12th July, 2009

DAVID ADAMS

Jesus: A Short Life

John Dickson

Lion UK, 2008
ISBN-10: 0745952801
ISBN-13: 978-0745952802

"Written in an easily digestible style, it’s a great place for someone to start looking at an historical perspective of Jesus without getting bogged down in turgid academic texts."

John Dickson, director of the Centre for Public Christianity and a lecturer at Macquarie University’s Department of Ancient History, is upfront about the premise of Jesus: A Short Life. His aim, he says, is to provide an historical view of the life of Jesus. No more. No less. And while, as may be expected, his book touches on many issues that move beyond this realm, it’s a premise to which he endeavours to stick to rigourously.

As he concludes: “History can only ever hope to provide ‘indications’ of the reality of Christian faith. It demonstrates that the story at the heart of the Gospels is neither a myth nor a fraud, but a broadly credible account of a short first-century life. Such indications are certainly consistent with the decision to devote oneself to the risen Christ but they in no way compel that step. Other, more mysterious, factors also come into play...”

With that acknowledged, Jesus: A Short Life provides a good overview of the life of the historical Jesus for anyone - Christian or not - interested in finding out more about what ancient history says about Him.

Drawing on research and commentary from scholars around the world, Dickson illustrates how the many of the major events in Jesus’ life - including when and where He lived; His proclamation of the Kingdom of God; that He shared a final meal with his followers before he was handed over to Pontius Pilate and crucified; and, in reference to what Christian believe was His resurrection, that numerous men and women testified to seeing Him immediately after His death - can be shown to have an historical basis.

As he notes at the book’s start, Dickson’s text comes at a time when much has been made about the historical Jesus - from claims in Dan Brown’s controversial book, The Da Vinci Code, to recent television specials on ‘new’ archaelogical finds concerning the life of Jesus (recall the 2007 special The Tomb of Jesus?), and books by the likes of atheist Richard Dawkins and controversial US Bishop John Shelby Spong.

Indeed, Dickson spends quite a bit of time debunking some of the claims made by Dawkins and Spong - claims which, in Dawkin’s case at least, he says even go so far as to imply doubt over whether Jesus even existed (an implication which, Dickson says, shows Dawkins - in what he calls the “kindest” interpretation - “has only glanced at the margins of scholarship on Jesus”.)

At just 160 pages, it should be noted that Dickson’s account is written as an introduction to the subject for the layman and doesn’t set out to provide a comprehensive review of the matter. But, written in an easily digestible style, it’s a great place for someone to start looking at an historical perspective of Jesus without getting bogged down in turgid academic texts.

And it contains some fascinating little nuggets of history - did you know, for instance, that back around the time of Jesus’ death, figures such as Honi the Circledrawer, a holy man killed for refusing to curse his own people, and Rabbis Hillel and Shammai, founders of two prominent schools of Judaism, were far more famous names than that of Jesus of Nazareth (and yet, as Dickson points out, it is Jesus’ name that now looms over the last 2000 years of history).

Illustrated with some beautiful images - including historic works depicting events from the life of Christ, Jesus: A Short Life is a lively and challenging read, providing the reader with plenty to chew on and, for those interested in exploring the subject matter further, is a terrific point from which to jump off into a more in-depth study of the history of the life of Jesus.

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