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The Quest of the Historical Jesus: The First Complete Edition

This is a serious, scholarly work. As such it was difficult to understand in some sections and endlessly pedantic in others. It is not a light read. For those not wishing to plumb the depths of 19th Century Higher Criticism I would suggest the biblical works of Asimov or Ehrman as a more readable alternative. 

The Quest of the Historical Jesus is really historiography; that is, it reviews and provides insight into the histories of Jesus written up to the date of publication. Well, the date of publication was 1910, so most of the histories of Jesus were nineteenth century German histories. If you are into that kind of writing, it is a pretty good book.

It's a "heavy" read. I saw a quote from Albert Schweitzer's first edition and thought "That can't be the Schweitzer I know." It was not. The quote was taken out of context. Schweitzer explores and evaluates the major writers that have written about the historical person of Jesus. Most of these writers have a theory or position as to whether Jesus was a divine messiah or a radical preacher. Not all of these writers were good historians; many cherry picked through the gospels to prove their points.


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