Whose Historical Jesus? by William E. Arnal jargon-free, organized essays that convey both the centrality and the complexity of deciphering the historical Jesus. Essays range from traditional to modern and postmodern and address both recent and enduring concerns and provide context and help the reader focus on the issues at stake.

Jesus: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bauckham evaluating the sources and concluding that they provide us with good historical evidence for Jesus' life and teaching. looks at Jewish religion and society in the land of Israel under Roman rule. He explores Jesus' symbolic practices as well as his teachings, looks at his public career.

Vie de Jésus by Ernest Renan

Fragments by Reimarus Fragments from Reimarus : consisting of brief critical remarks on the object of Jesus and his disciples as seen in the New Testament

Life of Jesus by David Friedrich Strauss Multiple volumes.

The Life of Jesus by Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher

Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God by Johannes Weiss

Jesus in Context : power, people, & performance by Richard A. Horsley evidence on popular movements, the dynamics of oral tradition, and reading history 'from below' . picture of Jesus in the light of recent approaches that alter how we understand the social context in which Jesus lived.

Constructing Jesus: memory, imagination, and history by Dale C. Allison calls for applying what we know about the function of human memory to our reading of the Gospels in order to "construct Jesus" more soundly.

: Jesus against Rome, then and nowGod and Empire by John Dominic Crossan In contrast to the oppressive Roman military occupation of the first century, he examines the meaning of the non-violent Kingdom of God prophesied by Jesus and the equality advocated by Paul to the early Christian churches. contrasts these messages of peace with the misinterpreted apocalyptic vision from the Book of Revelation. surveys the Bible from Genesis to Apocalypse,

Poverty, Wealth, and Empire: Jesus and postcolonial criticism by Michael J. Sandford

Racializing Jesus: race, ideology, and the formation of modern biblical scholarship by Shawn Kelley shows how the major intellectual movements of the modern world, such as Orientalism and romantic nationalism, become infused with the category of race. traces the processes through which racially-grounded thinking has influenced modern biblical scholarship. Online available.

Jesus and Judaism by E. P. Sanders treats Jesus intention and his relationship to his contemporaries in Judaism. also: the reason for his death and the motivating force behind the rise of Christianity. Online available.

A Marginal Jew by John P. Meier 5 (lengthy!) volumes. Online available. Limitless detail.

The quest of the historical Jesus by Albert Schweitzer

A New Quest of the Historical Jesus and Other Essays by James McConkey Robinson Online available.

The Gospel of Jesus: according to the Jesus Seminar by Robert W. Funk

John the Baptist and Jesus: a report of the Jesus Seminar by W. Barnes Tatum Questions concerning the historical John the Baptist and Jesus. summary of the deliberations and votes of the Seminar, together with a concise sketch of the historical figure of John the Baptist.

The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics by Robert J. Miller a member of the Seminar, Robert Miller, examines its agenda and its inner deliberations, dissecting the rationale of the Seminar's historical work and explaining what its findings portend.

Finding the Historical Jesus (Jesus Seminar Guides) by Bernard Brandon Scott et al. looks at where one begins the search for the historical Jesus. explores what the rules or criteria are for sorting through the evidence.

Jesus Reconsidered: scholarship in the public eye by Bernard Brandon Scott invites readers to step inside scholarly debates and discussions previously obscured by jargon and obfuscation. begins with the opening remarks of Jesus Seminar founder at its first meeting in March 1985.

Jesus the Magician by Morton Smith looking closely at the descriptions of miracles and demons in the New Testament and explaining the mythology of the time, provides evidence for the case of Jesus as a magician. Online available.

Jesus the Healer by Stevan L. Davies

Jesus the Jew by Geza Vermes In contrast to depictions of Jesus as a wandering Cynic teacher, offers a portrait based on evidence of charismatic activity in first-century Galilee. titles of Jesus: prophet, Lord, Messiah, son of man, Son of God, can be understood in this historical context.

The Historical Jesus: the life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant by John Dominic Crossan includes Crossan's determination of Jesus' words and actions stripped of any subsequent additions. Jesus is a savvy and courageous Jewish Mediterranean peasant, a radical social revolutionary, with a rhapsodic vision of economic, political, and religious egalitarianism and a social program for creating it. Online available.

The Historical Figure of Jesus by E. P. Sanders distinguishing the 'certain' from the 'less certain' and the 'improbable' to present a fresh and dramatic account of Jesus as a person. proposes that we can have excellent knowledge about Jesus on a general level where he fits into the history and religious movements of first-century Palestine, the main themes of his teaching, some of his principal activities, and the people who followed him. Online available.

Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews by Paula Fredriksen an observant Jew of his time, a prophetic teacher who traveled through the villages of Galilee and frequently in and around Jerusalem. Why was crucifixion chosen as the means of execution? If Jesus was executed as a political insurrectionist, why were none of his followers executed or even arrested? Online available.

Sociology and the Jesus Movement by Richard A. Horsley

Jesus and the Village Scribes by William E. Arnal: Galilean conflicts and the setting of Q challenges Gerd Theissen's dominant thesis of "wandering radicals" as the earliest spreaders of the Jesus tradition. the context of the Jesus movement, and of Q in particular, is the socio-economic crisis in Galilee under the Romans; the formation of Q is the product of Galilean village scribes in the Jesus movement reacting to the negative developments in Galilee that affected their social standing.

The Jesus Movement by Ekkehard W. Stegemann