Jesus: The Evidence (Paperback)

by Ian Wilson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A readable but amateurish view of the "historical Jesus." Wilson is an English journalist trained in history and interested in religion (with books on the Shroud of Turin and reincarnation). In this generously illustrated volume he surveys all the usual sources, from the references to Jesus in Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny to the New Testament and the Shroud. He argues (in line with contemporary Jewish scholars like Gexa Vermes and selectively appropriating the radical Protestant Reimarus-Strauss-Bultmann tradition) that Jesus was a tremendously gifted but essentially orthodox rabbi whom later generations of Christians transmogrified into God. This is, obviously, a credible thesis, but Wilson simply doesn't have the knowledge to present it effectively. He begins by wasting time on the thoroughly exploded notion that Jesus never existed. He sets about disproving the historicity of the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke, as if scholars hadn't long since determined that these are primarily composed of haggadic midrash and not meant as history. He erroneously claims that "no gospel regarded Jesus as God."(John?) He follows dubious experts like Hugh Schonfield and Morton Smith off on idle tangents (Jesus the hypnotist). He anachronistically applies terms like plagiarism and fabrication to the story of the Flood and the Pastoral Epistles. He calls the Greek of John's gospel "fluent," while failing to explain where James, "the brother of the Lord," got the truly fluent Greek in the Epistle attributed to him. Well-meant but inept. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Ian Wilson takes you to the archaeological digs, shows you the crumbling documents analyzed by scholars, and highlights the latest discoveries, including recently uncovered bones and papyrus, that affirm that Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected in the Holy Land.

Product Details

• Paperback: 225 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc.; 1 edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895262398
• ISBN-13: 978-0895262394
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #872,308 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, factual, well supported and fun, September 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jesus: The Evidence (Hardcover)

Wilson is a master of delivering the most information in the fewest words. His style is fascinating and clearly credible. I simply had to read this book in two settings. I came away with an excellent understanding of the short version of remarkably complex research material. My only problem with the work is I could not understand how such an objective and factual work could be written by a person who is seemingly so devoted to promoting the case for the existance of Jesus. The reader is treated with total respect throughout the book...no spoon feeding here. Yet, the material is so well documented and presented the reader can honestly draw his or her own conclusions. Thank you Mr. Wilson...I Greatly enjoyed your work and must read more.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unbiased look at the most controversial topic of all-time, January 25, 2002

By	Robbie Port "robbieport" (Minot, ND United States) - See all my reviews

No matter what religion or creed you are, or aren't, you cannot deny the fact that Jesus: The Evidence is a thoroughly-researched, well-written book.

Ian Wilson, who tells us that he is a practicing Christian, sets aside his bias to write a very authoratative book on this subject. In it, he examines the gospels and their supposed and suspected writers, archaeological sites in Jerusalm and Nazareth and a myriad of sources both pro-Christian and anti-Christian.

His views and findings are unique and he expresses them well. His theories are very intelligent. Mr. Wilson has established himself, with this book, as an authentic biblical scholar.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Logical leads to ancient questions about Christ, January 7, 2002

By A Customer

The author, Ian Wilson, must truly be commended for investigating, and furthermore putting together a book about the proof and lack of proof for the numerous aspects of the life of Jesus Christ, which has no bias in it. Normally such books relating to Christian matters with the word "evidence" in the title tend to be nothing more than biased, mindless and self-indulgent in their own beliefs. As an atheist/agnostic, I was glad to find that the author kept an open mind on both ends, leading neither towards skepticism nor theism, leaving the reader of the book to discover their own answers about the "evidence" for Christ.

Although many reviews will say that this book allowed them more evidence for the proof of Christ's existence and divinity as God, I would have to say that the text leaned rather the other way. While it does establish that Christ was more than likely a flesh and blood human being who lived and taught in the first century, many references, scientific pieces of evidence, and even passages as stated from the Bible which are brought forth tend to take Christ off the pedestal that modern day Christianity has stuck him upon. After reading this, my questioning of Christianity and my lack of belief has only been fueled even more.

Chapters such as "The Fallibility Of The Gospels", "Did Jesus Even Exist?", and "Man Of Miracles" establish some basic scientific, historical, and modern leads to show that Christ was a teacher and a devout Jew who was only trying to put a new twist of forgiveness on his religion, not trying to start a revolution or whole following. Christ's miracles are also explained through various processes of hypnosis and other mind-body connections, showing that Jesus was more of a magician and hypnotist rather than a miracle worker being guided by the hand of God.

For the Christian reader seeking evidence of Christ, this book will only go so far to show that he probably existed as a human being. As an atheist/agnostic, I have never doubted the existence of a human and physical Jesus Christ in history. However, the fact that he was God in human form has always seemed ludicrous to me, and this book has not proved me wrong or changed my mind about the matter. Historically this is a great piece of work though, outlining how the various evidence was discovered, and thankfully stating the fact that the Bible has numerous flaws and historical errors in it, many of them serious ones, which many modern-day Christians don't like to accept in their weak minds. I would recommend this for either side of the debate, skeptic or theist. But the theist had better be prepared to see that Christ wasn't necessarily all he was made out to be, and the full-blown skeptic might have to accept that humanly, Christ was real.

God will not be proven or disproven. That is why the subject is a debate and not scientific fact. However, in my mind God has been everything except completely disproven. Either way, the author must be commended for presenting the evidence without bias and altogether writing a great book.