Life of Jesus

In this classic work, renowned rationalist & scholar of religion Ernest Renan is the 1st biographer of Jesus to present him as entirely human. Renan describes Jesus as a popular religious leader & self-proclaimed Messiah who increasingly advocated the overthrow of Roman rule & the establishment of a theocracy. To support his apocalyptic vision, Renan's Jesus was not above using trickery & deception, as in the raising of Lazarus. The impression left by Jesus on his disciples was so profound that they began to proclaim his resurrection & presence among them shortly after his death. Even conceding Christ's historicity, it's still seriously debated by modern biblical scholars whether a reliable life of Jesus can be gleaned from the gospels. For this very reason, the questions raised by Renan a century ago about the facts surrounding Jesus' life & the authorship of the gospels are still far from settled. The Life of Jesushas provoked both controversy & praise since its publication in 1863.