Ratings12
Average rating3.7
If I could have rated this book 3.5 stars I would have. I certainly learned a lot from it, and it gave me many interesting questions and unsolved problems to ponder, but I felt like the book was too long, got a little slow at the end, and was written to too-wide of an audience. I would have appreciated reading something a little bit shorter and denser. Also felt like the author (a former evangelical turned agnostic), while trying really hard to remain unbiased, was ever so slightly snarky in his tone when he talked about Christian beliefs.
The most interesting parts were about Jesus' life and what early Christians wrote about him in the immediate aftermath of his death. Less interesting were the parts that delved deeper into theology, especially theological debates that happened centuries later. That stuff all started to blend together after a while, and he really didn't do a great job of differentiating it. Or maybe I was just bored at that point.
I did finish this book even more interested about what historians know about Jesus' life (vs. what the bible says about it) so I'll probably do some more reading here.