Loading...QUESTION/REQUEST:
You did mention one thing above that I think would be good to expand on: What are good books to read about the life of Jesus (and related issues) based on scholarship but intended to the general, but intelligent, reader. I would like you to consider someday to publish here a list of solid books (from various points of view), other than what you have written since most of us are likely familiar with your work, about the life of Jesus, the growth of Christianity, solid theology from various perspectives, the history and description of first century life in the Roman world and other issues that are written based on valid historical and textual research that are intended for readers like me…well educated but not a scholar.
RESPONSE:
What follows is a bibliography just on the historical Jesus that I published once, over ten years ago now, supplemented with a few of the most significant works to appear since. The list is highly selective – mainly books that I think are either good or important (but not necessarily both J). (I don’t agree with the perspectives of a number of these; but they are all serious scholarship by real experts.) A full annotated bibliography done 17 years ago, Craig A. Evans, Life of Jesus Research: An Annotated Bibliography, rev. edition (New Testament Tools and Studies; 24; Leiden/New York/Köln: E. J. Brill, 1996), already contained 2045 entries of significant books and articles — and even this was not anywhere near exhaustive! And the books/articles keep coming out. In any event, if Bill O’Reilly had read even half as much as the following (or a *third*), he would’ve been in much better shape to write his own account…
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Very, very helpful. Thanks.
Would you mind also recommending –in this case for the layman – some good reliable books on the history of the church?
Ah, I’ll have to work on that one.
Bart, I find it interesting that only one of these is from the past 10 years and most are much older. Has scholarship on the subject dropped off considerably or has it just gotten a lot worse? i.e. Bill O’Reilly! Seems like now more than ever we have the most accurate historical data. The knowledge to interpret/decipher and the ability to utilize what has already been written, to present some really accurate information. Of course there always has to be some fill in/personal interpretation of some missing or misunderstood information, but with researchers like yourself who are highly educated and have dedicated their lives to the study of this subject I would think there would be more new work out there for our consumption? Thanks and great job on the blog! Mike
It’s because it’s an old list to which I simply added some of the best since…. I’m not sure how much more I’d add of recent stuff, but am open to suggestions.
Dr. Ehrman,
Great list! I’m wondering if sometime you could do a blog post (or series of posts) on a popular view of Apocalyptic-as-only-PoliticalMetaphor interpretation that’s springing up in evangelical circles. I think NT Wright in ‘Jesus and the Victory of God’ (along with Hank Hanegraaff on his radio show) popularized this view. Saying that when Jesus said “The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven”, it was code-speak referring to Jesus going *UP TO* heaven in vindication, not *down from* heaven in his second coming. They’ll point to how Daniel 9’s context seems to have the Son of Man going up, not down… and then say Jesus (or Mark/Matt/Luke) had to have meant the same thing. That the “cosmic imagery” is really just political turmoil invested with its theological significance, so that “stars falling” or “moon going dark” etc. couldn’t have been intended literally, because its obvious allusions to Isaiah and the prophets, who talked like this too about wars and political unrest (although, I don’t know how they know Isaiah didn’t intend it literally, and was just wrong also haha).
Are there ways scholars can determine if “apocalyptic language” was more probably intended literally or metaphorically?
Best,
Ben
OK, I’ll add it to my list. But it would be hard to do it on a blog — it’s pretty complicated. I don’t know *how* Wright and others have determined that Jesus didn’t really mean what he was saying….
Well, not necessarily an in-depth discussion of the entire apocalyptic genre. But, just some examples of his interpretation of the Olivet Discourse or the parables of Matt. 24/25, and then you explaining why you think Wright is wrong. In fact, it would be awesome to invite Tom Wright onto the blog and have a back-and-forth debate with him over the topic (similar to how you had Ben Witherington guest post)… I remember watching the debate you had with Wright on ‘the problem of suffering’ and he mentioned you misunderstood apocalyptic, and you were like “Uh, no. I’ve studied it my whole career.” But that issue was never returned to. It’d be great to see you guys argue it out! Thoughts?
Thanks. I’ll think about it! (I’ve asked a number of scholars to participate on the blog, and almost always they’re way too busy)
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a comprehensive list of books. I appreciate it.
The only book I would add to your list (for obvious reasons) is Jesus The Jew No One Knows by D.C. Smith. 😉
“…if Bill O’Reilly had read even half as much as the following (or a *third*), he would’ve been in much better shape to write his own account…..”
This would assume that he had any interest in accuracy.
Some of these books look very promising. I’ve enjoyed the writings of some of these scholars, particularly Borg, Dunn, Fredriksen and Vermes. There’s nothing worse than for a young historian reading a supposedly objective book on the person of Jesus, only to find attempts by Evangelical fundamentalists trying to “prove” that the first followers of Jesus thought he was God Himself…
Hi Bart, great list ! A comment: I think that Perrin is not Normal.
Well, I mean, *his name* is not Normal – when you mis-typed it became Normal . 🙂
I would add a text to your list:
G. Theissen, A. Merz, “Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide” Fortress Press, 1998
And, of course, this *unmissable* online lesson from one of your best admirers:
http://youtu.be/XORm2QtR-os
I can’t believe that this guy really tried to argument with you on historical Jesus.. and his forthcoming book recently passed a peer review, so… make room in your list, dr. Ehrman ! 😉
Can you do something like this on Old Testament scholarship?
Not as easily — but I’ll look into it!
I recently read where biblical Hebrew has few abstract terms and I wondered how Koine Greek compared with Attic and modern languages in this area.
Also, what do scholars say about the problems in the transmission of Jesus teaching from Aramaic to Greek?
I don’t think there were more or fewer abstract terms in koine vs. attic Greek.
They say a *lot* about Aramaic to Greek!
What are your thoughts on James Tabor’s hypothesis, as presented in ‘The Jesus Dynasty’? I skimmed through it the other day. I was a little disappointed. Seemed a bit overly speculative. He works at the same university as yourself, right? North Carolina?
He teaches at UNC-Charlotte, a different institution wihtin the UNC system (I’m at Chapel Hill). Yes, most scholars find his views in this book overly speculative. But he’s a smart and interesting scholar!
Interesting you included the works of Evans, Johnson, and Wright. While they have been critical of you ( probably your change to agnosticism, in my opinion ) it appears that you have kept an air respectability and professionalism. Of this I salute you . Love the blog and best wishes.
I very much agree with you about James Tabor. Have you thought about making a presentation/lecture at one of his United Israel conferences? Have you ever been invited? 🙂
Nope, never invited!
Have you read James Tabor’s book, “Paul and Jesus”?
I have it and have looked at it, but haven’t read it carefully. He’s on the blog if you want to ask him a question about it.
Excellent! Thank you so much for this list. It is hard as a layman sometimes to be able to discern real scholarship from the popular junk. I think this is why so many people get caught up in whatever is out there that supports their own bias.
Remember, you said that you would read Zealot by Reza Aslan and do a review.
We’ll?
Still need to read it! Especially since my students’ book reviews are due in three weeks!
I have to admit I really enjoyed Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code et. al, so of course I was disappointed to learn all of the liberties he had taken with the facts. Do you know of any historical fiction from the period which deals with the historical record more respectfully? I realize this may not really be your thing but I thought I’d ask anyway.
You might look at my book Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code, which deals wit hthis topic.
Do you know of a good book on the parables of Jesus–purpose, originality, how to interpret them, and so on.
Thank you
The best recent one is by Amy-Jill Levine.