Javaman

I've not read many but I'd like to suggest:

Jesus : A Life by A.N. WILSON

TerryDucDaul

Andreas83,

I have heard that the book by Earl Doherty ("The Jesus Puzzle") is good. But I am not always sure that people are giving good advice until I've read it for myself. I too, have been looking for some good books on the subject of the New Testament. There is a female author who I see sometimes associated with Doherty in lists of books. I don't know if she just writes similar books or what.

I don't know what the Di Vinci Code is about, but I hear that it is good. I am sure that it must have a lot of conjecture. There seems to be some talk now about a new book which is coming out soon. Something like "Caesar's Messiah." Does anyone know anything about that book? Thanks.

Terry

Diogenes the Cynic

The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant by John Dominic Crossan is one of the seminal books on HJ.

Who Wrote the New Testament? : The Making of the Christian Myth by Burton Mack is an excellent introduction to NT scholarship

The Jesus Puzzle by Earl Doherty is one of the definitive books on the mythicist perspective (and Doherty is one of the most discussed authors on IIDB).

The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version is a favorite of mine and boasts some of the best translations i've seen.

The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus by Robert Funk details the conclusions of the Jesus Seminar.

The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus is the follow up to that one.


I would also recommend any of Bart Ehrman's work for his accessibility and readable style. He provides some good introduction to the material.

Speedkill

I think Koester is a good starting place. The first volume is pretty dense and boring at times, but it's not too horrible. Mack's book, which I read before Koester (I'm a beginner at this as well), seemed to gloss over a lot of what I wanted to know.