I have never read Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard books before (apparently they wrote three other, highly successful, popular history books titled "Killing Lincoln", "Killing Kennedy" and "Killing Reagan") so I was just curious - as usual - what they have to say about one of my favourite subjects, namely search for a real, historical person behind the story about Jesus Christ. Perhaps this fascination started way back with Dan Brown and it slowly continued from there - "Holy Blood,Holy Grail", "The case for Christ", "Rex Deus", "The Passover plot", books by Lynn Picknett and Colin Wilson, "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth", "Murder at Golgotha", you name it, I have already poked my nose in there. Every single of these authors had a different approach, some even suggest this is just a combination of several previous traditional beliefs (highly possible), however my opinion is that story is based on real, historical figure but with time embellished beyond recognition in order to suit ruling classes (church and kings, hand in hand) therefore we have this strange paradox of religion that initially appealed to outcasts, poor and powerless, just to become a legal weapon in hands of the powers. Jesus himself would probably recoil in horror upon seeing what Spanish inquisition or conquistadors did in the name of religion. All this books tried - one way or another - to lift the veil from something that happened 2 000 years ago and so far Reza Aslan and Hugh J. Schonfield in my opinion, went the furthest in explaining what kind of person a historical Jesus might have been, however, this book really goes even further and now presents this ancient story as a popular history book - written as a fast-paced, bombastic thriller brimming with interesting historical facts but mostly speculations.
For the first time ever, I felt like I am reading the actual, true version of what was happening long, long ago in the far away corner of mighty Roman empire. It is quite an achievement because we are all familiar with the story, but this story has been so stylised trough the century (via rituals, ornate celebrations, Latin language and basically highly theatrical show) that we grew to just accept it - in fact, we were even told to accept it without questions - and now, suddenly, there is somebody who paint the familiar picture with strong colours and brings ancient Jerusalem to life. Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard meticulously researched historical period and carefully present the moment in time - what it meant to have been born in Judea at that time, what kind of armour & clothing Herod's soldiers wore as they marched into slaughter of the Innocents, detailed descriptions of Julius Cesar, Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Octavian (Caesar Augustus) and Tiberius. They explain what all these religious traditions and practices meant (Passover), they describe Temple in Jerusalem and what it looked like (we actually understand the architectural plan of it, there was a chamber of the Lepers, amongst other rooms), how people lived in Nazareth, what did they eat, wore - they even describe what was probably hanging above the doors of Jesus home:
"Mary and Joseph are devout in their faith and have gone to great lengths to pass this love of God on to Jesus. A small wooden box containing a parchment scroll hangs on their doorpost. On it is written the Shema, that most elemental of Jewish prayers: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” It is a prayer that the family recites upon rising in the morning and after bringing the animals into the house at bedtime each night."
Of course, this is all a speculation - we cannot for sure know was Shema really hanging above the doorstep of Joseph and Mary, or were they called by these names in the first place. But by researching into the world of ancient Judea, we understand this is how people lived back than and in all probability most of the homes actually had Shema at the entrance of the house. So far, the book is very enjoyable and engaging reading - also very breezy, you can simply wallow in zillions of historical details that paint the picture with clear, bright colours. At this point I just came to John the Baptist (who as a wandering priest precedes Jesus) and naturally its all really interesting because I always loved the subject. I suspect that John the Baptist will soon end up brushed under the carpet, because this is what catholic church always did - they couldn't really ignore his part of the story so they made him official predecessor although everything points at the fact that he was very important preacher indeed and large amount of his followers eventually joined Jesus, who might have followed his teachings. (I always look between the lines when it comes to John the Baptist, because the whole story is absolutely fascinating)
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Finished the book. It was surprisingly fast reading because the writing style was just so skillful & fast paced that I actually couldn't put it down. Of all books about Jesus, this was probably the most accessible - perhaps this is the book I was waiting for all this years. The only slight disappointment is in the way authors clearly stayed away from any controversy and were following New Testament almost literary to a letter, without once even considering different approach (Mary Magdalene, for example is still a prostitute for them, although latest historical research suggest this was not the case). It was entertaining and exciting read but it could have been completely different if the authors were not so reverential.
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