An Unofficial 'The Rest Is History' Reading List

287: Jesus Christ: The Mystery (Part 1)

December 19, 2022

Description

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Books Referenced

Gospel according to St. Luke

Author: St. Luke

Context:

Referenced at the opening of the episode as the source of the famous passage about Jesus's birth, described as 'probably written at the end of the first century AD'

The Quran

Author: Various (Islamic tradition)

Context:

Discussed in comparison to Jesus as examples of how the divine entered the world - for Muslims the Quran is the word of God, compared to Christians viewing Jesus as God the son

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Author: Robert Bauckham

Context:

Explicitly mentioned as a book: 'there's a guy called Robert Baucom who's written a book called Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. It came out, I think, about 15 years ago.' Discussed in context of arguments that Mark's gospel was written by an eyewitness transcribing Peter's account

The Jewish War

Author: Josephus

Context:

Described as 'an account of the Judean war' written by Josephus after he was captured by the Romans and became a Roman citizen. Key source for understanding first century Judea

Jewish Antiquities

Author: Josephus

Context:

Described as 'a very, very long account history of the Judeans' written by Josephus, containing references to John the Baptist, Jesus, and James. The famous 'Testimonium Flavianum' passage about Jesus comes from this work

The Twelve Caesars

Author: Suetonius

Context:

Referenced when discussing Suetonius as 'the biographer of the 12 Caesars' who mentions someone called 'Crestus' in the reign of Claudius and references Christians in context of the Great Fire