Is Jesus History?

John Dickson combines top-notch scholarship with an accessible, conversational style as he explains the ancient evidence surrounding the historical Jesus. Is Jesus History? compares how we trust statements from our family, friends, and news outlets with how we trust ancient testimonies of all sorts, including Aristotle’s The Art of Rhetoric, Luke’s Gospel, and Pliny the Younger’s Letter 6 about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Dickson’s even-handed approach towards the evidence invites readers to draw their own conclusions about the Jesus of history.

With characteristic clarity and excellence of scholarship John Dickson examines the historical evidences for Jesus. His accessible style and bang up to date sources make this a must read for anyone who is serious about investigating Jesus.

Is Jesus History? is a provocative little book. John Dickson writes engagingly and personably—as you read, you can imagine having a coffee (or a pint) with him and laughing over the idiosyncrasies of the field of biblical studies, even while appreciating the hard work scholars do. Indeed, this book reads with deep appreciation for scholars, and thus serves as a translation of the current state of conversations in the field that can complicate the average person’s understanding of who Jesus of Nazareth might have been. His summaries of the various perplexing questions people have about Jesus are erudite and disarming, inviting people to reevaluate their assumptions and reencounter the Jesus of history in the Jesus of the Bible.