Killing Jesus: A History

the most famous human being the world has ever known. But Jesus had no infrastructure. He had no government behind him. He had no corporation. He and his disciples depended upon the charity of others for food and shelter, and they had no organization other than a dozen faithful followers. In the history of mankind, no one has achieved worldwide fame with no outside resources whatsoever.
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    Since his death, Jesus has played a continual role throughout history. The legalization of Christianity by the Roman Empire, in A.D. 313, soon led to its expansion into every part of the Western world. Not until the Prophet Muhammad began the Islamic religion in 610 did Christianity have any meaningful competition in terms of numbers of followers. Muhammad considered Jesus a prophet and is quoted in the Quran as saying, “When Jesus came with clear signs, he said: ‘Now I have come to you with wisdom, and in order to make clear to you some of the points on which you dispute. Therefore, fear God and obey me.’”
    In the United States, George Washington used Christianity as a rallying point for his colonial army, saying in his First General Order to his troops, “Every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.”
    Abraham Lincoln also referred to Jesus in a wartime setting: “When I went to Gettysburg and looked upon the graves of our dead heroes who had fallen in defense of their country, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.”
    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of course based his entire ministry and civil rights struggle on the teachings of Jesus. Also, his nonviolent philosophy was adapted in part from the ordeal Jesus experienced. About enemies, Dr. King said the following: “Just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.” 1
    President Ronald Reagan picked up on that theme: “He promised there will never be a dark night that does not end. And by dying for us, Jesus showed how far our love should be ready to go—all the way.” 2
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    In the wake of writing Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy , Martin Dugard and I were excited to take on this project. But putting together Killing Jesus was exceedingly difficult. We had to separate fact from myth based upon a variety of sources, some of which had their own agendas. But I believe we have brought you an accurate account of not only how Jesus died, but also the way he lived and how his message has affected the world.
    Thanks again for reading our book.

SOURCES
    Researching and writing a book about the life and death of Jesus was much more daunting than either of our past two efforts. There was no aid from YouTube, which, in the case of Killing Kennedy , made it possible to watch President Kennedy’s speeches and many public appearances and then describe them in great detail. And there wasn’t even media coverage, as in the time of Abraham Lincoln, making it possible to glean facts from newspaper depictions of events for Killing Lincoln . And while the Internet is a treasure trove of information about the life and times of Jesus, the information on most sites is contradictory, depending upon one’s theology; hearsay is often quoted as truth; or information proved to be completely wrong, once double- and triple-checked against other sources.
    So researching Killing Jesus required a plunge into classical works such as the four Gospels and the Jewish historian Josephus. These sources provided a jumping-off point, giving us the basics, and then demanded new levels of deeper research to tell the story in as much detail as possible.
    The crucifixion, to take one example of this type of inquiry, is widely recorded. But telling the story of what it was like to die on the cross required looking into the type of wood that comprised the crucifix, the nature of men who did the killing, the physiological effects of crucifixion on the body, and the origins of this most grisly execution—and many other small details that eventually either were filed away as unnecessary background information or found their way onto the page.
    The historical record may not have been as immediately accessible as that