Books like The Jesus of the Early Christians — picked by fans

This seminal work from the 19th century remains the most eagle-eyed analysis of the four gospels.

It demonstrated the absurdity and futility of all attempts to vindicate the Jesus stories as genuine history by showing their legendary character. I have learned more about historical-critical methodology from this one book than from all others, and I have pretty much read them all.

Brandon sets forth a reasonable and compelling case for viewing the historical Jesus as one of several anti-Roman insurgents.

He collects narrative oddities that make good sense as loose ends that escaped early attempts to whitewash Christianity’s militant origins, e.g., the shifting of the blame for Jesus’ execution from the Romans to the Jews.

This immensely learned expert in Old and New Testament, as well as Jewish and Christian history, shows how various items in the gospels make the best, most natural sense as clues that Jesus was first remembered as something like a Hasidic saint.

A very eye-opening rereading of the gospels through Jewish eyes. This book taught me some crucial things about the original meaning of the phrase “the son of man” and many other things.

And by the way, his name is pronounced “Ver-MESH.”

The author, also a personal friend, has written a book full of surprising insights adding up to, again, the purely mythic character of Jesus.

I had read the New Testament many, many times, but Doherty’s book repeatedly startled me with gospel details and their implications that I could not believe I had never noticed before! He argues that the first Christians believed in a celestial Christ who never lived as a man on earth.

This is a book that captured my imagination about thirty years ago. It uses New Testament scholarship to reconstruct and imagine what it might have been like to live in Judah and Galilee at the time of Jesus but never to have met him in person—hence the title the Shadow of the Galilean. It was the first book I’d come across that used scholarship to imagine what it was actually like to live then. I’ve been thinking about that book ever since and it was what inspired me to write my book.

If your kid is curious and loves to know wild, random facts, this is the book for you.

This book is chock-full of interesting, obscure details about life in the 1st century. This book not only teaches kids what the world was like when Jesus was alive, but it increases their engagement with their faith. It’s fun, silly, and you’ll need more than one copy if you have multiple kids, because they’ll inevitably fight over it, just like mine.

To my mind, this one is a game-changer. It seems a niche subject—the ways that Jesus’ death is interpreted in NT texts as a sacrifice—but, Man Alive, it was one of the most eye-opening and engrossing books I’ve read in years.

Rillera argues that many Christians have significantly misunderstood Jesus’ death. All that stuff about Jesus taking the punishment for our sins and dying so we don’t have to, he says, is not in the Bible! Sounds nuts, right? That’s why I found it such an arresting book.

And the resulting teaching on Jesus’ death makes a heck of a lot more sense to me. I love books that make me rethink stuff I took for granted. This is one. (Warning: a tightly argued book, so demands some concentration.)

Miley does similar things in Becoming Fire as Miller does in Friendship with Jesus but with her own flavor.

Every week, she camps on a different story of the Bible.

You walk a mile in the sandals of a different character each day. That way, you develop a deeper understanding of the passage than you would if you just read it once and connected with the characters you naturally understand. 

Take the story about the sisters, Mary and Martha. Everyone relates to Martha who's super busy. That's our culture these days, right? But not as many people relate to Mary who camps at Jesus’ feet wanting to take in everything He has to say. 

I certainly didn't until God Mary'd me so much so that I ended up writing a book about it.

Through Becoming Fire, God will personalize the Scriptures for you, too!

When I first discovered a copy of The Singer—left well-worn and dog-eared by its previous owner—I felt I had immediately picked up a book that was written in a beautiful ancient language.

In its simplistic style, the story explored an entire society through the lens of their need for truth, sacrifice, and redemption. The story spoke to me in a way none ever had. I was left in a whirl of soul-searching—critiquing my own world and its dominant values and ideals, examining my spiritual beliefs. But most of all, I was left in a state of quiet wonder.

The truth really was plain to see. Beautiful and simplistic, I just needed to open my eyes and take hold of it.

I love both books in this duology—this one and its sequel, The Road to Cana. Renowned author Anne Rice not only depicts the life of Jesus as a child and young adult, but she also uses a first-person point of view.

This bold narrative choice connects us readers very deeply with Jesus as a character. We are immersed in the inner life of his thoughts, feelings and motivations, and so we get to share in his internal conflicts. The Jesus in these novels is a complex protagonist who experiences human emotions and drives but also must grapple with divine powers and perceptions. It is a coming-of-age story in which Jesus must reconcile his dual identities as both a human being and a divine entity.