestine was "occupied" by the Roman Empire at this period, but what was the nature of the occupation? Was it, for example, comparable to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in the early 1940s? The answer apparently is no, and the situation in Galilee was very different from that in Jerusalem. The book paints a clear picture of what life was like for ordinary people living in that region around that time. In dealing with the events of Jesus's life, Sanders always makes clear the degree of certainty of any assertion. There is a scale, with "beyond all reasonable doubt" at one end and "as likely as not" at the other. People who want simple answers in black and white may be disappointed by this, but ancient history is not an exact science. This is surely the honest approach. Professor Sanders has been studying this period since the 1960s and appears to be regarded as knowledgeable on Jesus (as well as on Paul). I am not in a position to judge, but certainly the book seems more authoritative than some similar titles written by journalists or by those with a proselytising agenda. Although raised in the Church of England, I read this book as a complete layman. I was aware that I had no idea how much of what I had been taught was true in a historical sense and how much was mere legend, tradition or the personal opinion of my teachers, and I was starting to ask questions like "who wrote the gospels, and when?" and "what did Jesus ACTUALLY say?". This book has taught me a great deal about the origins of this vast religion. There is perhaps too much emphasis on dates. To the lay reader, the exact years of Jesus's birth and death are less interesting than what happened in between. And while I'm looking for faults, I could mention that there are a few things that are not well explained. For example, the Pharisees are referred to as a party, but what is meant by "party" in this context? Is it something equivalent to a modern political party? Obviously not, though just what kind of a group they were is still not clear to me. But there are few such omissions. All in all, this book gave me the information that I wanted in an enjoyable form, and I happily recommend it.
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