KDPeffley

too-open-minded, Over the past year, I've been doing lots of reading on the historical Jesus, and I find it both liberating and sometimes inspiring. There are two authors that I would recommend, but there are many others. One is John Dominic Crossan. He's been researching the historical Jesus for over 30 years. He was formerly a Roman Catholic priest. I've especially enjoyed two books of his. One is The Greatest Prayer, which covers the meaning of the Lord's Prayer verse by verse. Crossan's main theme is that Jesus was a peasant on a mission proclaiming that the kingdom of God, i.e. the cause of justice and love, was here and now, not necessarily in a here-after. The other book I most enjoyed was The Power of Parable. I happen to think it's his best book. He has many others, and they are very scholarly and sometimes tedious to read through, but don't take my word for it, as you may like them as well. The other author I enjoyed was Bart Ehrman. Once a strong believing fundamentalist, Ehrman became a biblical scholar debunking the ideas of biblical inerrancy he learned as an evangelical Christian. He has done a lot of work pointing out the discrepancies of the bible and emphasizing that it was written not by God, but by human beings. I very much enjoyed two of his books, Misquoting Jesus and Jesus Interrupted. For a really good comprehensive understanding of the early history of Christianity (the first 400 years) I would strongly recommend reading From Jesus to Christianity by L. Michael White. White is also an historian and scholar. His book was the basis for the PBS series with the same name as the book. I have fully enjoyed all of these books and many others. The thing that I really like about John Dominic Crossan is that his books have a theological perspective that is very engaging and inspiring, and it's fully backed up by his research. Cheers! Kevin