God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism

The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries

Rodney Stark · 246 pages

The idea that Christianity started as a clandestine movement among the poor is a widely accepted notion. Yet it is one of many myths that must be discarded if we are to understand just how a tiny messianic movement on the edge of the Roman Empire became the dominant faith of Western civilization. In a fast-paced, highly readable book that addresses beliefs as well as historical facts, Rodney Stark

Asimov's Guide to the Bible: The Old and New Testaments, 2 Vols

Isaac Asimov · 1,295 pages

A fantastic read for anyone interested in organised religion and history. He takes the reader on a journey of the bible through the eyes of the authors and readers. By providing historical backgrounds to the times and the peoples for whom the bible was writtten, he helps explain why this book should NEVER be taken literally. I'm sure parts are outdated by new research by now but it is still a legi

The Historical Figure of Jesus

E.P. Sanders · 337 pages

In this influential historical study, E.P Sanders examines Jesus of Nazareth within the social, political, and religious world of first-century Judaism. Drawing on biblical scholarship, historical sources, and the latest academic research, reconstructs what can be reliably known about Jesus' life, teachings, actions, and the movement that formed around him. Rather than focusing on doctrine or late

Killing Jesus: A History

Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard · 293 pages

The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly two thousand years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God. Killing Jesus will take readers inside Jesus's life

The Early Church

Henry Chadwick · 304 pages

The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family and the Birth of Christianity

James D. Tabor · 363 pages

Based on a careful analysis of the earliest Christian documents and recent archaeological discoveries, The Jesus Dynasty offers a bold new interpretation of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity. Biblical scholar Tabor brings us closer than ever to the historical Jesus. He sheds new light on Jesus' relationship with John the Baptizer, the role played by his brother James, and how Paul'

When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome

Richard E. Rubenstein · 267 pages

"Three hundred years after Jesus' crucifixion, the Roman Empire witnessed the first major turning point in the history of Christianity. The violent debate, now known as the Arian Controversy, lasted more than sixty years, dividing the Roman Empire and forever changing the face of the Christian Church. Was Jesus of Nazareth God Himself, walking the earth in human form? Or was he a uniquely holy man

The early Christians in Rome

H. D. M. Spence-Jones · 409 pages

Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus

Thomas Cahill · 368 pages

A fresh look at the impact of Jesus & early Christianity on the shaping of Western civilization.

The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant

John Dominic Crossan · 507 pages

Reveals the historical Jesus by combining peasant anthropology, ancient history, and textual analysis.

Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth

Bart D. Ehrman · 361 pages

In Did Jesus Exist? historian and Bible expert Bart Ehrman confronts the question, "Did Jesus exist at all?" Ehrman vigorously defends the historical Jesus, identifies the most historically reliable sources for best understanding Jesus’ mission and message, and offers a compelling portrait of the person at the heart of the Christian tradition. Known as a master explainer with deep knowledge of

The Bible as History

Werner Keller · 413 pages

A History of the Jews

Paul Johnson · 573 pages

Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths

Karen Armstrong · 476 pages

"Jerusalem has been venerated for centuries as a Holy City by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. How this came to be and what it means both to the people of Jerusalem and to millions around the world is now richly told by the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed A History of God.". "In every major religion, a "holy place" has helped men and women define their own place, indeed their own im

The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology: An A-Z Guide to the Myths and Legends of the Ancient World

Arthur Cotterell, Rachel Storm

The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason

Charles Freeman · 470 pages

How the early Christian Church bent the intellectual climate of the Mediterranean world from one of active and questioning inquiry to an encouragement of the subordination of the mind to authority and acceptance of incomprehensibility as the will of God.

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

Riane Eisler · 261 pages

"In prehistorical times, Eisler argues, women and men lived together in egalitarian communities devoted to nurturance; with the imposition of male domination, female values gave way to creeds of hierarchy, aggression, power, obedience. Eisler, a futurist, posits a new society based on the recovery of more humane values."--Library journal (6/1/85).

Who Wrote the New Testament? The Making of the Christian Myth

Burton L. Mack · 336 pages

The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation & the Evidence That Could Change History

Simcha Jacobovici, Charles Pellegrino · 240 pages

In 1980, workers at a Jerusalem construction site accidentally uncovered a cache of bone boxes from early Christian times. When reports about the crypt discovery leaked out 16 years later, the London Sunday Times headlined the story as "The Tomb That Dare Not Speak Its Name." Now the full story will be told. In 2005, documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici obtained permission to break through the

The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words, 1000 BCE – 1492 CE

Simon Schama · 512 pages

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts

Israel Finkelstein, Neil Asher Silberman · 400 pages

"In The Bible Unearthed two leading scholars, an archaeologist and a historian, combine a tour of the field of biblical archaeology with a explanation of how and why the Bible's historical saga differs so dramatically from the archaeological finds. They explain what the Bible says about ancient Israel and show how it diverges sharply from archaeological reality. They then offer a new version of t

Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical

Walter Burkert · 498 pages

A History of Religious Ideas 1: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries

Mircea Eliade · 489 pages

Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years

Philip Jenkins · 328 pages

Jesus Wars reveals how official, orthodox teaching about Jesus was the product of political maneuvers by a handful of key characters in the fifth century. Jenkins argues that were it not for these controversies, the papacy as we know it would never have come into existence and that today's church could be teaching some-thing very different about Jesus. It is only an accident of history that one gr