Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels

What was the true Jesus like? What can we really know of his life? Distinguished historian Michael Grant, author of The Twelve Caesars and The Rise of the Greeks, offers an illuminating account of his own fascinating search for the historical Jesus. For Dr. Grant, the essential "ridle of the New Testament" is the problem of deciding which portions of the Gospels refer authentically to the career and teaching of Jesus - and which are subsequent additions or inventions by the evangelists influenced by intervening events such as the rise of the church and the First Jewish Revolt against the Romans.Dr. Grant looks at these Gospels with the historians eye, treating them as he would any other works of ancient literature capable of yielding historical information. The picture of Jesus that emerges is compelling, in some respects strikingly unfamiliar - and sure to intrigue all readers interested in the life of Jesus.