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A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is an introduction to the major portraits of Jesus found in the earliest historical sources.
List of contents
A Very Short Introduction
1 Imaginings: Making Jesus in our image
2 Sources: How we know what we know
3 Teacher: His words and their impact
4 Healer: The deeds that baffle
5 Israel: A nation on his shoulders
6 Christ: More than a surname
7 Judge: His pledge to bring justice
8 Friend: The scandal of his social life
9 Temple: The relocation of God’s presence
10 Saviour: The meaning of his death
11 Adam: The promise of his resurrection
12 Caesar: His subversion of an empire
13 God: His oneness with the Almighty
14 Servant: His preference for the lowly
Epilogue: Portrait of a follower of Jesus
About the author
John Dickson (PhD, Macquarie University) serves as the Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor of Biblical Evangelism and Distinguished Scholar in Public Christianity at Wheaton College. A speaker, historian, and media presenter, John is the author of more than 20 books, two of which became television documentaries. He also cohosted the documentary For the Love of God: How the Church is Better and Worse Than you Ever Imagined. He is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Sydney, a Visiting Academic in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University (2016-2021), and Distinguished Fellow in Public Christianity at Ridley College Melbourne. John presents Australia’s no.1 religion podcast, Undeceptions, exploring aspects of life, faith, history, culture, or ethics that are either much misunderstood or mostly forgotten.
Summary
Who was Jesus?
Historical sources portray a person who was complex, multi-layered, and often contradictory to the tidy portrait that much of modern Christianity paints him as. Even the gospel accounts render him as both judge and healer, teacher and temple, servant and savior.
A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is a persuasive and often challenging investigation into the historical figure found in the earliest sources. These sources, which include references both direct and indirect—from Roman, Jewish, and Christian accounts—offer us more than simple evidence that Jesus existed; they begin to form a picture that is both deeply credible and profoundly counterintuitive.
Each chapter explores the evidence for a different aspect of the most influential figure in human history, exploring:
- His words and their impact.
- The scandal of his social life.
- His preference for the poor and lowly.
- The meaning of his death and influence of his promises.
The goal is not to turn Jesus into something neater, more systematic and digestible; but to see him more clearly as someone who stretches our imaginations, confronts our beliefs, and challenges our lifestyles.
After two millennia of spiritual devotion and more than two centuries of modern critical research, we still cannot fit Jesus into a box—and this is as challenging as it is deeply compelling.
Additional text
Contemporary views of the person and mission of Jesus Christ are as varied as the kinds of faith that attach themselves to Christianity. From the somber Calvinists to the exuberant Word-Faith movement, practitioners of the Christian religious enterprise continue to find new and innovative ways of discovering the 'Man from Nazareth.' In this exuberantly joyful meditation, Dickson, honorary associate in the department of ancient history, Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, gathers the many facets of Jesus' life and explores each as one would study the facets of a valuable diamond. How can one man be both friend and judge, both God and servant? The author draws on ancient histories and Judeo-Christian religious studies to present a compelling and readable account of the complex figure that millions call Savior and Lord. There is no agenda except to place Jesus Christ before readers in ways that inform and refresh, inspire and encourage. This is a wonderful book and is highly recommended for readers, indeed seekers, at all levels.
