Richard Bauckham, “Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony” (second edition)

This is a prize-winning book, including an award from Christianity Today, and I read it because of endorsements by Lee Strobel (in The Case for the Real Jesus) and N.T. Wright (“a remarkable piece of detective work”).  The key theme — as the title suggests — is that the Gospels are based on eyewitness testimony. … [Read more…]

Louis Markos, “From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics”

Let’s start with the striking the cover art:  It features photos of statues of Achilles and Christ, with remarkably similar (suffering, eyes heavenward) visages. And, again without yet opening the book, there’s a C.S. Lewis quote on the back cover which might have served as an epigraph:  “The heart of Christianity is a myth which … [Read more…]

Hugh Hewitt, “The Happiest Life”

Hugh Hewitt is a friend.  I met him when we were both lawyers in the Reagan administration; since then he has continued to practice and teach law, but is better known as a political columnist and as a television and radio show host.  He’s also written over a dozen books.  And he’s a Christian. This … [Read more…]

Peter Thonemann, “The Hellenistic Age”

In order to understand the Bible, one needs to know something of the time and culture in which it was written, and so to understand the New Testament in particular, one needs to know something of the Hellenistic age.  That’s why, after reading a favorable review of this book in the Wall Street Journal — … [Read more…]

Paul W. Barnett, “Jesus and the Logic of History”

The author, an Australian, is an Anglican bishop.  I sought his book out because it was listed among the “[g]ood defenses of the historical reliability of the Gospels” for further reading by Richard Bauckham in Jesus:  A Very Short Introduction, and I had been impressed by Bauckham (Barnett, in turn, has a brief citation of … [Read more…]

Michael Reeves, “Theologians You Should Know”

The secondary title is, “An Introduction:  From the Apostolic Fathers to the 21st Century,” and the author is president and professor of theology at Union School of Theology in Oxford (and, to his credit, he quotes Oxfordian C.S. Lewis a lot).  It’s a very useful and engaging book. The chapters are: the apostolic fathers, Justin … [Read more…]