A rather extensive list of original historical sources provides needed context and clarity on the authentic Jesus. Following is a representative list: 1) Numerous discoveries in modern Palestinian archaeology; 2) the excavated Dead Sea Scrolls; 3) modern social scientific studies pinpointing the time and place setting; 4) the historicity of the Pauline corpus; 5) polemical references to Jesus in the Hebrew Talmud; 6) a solid Hebraic synthesis underlying the Epistle of James; 7) the preservation of the indisputably authentic, mid-first-century Didache; 8) preserved remnants of the historical John the Baptizer; 9) universal themes surrounding ancient cultural storytelling and their likely impact on certain existent gospel strands; 10) miscellaneous historical details from Jewish historian Flavius Josephus; 11) a number of related fragments underpinning the 1st Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (again, possibly as early as mid-first-century); 12) an entire catalogue of historical documents left behind by the original Apostolic Fathers – a few very early in the formative years of Christianity; 13) crucial expert testimony from a number of modern day academic sources; 14) breakthrough findings by a scattering of classical historians.

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When we hear people say that the historical Jesus is lost to us, this series would hotly dispute such thinking. These two books are devoted to uncovering the historical figure. Based on real evidence (not devotional claims), the author is convinced a reasonable portrait has emerged. A portrait rarely, if ever, sketched in the postmodern era. In many instances various sources mentioned above offer crucial context to the narrative.

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For the benefit of readers, a list of chapters (both books) follows:

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“What We Have Heard” (384 pages approx.)

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Introduction: Athens and Dionysus

1 Desert Oasis

2 Secret Name

3 Historical Backdrop

4 Physical Evidence

5 Fractured Picture

6 Literacy

7 Oral Formula

8 Proselytizers

 

“Yeshu ha-Notzri” (354 pages approx.)

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1 Tallit and Tzitzit

2 Markan Mythos

3 Feeding Five Thousand

4 First Gospel

5 Why They Believed