Book #5: Killing Jesus by Bill O'Reilly

This is a fantastic book. I enjoyed both Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy, but I found this one to be even more interesting to me. O'Reilly acknowledges in the foreward that he is a practicing Catholic and that it's "almost trite" to call Jesus the most influential man who ever lived. Duggard and O'Reilly call their book "fact based" and detail their research in both the afterward and the extensive footnotes. They reference the Bible, specifically the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with the understanding that they are eye witness accounts and, thus, as reliable as any other text from the time. Plenty of other research is incorporated as well.

Duggard and O'Reilly tell the story of Jesus's life in an intriguing narrative. They have no problem noting when a particular detail or story is not readily supported by research. Of particular interest to me is their reference to prophecy from Old Testament scripture.

I also loved learning more about Ancient Rome. As someone who both taught Julius Caesar and watched the entire HBO series Rome, I'm basically an expert on Ancient Rome (read: sarcasm), but I did learn many things that connect my prior knowledge to my Biblical knowledge. The murder of Caesar is one starting point of the murder of Jesus -- two historical incidents that I never previously connected. Did you know that Octavian changed his name to Caesar Augustus after he defeated Marc Antony? THE Caesar Augustus from Luke 2:1!  No kidding! Reading this book made me smarter.

Most importantly to me, the book characterizes the humanity of Jesus. My faith tells me that he was a human being who walked the earth and struggled like we struggle (although he handled it better). This book presents the story of Jesus in a relatable way, but then details his gruesome torture and death in a way I've never read about it before. It's haunting.

Spoiler: O'Reilly does not speculate about whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead. That's not the purpose of the book. In the postscript, however, he contemplates the mysterious way in which a man with no resources (save charity) became the most influential man to ever live.

Killing Jesus is well worth the read.