Killing Jesus: A History turned out to be a page-turner for me,
after a slow--sometimes painfully, start.
The book is a very well-researched book that provides the
necessary cultural, historical and political background and context for the
reader to better appreciate and understand what is presented in the Gospels of
the New Testament. The book brings a sense of closure to what happened to
certain figures and places relevant to Jesus' death, such as Pilates and
Jerusalem, in a way that parallels the ending of some history-based movies. The
book also offers some explanations or answers to why certain events described
in the New Testament took place the way they did (e.g. the roles and positions
of the Pharisees, the relationships between and among the Temple, the political
figurehead of the Jews, and the Roman ruling class).
However, the book does not, nor apparently is its objective
to, answer the ultimate question--one that probably matters the most to many,
Christians and non-Christians alike, whether important biblical accounts of
Jesus, particularly his resurrection, are accurate or supported by any historical
accounts, apart from those in the Gospels. That defect, perhaps an
inevitable one, renders a sense of incompletion.
Despite the excellent art of story-telling demonstrated in
the book, there is no breakthrough in the book. Relying heavily on Scripture
itself on events concerning Jesus, the book offers little significant or new
insight into the life and death of Jesus. Killing Jesus as a book
therefore is largely cumulative over the existing Christian literature.
