Table of Contents

preface
1: The End of History as We Know It
2: Who was Jesus? Why It's So Hard to Know
3: How Did the Gospels Get to Be This Way?
4: Looking about a Bit: Non-Christian Sources for the Historical Jesus
5: Looking about a Bit More: Other Christian Sources for the Historical Jesus
6: Moving on to the Past: How Can We Reconstruct the Life of Jesus?
7: Finding a Fit: Jesus in Context
8: Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet
9: The Apocalyptic Teachings of Jesus
10: A Place for Everything: Jesus' Other Teachings in Their Apocalyptic Context
11: Not in Word Only: The Associates, Deeds, and Controversies of Jesus in Apocalyptic Context
12: The Last Days of Jesus
13: From Apocalyptic Prophet to Lord of All: The Afterlife of Jesus
14: Jesus as the Prophet of the New Millennium: Then and Now
notes
bibliography
index

About the Author

Bart D. Ehrman is Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of many books, including The New Testament: A Historical Introduction and The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture.

Reviews

"Very readable. Useful especially for undergraduates and interested public."--Blake R. Grangaard, Heidelberg College
"Jesus is a superb example of how scholarship can be as full of suspense and surprises as a well-plotted mystery."--The Los Angeles Times
"As fine and succinct a gathering of the voluminous Jesus scholarship as you're likely to find."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"An elegantly written, much-needed book....Ehrman's should be the first book for any lay reader interested in the historical Jesus."--Kirkus Reviews
"[Ehrman's] warm, inviting prose style and his easy-to-read historical and critical overviews make this the single best introduction to the study of the historical Jesus."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Ehrman admits that there are "something like eight zillion books written about Jesus." Then why add another book to this mountain of verbiage? Because, according to Ehrman, very few of these books are aimed at a popular audience; most are "inexcusably dull and/or idiosyncratic"Äthey don't consider the evidence and they scarcely show the view that is held by "the majority" of scholars. Unfortunately, this comes dangerously close to the pot calling the kettle black. Although Ehrman's writing is lively and thorough, he glosses over scholarly debate, making heavy use of phrases like "almost all scholars" and "most historians" and wrongly giving an illusion of certainty and agreement where there is none. He finds very little of historical value in the Gospels, seeing them as theological documents pasted together from a patchwork of sources after decades of oral change. A more balanced look at the scholarly debates can be found in Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?: A Debate Between William Lane Craig and John Donimic Crossman (LJ 1/99). Those desiring a more intensive introduction to the questions discussed here will find that Raymond Brown's An Introduction to the New Testament (LJ 2/15/98) repays the extra effort. Still, this is a well-written exposition of one side of an important scholarly debate; recommended for public and academic libraries.ÄEugene O. Bowser, Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

"Very readable. Useful especially for undergraduates and interested public."--Blake R. Grangaard, Heidelberg College "Jesus is a superb example of how scholarship can be as full of suspense and surprises as a well-plotted mystery."--The Los Angeles Times "As fine and succinct a gathering of the voluminous Jesus scholarship as you're likely to find."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An elegantly written, much-needed book....Ehrman's should be the first book for any lay reader interested in the historical Jesus."--Kirkus Reviews "[Ehrman's] warm, inviting prose style and his easy-to-read historical and critical overviews make this the single best introduction to the study of the historical Jesus."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)