book review killing jesus

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Killing Jesus

More by andreas köstenberger.

More than a century ago, Albert Schweitzer famously chronicled 19th-century Lives of Jesus in his volume The Quest of the Historical Jesus . Anyone perusing Schweitzer’s work—or the religion section in their local Barnes and Noble—will quickly realize there’s no end to biographies of Jesus. (They will also realize such works often tell us at least as much about the modern-day author as they reveal about the person of Jesus.) So when the dust jacket of Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s work boasts that Killing Jesus: A History  tells the story of Jesus “as never told before,” one wonders: Can this claim really be true? You can decide after reading this review (if not the book itself).

This is now the third “Killing” book written by these authors (future possibilities are almost limitless). The first two were Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy , both New York Times bestsellers. Both writers are journalists, adequate credentials for producing the first two “Killing” books. But what is their theological pedigree? O’Reilly, anchor of the highest-rated cable news show in the United States, The  O’Reilly Factor , and Dugard, a prominent history author, are both Roman Catholics but beyond this seem to have no formal theological training. They helpfully list their major sources at the end of the book (an excellent list, including many evangelical contributions). Still, moving from chronicling the circumstances surrounding the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations to investigating what led to the crucifixion of Jesus is a major step up, as the authors acknowledge.

What kind of work is this? The authors claim it’s “a history,” meaning they tried to “separate fact from myth” (273) and to follow reliable historical sources. Miracles are not reported as having actually happened but simply as having allegedly occurred; for example, at one point the raising of Lazarus is simply called a “legend” (199). Roman sources are used extensively (and for shock effect), and the book typically oscillates between Roman and biblical history, with occasional flashbacks. Frequently a series of events or interchanges is taken virtually verbatim from one of the Gospels without any chapter or verse reference. There is no source documentation throughout the book (other than the aforementioned global reference to sources at the end), though there are helpful summaries of important background information in unnumbered footnotes. The authors follow the “Jesus of history”/”Christ of faith” distinction by relegating his messianic identity strictly to the time following his (presumed) resurrection.

Embarrassing Gaffes

A few embarrassing gaffes remind the reader that the authors are not biblical scholars or historians (though they have tried to research their subject). Among the more egregious errors is the claim that the northern kingdom of Israel fell in 722 BC to the Philistines (it should be Assyrians). Other claims are doubtful, such as that Jesus singled out four fishermen because people in that profession must be conversant in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and a little Latin. Even if it were true (for argument’s sake) that Galilean fishermen must be trilingual at a minimum, to argue this is why Jesus chose four fishermen as apostles is an argument from silence at best, since this is nowhere stated in Scripture. And how do we know Herod the Great had an inflamed big toe (11)?

Killing Jesus: A History

Bill o’reilly and martin dugard.

At times, the authors’ Roman Catholicism or possible political correctness rears its head. An example of the former is when they discuss the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox views on Jesus’ siblings and then state what “other Christian sects” believe—which apparently includes all religious groups not Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. Also, Roman Catholic doctrine is simply reported without comment, including dogma on Mary and papal infallibility (265). Political correctness may be evident in comments on the part Jewish authorities played in Jesus’ crucifixion. O’Reilly and Dugard affirm that putting Jesus on the cross was Pilate’s responsibility (246). In one sense, this is true in that Pilate rendered the final verdict, but the statement lacks balance and lets the Jewish authorities off the hook a little too easily. The Bible says putting Jesus on the cross was the joint responsibility of Jewish and Gentile authorities (Ps. 2:1–2, cited in Acts 4:25b–26), and the Gospels show Pilate acquiescing to Jewish demands while the Jewish leaders press the charge against Jesus and manipulate Pilate to get what they want—Jesus crucified.

The authors begin every chapter with a precise location and date (e.g., Chapter 1: BETHLEHEM, JUDEA, MARCH, 5 B.C., MORNING). This is effective, and at places may be correct, but it does raise the question as to the accuracy of dates, particularly with regard to Jesus’ birth and crucifixion. The authors place the birth of Jesus in the spring of 6 or 5 BC, which is approximately accurate (fall may be more likely). However, regarding the date for the crucifixion, they only consider AD 27–30 but not what some view as the most likely date, AD 33. They settle on AD 30 and accordingly place the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry in AD 26 and date the various chapters on Jesus’ ministry between AD 27 and 30. If AD 33 is the correct date, however, all those dates between AD 27 and 30 are wrong. In dating the beginning of the Baptist’s ministry to AD 26, the authors fail to deal with the information provided in Luke 3:1 that the Baptist began his ministry in the fifteenth year of Tiberius’s reign (ruled AD 14–37), which can hardly be AD 26 and is most likely AD 29 (14 + 15 = 29).

Readers may also be interested in the authors’ take on other commonly debated scholarly issues regarding the story of Jesus and the Gospels. They do not take a position on Matthean versus Markan priority, dating Matthew in the 70s (103). They include two temple cleansings, one at the beginning (John) and one at the end of Jesus’ ministry (the Synoptics). They hold to the apostolic authorship of John’s Gospel, though regrettably state that the phrase “the disciple Jesus loved” is an example of boasting and grappling for prestige and power (22) when more likely it indicates authorial modesty. Also, they repeatedly assert Jesus was 36 when he died (e.g., 251). But even if Jesus was born in 6 BC (rather than 5), he would have been 35 at the most in AD 30 (barely, if born in early spring), not 36, since there was no year zero.

With regard to Jesus’ final week, the treatment is fairly conventional. The triumphal entry takes place on Sunday; the cursing of the fig tree and the second temple cleansing on Monday; dinner at Lazarus’s house on Tuesday; various questions by the Pharisees with Jesus’ response on Wednesday; the Passover and Gethsemane on Thursday; and the trial and the crucifixion on Friday. The authors inaccurately cite Annas’s involvement as an instance of illegality (but Annas does not pronounce the formal death sentence). They claim Judas betrayed Jesus to force his hand (a popular theory). They posit Jesus’ real offense is interfering with the priests’ commercial interests (there may be some truth in that).

Killing Jesus  ends with the posting of the Roman guard and the women at the empty tomb.

The resurrection is relegated to an “Afterword,” which includes an interesting overview of the fate of the various characters in Jesus’ story (the twelve, Pilate, Tiberius, Caiaphas, Antipas, Roman-Jewish relations, and so on). This is followed by a personal “Postscript,” which is the authors’ attempt to highlight Jesus’ continuing effect on subsequent history, particularly American history (they mention George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ronald Reagan). However, ending the “History” of Jesus with the empty tomb is deeply problematic. The biblical storyline makes no sense if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead—from a literary standpoint, the Gospels quickly get us to the road to Jerusalem, because that’s where the story is headed. So readers (and writers!) cannot remain ambivalent on the whole point of the story. As C. S. Lewis wrote, “You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Fair and Balanced

Nevertheless, on the whole I was pleasantly surprised by this book. This is no Da Vinci Code ! There’s much interesting and valuable information in the volume, mostly regarding the Roman background. O’Reilly and Dugard seem to try to be fair and balanced and to keep an open mind with regard to the sources and historicity. The book is readable and will no doubt find an interested audience. At the same time, this is obviously not a scholarly work and does not substitute for responsible academic research. In fact, the treatment of the Bible is fairly tame and unremarkable. The authors do not seriously grapple with some of the major hallmarks of Jesus’ ministry, such as his messianic identity, his claim to deity (e.g., the “I am” sayings), and his miracles, to name but a few. Also, they are highly selective in what they include, omitting most supernatural feats of Jesus and extended teaching portions such as the Farewell Discourse.

O’Reilly and Dugard state at the outset they didn’t set out to write a religious book but are only interested in telling the truth about important people. However, this may be easier to do with Lincoln and Kennedy (who didn’t exert any messianic claims or perform supernatural feats) than with Jesus. As it is, Killing Jesus only scrapes the surface of who Jesus truly was. The detailed recounting of lurid details regarding the moral excesses of various Roman emperors doesn’t make up for the lack of spiritual depth in probing the life of the most important person who ever lived. Because of his uniqueness, Jesus cannot easily be reduced to a one-dimensional portrait of a “historical” person stripped of his most essential attributes and calling. The reductionism inherent in such a quest renders this book, like its many similar forebears, of limited value in coming to terms with the compelling character that is Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and Son of God.

Andreas Köstenberger is cofounder of Biblical Foundations and theologian in residence at Fellowship Raleigh . He is a distinguished evangelical scholar and author, editor, or translator of close to 60 books and numerous scholarly articles and reviews . He served as professor at various institutions for 29 years and as editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society for 22 years.

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KILLING JESUS

by Bill O'Reilly ; Martin Dugard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 2013

A pleasing read if you’re inclined toward the authors’ selective views. Otherwise, the four Gospels will do just fine.

Conservative commentator O’Reilly, working with frequent collaborator Dugard ( Killing Kennedy , 2012, etc.), settles on yet another liberal victim of politically motivated killing.

Though O’Reilly has protested that Jesus Christ is above politics when the question turns uncomfortably to giving away everything to the poor, he’s quite happy to suggest that Jesus was killed because, among other things fiscal, “he interrupted the flow of funds from the Temple to Rome when he flipped over the money changer’s tables.” It probably didn’t help that he proclaimed himself to be the son of God, but, write the authors, it’s more that the lineage of Jesus and Annas the bad priest had been bound up for generations, the one hardworking and steadfast, the other a debauched class of bureaucrats who took a cut of the temple action in the form of “taxes extorted from the people of Judea,” sending a hefty cut back to the bosses in Rome. Jesus was the original tea party protestor, and never mind all that rendering unto Caesar business (or, for that matter, the Sermon on the Mount). O’Reilly has said that the Holy Spirit directed him to write this book, and we must suppose that that particular tine of the Trinity has it in for the Pharisees, whom religious historians are inclined these days to treat more sympathetically than do the authors. A virtue of the book is that O’Reilly and Dugard employ a broad range of ancient sources; a detriment is that they seem to regard these sources overly credulously and follow them into long asides (including enough of a recap of events to break this book into two:  Killing Jesus  and  Killing Julius Caesar ). Otherwise, the book has some novelistic, noirish touches, as if the New Testament had been mashed up with some lost pages of Erle Stanley Gardner.

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-8050-9854-9

Page Count: 306

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2013

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | GENERAL HISTORY

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

The osage murders and the birth of the fbi.

by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann ( The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession , 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

GENERAL HISTORY | TRUE CRIME | UNITED STATES | FIRST/NATIVE NATIONS | HISTORY

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BOOK TO SCREEN

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

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Killing History: A Book Review of “Killing Jesus” by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

I must admit, I had mixed reactions when I heard Bill O’Reilly was publishing a new book in his “killing” series . On the one hand, his previous books such as Killing Lincoln were readable, engaging, and renewed peoples’ exploration into important American historical events, which are all worthy reasons to read and write a book. I was hopeful that Killing Jesus might do the same for people interested in exploring the historical evidence for Jesus’ physical death and resurrection. And after reading it I still think that is true on many levels. Over all, it’s interesting, fast-paced, and could be beneficial for the discerning reader.

But on the other hand, I was and remain skeptical. How would a history teacher turned political pundit handle the historical analysis of Jesus of Nazareth? Having finished the book I find that my skepticism was not entirely put to rest, but rather was alarmed on several occasions. I continue to contemplate the following questions: Is this the kind of book I could hand to a skeptic asking questions about the historical trustworthiness of the Gospels? Would Christians find this book helpful in declaring and defending the Gospel? And did O’Reilly write the book he initially set out to write?

All of these questions revolve around the central issue of O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus . So, what exactly is the epicenter of this book? Thankfully, O’Reilly tells us in his own words.

This is not a religious book…Martin Dugard and I are both Roman Catholics who were educated in religious schools. But we are historical investigators and are interested primarily in telling the truth about important people, not converting anyone to a spiritual cause.[1]

And on CBS’s 60 Minutes O’Reilly insisted, “There’s no religion in the book, nothing. It’s all about history.” [2]

That is the main issue with the book: historical content and verification of evidence. The primary question I hope to answer is this: Did O’Reilly, in fact, write a reliable historical account of Jesus of Nazareth? In order to answer that question, I’ve organized my thoughts in a few broad categories.

Historical Methodology

When I first listened to the audio book of Killing Lincoln (I also examined its contents at a local book store), I noticed that the usual footnotes and citations which are commonplace in well-researched history books were noticeably lacking. Sadly, this writing style also pervades Killing Jesus. There are no footnotes at the bottom of the page or in a bibliography in the back of the book. In the opening pages the reader is greeted with the assertion that this is a well researched historical book. Outside of a list of books consulted, the authors provide no substantial means of verifying their research.

Granted, there are various footnotes spread throughout the book. But these are mostly explanations about dates, religious customs, biblical citations, and the like. The only semblance of a bibliography comes at the end in the section titled Sources which does little more than name many of the books that were influential in their research. Among those works are some notable and respected names in Christian apologetics such as, Michael Licona, Gary Habermas, and Craig Evans. These men have all written outstanding books in defense of the Christian faith. Aside from this brief source section, there are no citations as to where and how these sources (or any others) were used throughout the book. Quite simply, there is no evidence, no citation, and no documentation.

This is a remarkable failure for a book that claims to be historical. One of the fundamental principles in historiography is leaving a paper trail, and when you do research, documenting that paper trail for others to follow. It’s like my high school algebra teacher always told me, “Show your work.” O’Reilly and Dugard may have done lots of research. Exactly how much they did during the eight months it took to write is unknown. Therein lays the problem. There is no way for the reader (scholarly or leisurely) to check out the facts for themselves.

Of course, I understand why citation is not popular in books in our culture. They are tedious to read and write. It takes time for editors and consumers alike to wade through them. Mainly, it takes up pages and adds to the final cost of the book. All of this makes sense if we consider that this book was written for entertainment value and meant to be a popular level book, which O’Reilly virtually admitted in the following exchange on 60 Minutes:

Bill O’Reilly: I just want to write about important things in a very entertaining way. That’s the formula.

Norah O’Donnell: The title “Killing,” using killing, a bit sensationalist?

Bill O’Reilly: Of course. Of course it’s sensationalist. That’s who I am. I’m a sensationalist. I’m a big mouth. I get attention. In this world you have to–if you want a mass-market presentation, you have to get attention.[3]

Sensationalism sells. Unfortunately, sensationalism masquerades as scholarship. Most publishers and book stores have placed this book in the history section. And I’ve debated as to what category it should be placed in. It’s not fiction but, then again, it’s not entirely historical either, at least not in its current format. Perhaps the best category would be that of historical paraphrase.

Now, there are many things O’Reilly’s book does well. For example it includes maps, helpful historical sidebars in the bottom margins, and the broad historical context of the Roman Empire leading up to and during Jesus’ life and ministry. But there are also glaring deficiencies. I’ve already mentioned the lack of historical documentation.

However, beyond the specific issue of citation there is a broader concept lacking in O’Reilly’s book, namely, an overall explanation of his historical methodology. To his credit, he mentions a number of sources in the back of the book. And in his introduction he gives the reader a brief glimpse into some of the works consulted.

…researching Killing Jesus required a plunge into classical works such as the four Gospels and the Jewish historian Josephus…the historical record may not have been as immediately accessible as that of more recent times, but men who wrote the history of that period were very much concerned with getting their facts straight and telling the story as completely as possible.[4]

Yet, something is missing. There is no clear explanation of how he arrives at the historical conclusions he makes. That is what I mean when I use the phrase, historical methodology. For example, if I were to assert that the Allied forces crossed the English Channel on June 6, 1944 how would someone determine whether or not this event actually occurred in history? Historical methods are important in establishing the probability that any given event took place, and that the retelling of the event is likewise a reliable report that later readers should trust. This is similar to the process used in court rooms when examining the evidence for a crime and rendering a verdict. As a side bar, in apologetics I have often argued that whatever historical methods we use and apply to other events in history, such as D-Day or the assassination of Julius Caesar, should likewise be used and applied to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Sadly, O’Reilly does not give the reader any criteria by which he judges sources to be historically reliable or unreliable. Furthermore, he claims that, “We had to separate fact from myth based on a variety of sources, some of which had their own agendas.”[5] But he never cites any of those varieties of sources, nor the alleged myths and facts contained therein.

One of the great strengths of the book, at least in my estimation, was the first third of the book where he addressed the socio-political climate of the Roman Empire and Judean leadership surrounding the lifetime of Jesus. However, he does not apply that same tenacity to the primary source documents of Jesus’ life, namely, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The irony here is that the historical evidence for the reliability of Jesus’ life and ministry as recorded in these four Gospels outweighs all other historical documents from the ancient world. There are better manuscript and transmission records for the New Testament than for the entire corpus of ancient writings, including sources that historians readily accept as trustworthy witnesses, such as Seutonius, Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger.[6]

One of the greatest examples of historical methodology is found in the work of apologist John Warwick Montgomery. In his apologetic tome, History, Law, and Christianity Montgomery utilizes secular historical methods and applies them to the four Gospels. In this methodology there are three basic tests used to determine the historicity of the text in question and the events they record. The three tests are briefly described as follows. There is 1) the bibliographical test , which demonstrates how reliable the transmission of the documents has been over time; 2) the internal evidence test , which explores what the texts say concerning themselves and whether or not they have internal consistency and reliability; and 3) the external evidence test , which examines reliable secondary sources that either support or contradict the text in question.

The genius of this method is that its origin is in the field of military history. So, there can be no skeptics’ cry of bias or padding the stats.

The challenge, however, is that Montgomery’s books, such as his Tractatus Logico Theologicus, are rather weighty in their content. For one who might be new to reading Christian apologetics, a good place to begin would be with Montgomery’s History, Law, and Christianity , or with a sort of dumbed-down version of Montgomery’s Tractatus by the trial lawyer, Craig Parton, entitled, Religion on Trial.

Now, back to O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus. Had O’Reilly lived up to his own famously ruthless standards of evidence and critical thinking in his book that he demands of his guests on his television show, the book would’ve been far better for it in the end.

And the question remains, does O’Reilly’s book stand up to his own scrutiny and demand for historical evidence? Does he back up this assertion about writing an historical book with equally reliable historical verification? In other words…

Where’s the Evidence? 

In the chapter recounting Jesus’ early life O’Reilly claims Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were eyewitnesses to the Passover rioting of 4 B.C. in Jerusalem along with the ensuing punishment exacted by Archaelaus,

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus saw the bloodbath firsthand and were lucky to escape the temple with their lives. They were also eyewitnesses to the crucifixion of more than two thousand Jewish rebels outside Jerusalem’s city walls when Roman soldiers moved in to quell further revolts. [7]

Now, this makes for an interesting parallel in Jesus’ life if it is true. But, where’s the evidence? No citation is provided and his claim is not substantiated.

Later in the book, when discussing the ministry of John the Baptizer, O’Reilly also claims that the Jewish tax collectors were diverting money to Rome and that John himself may have been guilty of tax evasion, at least in the eyes of the Jewish religious authorities.[8]

It’s no secret that the tax collectors were ill-received guests at any party. Their greed and corruption is also well known and documented. And yet, O’Reilly cites no evidence in support of his claim that these tax collectors – thieves though they were – were also guilty of funneling money to Rome. The over-emphasis on taxes and economics in this book is overtly anachronistic. Again, the reader is left wondering, where’s the evidence?

But the most grievous example of missing evidence is in O’Reilly’s introduction where he states,

Much has been written about Jesus, the son of a humble carpenter. But little is actually known about him. Of course we have the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but they sometimes appear contradictory and were written from a spiritual point of view rather than as a historical chronicling of Jesus’ life. [9]

These are not original claims. Skeptics have been accusing the four Gospels of alleged contradictions for centuries. Writers have also made the argument that the Gospels are written from a religious or theological point of view and not an historical one. Again, where’s the evidence? O’Reilly doesn’t cite or seek to explain any of the alleged contradictions in the four Gospels. He simply echoes a familiar assertion.

Many authors (such as O’Reilly) have avoided calling the Gospels historical accounts because they contain miraculous reports and events. However, this is disingenuous to the text. If a miracle occurred it is an historical event, no matter how unpopular or contradictory that may be to one’s worldview. Simply calling the Gospels “religious writings,” and separating them from history is problematic. If we remove Christianity from historical assertions, events, and investigation, we have removed it from reality. Faith is founded on fact, not fantasy. To say that a book about Jesus of Nazareth is purely historical and not religious is erroneous and betrays the historical foundations of the Christian faith. Simply put, in Christianity you can’t separate the two.

Moreover, there is no justification for placing the Gospels in this unknowable and arbitrary category. The question that Christian apologetics seeks to answer is this: is there reliable historical evidence that a miracle (e.g. the physical resurrection of Jesus) actually occurred? Thankfully, a great deal of work has already been done in this area. C.S Lewis handily dealt with David Hume and the skeptics’ argument that miracles are not historical and that we can dismiss them simply on principle ( a priori ) because there is uniform experience against them. Writing history the way O’Reilly has done in Killing Jesus has the negative effect of causing readers to overlook important and credible criteria in investigating the information available that testifies to the fact that the miracles recorded in the Gospels are reliable history and the eyewitness accounts in them are likewise trustworthy. In other words, O’Reilly is echoing the unsupported assumptions of Hume, which taints his entire investigation of the Gospels’ claims.

This fundamental problem is seen at the beginning of Killing Jesus , where O’Reilly claims that the Gospel writers were not engaged in writing history, but rather a spiritual account. Anyone who has read the New Testament, however, should recognize that this directly contradicts the words of the Gospel writers themselves. Consider Luke’s opening lines in particular.

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,  just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)

What this amounts to is O’Reilly committing the cardinal sin of removing the primary source documents from the realm of historical investigation and into a spiritual nebula outside of time. Three main problems with this are

1) The Gospel writers and the disciples clearly claimed that they were writing history.

2) They were eyewitnesses or close associates of eyewitnesses. Concerning this latter point, it should be noted well that the Gospels were written by people who either saw firsthand many of the events they record, – or talked with people who did. And the fact that their independent testimony agrees gives weight and veracity to their claims. As a side note, the value of eyewitness testimony should not be overlooked. The best sources we have on Jesus come from people who either knew him directly, or interviewed those who did (like Luke). “We were eyewitness of these things,” the disciples claim repeatedly. As reliable eyewitness accounts, the Gospels should be treated with historical credibility. This has recently been meticulously demonstrated by New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham in his vital work, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

The Gospel writers, in their different ways, present their Gospels based on and incorporating the testimony of the eyewitnesses. The literary and theological strategies of these writers are not directed to superseding the testimony of eyewitnesses but to giving it a permanent literary vehicle…

…Testimony, we will argue, is both the historically appropriate category for understanding what kind of history the Gospels are and the theologically appropriate category for understanding what kind of access Christian readers of the Gospels thereby have to Jesus and his history. It is the category that enables us to surmount the dichotomy between the so-called historical Jesus and the so-called Christ of faith. It enables us to see that the Gospels are not some kind of obstacle to knowledge of the real Jesus and his history but precisely the kind of means of access to the real Jesus and his history that, as historians and as believers, we need. [10]

3)  Jesus of Nazareth didn’t enter into spiritual history or a mythological religious world, but as a real man in real time and real history in order to do real things. Jesus was born in the days of Caesar Augustus. And he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

Remove Christianity from history and you have to go all the way and say Jesus never existed. But no credible historians say that these days. Because no matter what one believes personally, the fact remains that these things did not happen in never never land. Who Jesus was and what he did can and should be investigated historically. Simply put, the Christian faith is founded on facts.

So while claiming to write a history of Jesus, O’Reilly sabotages his own project right from the beginning, cutting off the historical branch upon which he claims to sit with an arbitrary saw that separates history and theology into watertight compartments. Had O’Reilly spent additional time establishing the case that the four Gospels are reliable primary source documents for the life and ministry of Jesus, Killing Jesus could be labeled history rather than a historical paraphrase.

Why was Jesus Killed?

One of the other glaring problems I encountered with this book actually came from O’Reilly’s interview on 60 Minutes . When asked why Jesus was killed – which is the entire premise of Killing Jesus – O’Reilly responded with perhaps the most outlandish claim of the book. Read the exchange carefully.

Bill O’Reilly: Well, when he went into the temple and overturned those moneychangers he was absolutely livid. He was personally insulted that the temple was being used as a place of commerce. And not only that, but they were stealing from the folks.

Norah O’Donnell: He was upset with people of his own faith.

Bill O’Reilly: Absolutely. He was, he was upset that the Jews were taxing, overtaxing, and extorting the folks.

Norah O’Donnell: And that story is important to tell because it explains why so many people wanted him dead?

Bill O’Reilly: That’s the crux of the “Killing Jesus” theme, is that there was a reason he was executed. Not that he was saying he was God. Droves of people said they were God. But now when you interrupt a money flow — now you’re into territory where they gotta get rid of him. [11]

Once again the anachronism of our modern political landscape – taxes, class warfare, and all – entered into the analysis of the motivation for Jesus’ death on the cross. More to the point, however, is O’Reilly’s blatant misunderstanding of why the Jewish religious authorities wanted Jesus dead. Killing Jesus wasn’t about financial grievances (though they may have had those), economic hardships, or over taxation of the middle and lower class Israelites. If these were, in fact, the religious authorities’ motivation there is no evidence for it in the primary source documents.

Killing Jesus was primarily about his claim to be God Almighty in human flesh who had come to die for the sins of the world on the cross and rise again. In the minds of the religious authorities, both his utter disregard for their man-made attempts to save themselves (and others) and his clear proclamations of blasphemy (e.g. claiming to be God in himself) were the reasons Jesus had to be put to death.

Contrary to O’Reilly, the primary sources on Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) say he was crucified precisely for claiming to be God in the flesh. For example, read the Holy Week accounts in the Gospels or even just this snippet from John:

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:31-33

Again, O’Reilly makes a remarkable assertion about the true nature of the central event in the New Testament without substantiating a single claim.

Conclusion: The Apologetic Import

As I mentioned in the introduction, I had mixed reactions both prior to and after reading O’Reilly’s latest book, Killing Jesus . Even after writing this review, I am still conflicted.

I had hoped this would be a book I could use with skeptics, a good work of history by a popular level writer. However, I think any skeptic would ask the same questions I have posed of this book and its content. Where’s the evidence? How does O’Reilly corroborate his claims, especially when some of them directly contradict the primary source documents? Does O’Reilly really think he’s a better historian (2000 years later) than multiple eyewitnesses to the same events 2000 years ago?

The real crux of the problem revealed in this book (and in subsequent interviews) is that O’Reilly fails to grasp both the central event of the Gospels – the death and resurrection of Jesus – and the methodology used by scholars and historians to establish the veracity of historical events as well as the reliability of the four Gospels as primary source documents.

The one thing that O’Reilly does well, and that I appreciate about this book, was the narrative, storytelling-style he and his co-author wrote it in. I simply wish he would’ve combined the compelling forms of historical narrative that he does so well with the compelling substance of historical facts. Simply because an author tells a story doesn’t mean it is unhistorical. In fact, the most exciting stories are those that are based on the facts and yet sound too good to be true. The Gospels are that kind of story. Jesus’ death and resurrection is that kind of story, one that sounds too good to be true and yet takes place in real human history.

In the end, I won’t be handing this book to a skeptic who might be asking tough historical questions about the Christian faith because O’Reilly doesn’t take the time to build a positive case for the trustworthiness of the Gospels and the physical death and resurrection of Jesus. And I’m not blaming O’Reilly for that. That simply wasn’t the kind of book he set out to write. I do, however, think that is exactly the kind of book that is needed.

Endnotes —

[1] Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. Killing Jesus: A History. New York: Henry Holy and Company, 2013. P. 2-3.

[2] The Gospel according to Bill O’Reilly? CBS NEWS: 60 Minutes Interview – The following script is from “Killing Jesus” which aired on Sept. 29, 2013. The correspondent is Norah O’Donnell. Producer Robert G. Anderson.   https://nation.foxnews.com/2013/09/30/bill-oreillys-60-minutes-interview

[4] Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. Killing Jesus: A History. New York: Henry Holy and Company, 2013. p. 275-276.

[5] Ibid, p. 273.

[6] For example, the earliest copy of Seutonius’s Life of Caesar dates to 950 A.D. and the earliest copy of Pliny the Younger’s Letters date to 850 A.D. In both accounts there is over an 800 year time span between the earliest known copy of the manuscript and the date it was written. Both are considered by classical scholars to be reliable documents and a valuable part of our knowledge of ancient history. When comparing these Roman historical manuscripts to those of the four Gospels, the difference is monumental. The time span between the dates when the Gospels were written (60-90 A.D.) verses our earliest known manuscript copy is between 140-265 years. Moreover, the sheer volume of manuscript evidence available for the four Gospels far outweighs that of anything else in antiquity (in excess of 15,000 copies to be precise).  Craig Parton. Religion on Trial. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. 2008, p. 47-48.

[7] Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. Killing Jesus: A History. New York: Henry Holy and Company, 2013. p. 66.

[8] Ibid, p. 96, 102.

[9] Ibid, p. 1.

[10] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006. p. 472-473.

[11] The Gospel according to Bill O’Reilly? CBS NEWS: 60 Minutes Interview – The following script is from “Killing Jesus” which aired on Sept. 29, 2013. The correspondent is Norah O’Donnell. Producer Robert G. Anderson.   https://nation.foxnews.com/2013/09/30/bill-oreillys-60-minutes-interview

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Word of Mouth

Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, killing jesus: a history.

From the chilling artwork on the book’s jacket to the verbal depiction in its final pages, KILLING JESUS is exactly what the title infers. Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard have put together a history of Jesus’ death --- from the instance of his birth, to stories from His early years, ministry and final days. Readers familiar with the Bible will recognize the accounts, most of which are told in chronological order. But the authors have given us a deeply researched work in which facts are taken from a wide range of sources. Biblical scholars, historical students of the Roman Empire, the Four Gospels, extensive research on the act of crucifixion, studies of Roman soldiers, personal observation, and reliance on experts in Hebrew and Roman history provided the base used in KILLING JESUS. 

Lack of specific details in Jesus’ life frustrated the authors, allowing for major gaps in the storytelling. They are up front with readers when details become fuzzy but honestly state that deductions are based on the best available evidence. Roman historians kept impeccable records of events during his lifetime, but Jesus’ closest friends are the best recorders of his last few years. KILLING JESUS is not a religious book, but rather the story of a Hebrew man who preached a philosophy of peace and love in a violent society of Roman rule. Largely, the Roman rulers paid little attention to the everyday activities of their Jewish populace, allowing them to observe their own holy days and feasts, so long as tribute was paid to Rome in the form of taxes. 

"O’Reilly and Dugard have produced a historical treatment, well-documented by research, that will impress both Christian and non-Christian readers alike."

The first chapter, following an extensive introduction to the reader, begins in Bethlehem, Judea, in March, 5 B.C. The current monarch Herod, half-Jewish and half-Arab, believes that a baby has been born, reputed to be the next King of the Jewish people. Soldiers march with orders to kill all Hebrew baby boys born in Bethlehem. Herod has survived numerous plots to overthrow his brutal reign but is obsessed by the prophecy of a new King. Five specific occurrences are purported to be fulfilled: 1) a great star will rise; 2) a baby will be born in Bethlehem, the birthplace of the great King David; 3) the baby will be a direct descendant of David; 4) powerful men will travel from afar to worship him; and 5) the child’s mother must be a virgin. Herod knows that the first two are true and is unaware that all have come to pass. The child has been named “Yeshua ben Joseph,” or Jesus, meaning “the Lord is salvation.”

Herod receives the Magi, three diviners (astronomers) who carry a treasure chest filled with gold and sweet spices to honor the newly born King of the Jews. He decrees that they locate the infant and then return to Jerusalem so he can venture to see him. They never come back. Herod has ordered the slaughter of more than a dozen innocent babies, but Joseph, Jesus’ father, awakes from a terrifying dream, a vision of the slaughter. In the dead of night, the family escapes. Footnotes reveal that the most insightful facts regarding Jesus’ birth and early ministry history come from the Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, forming the Synoptic Gospels. 

KILLING JESUS contains more than 18 maps, illustrations and drawings, placed precisely in the chapters where they expand the information given. Views of Jerusalem, the Jewish temple, drawings of the Temple complex, and artists’ renderings of John the Baptist and Jesus as a boy, teaching his elders in the Temple, lend credibility to the histories told. A Last Supper painting gives focus to Jesus’ ministry and the impact He had on all who followed Him. 

Paranoia, greed, lust for power and worldly status fill the pages with depictions of both the Roman officials ruling Judea at the time and the Hebrew leaders who served to please them. Sacrifice of ordinary Hebrews, by both taxation and obligatory laws, formed the society they oversaw. Sadducees and Pharisees were as corrupt as the Roman leaders they pleased. 

Pilgrimages to Jerusalem formed a large part of the worship that engaged ordinary Jews. Moneychangers sat in the temple, gathering the coins for taxation and purchase of animal sacrifice during these feast times. During the feast at Passover, the newly baptized Jesus confronts the moneychangers by overturning their tables, throwing coins on the floors. He next releases sacrificial animals from their cages, raging that his father’s house had been turned into a market. Now challenged by Temple officials to show more miracles, Jesus replies, “Destroy this Temple and I will raise it up in three days.” He leaves, with many thinking him insane and others revering him for the stand against Temple officials. His notoriety has begun. 

The following chapters detail the prophecy that John the Baptist has fulfilled, the growing celebrity of Jesus as he preaches to the masses, the increasing unrest among Temple priests who see him as a threat to their powers, further goading by the Pharisees to trap him into avowing himself as King of the Jews. KILLING JESUS shows a well-researched scenario of the events leading directly to his trial, both by Jewish leaders and the Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate. Graphic details of the crucifixion, Jesus’ removal from the cross, his entombment and disappearance round out the final chapters. 

Extensive credits, thanks and follow-up by historical references finish the story. O’Reilly and Dugard have produced a historical treatment, well-documented by research, that will impress both Christian and non-Christian readers alike. I highly recommend KILLING JESUS.

Reviewed by Judy Gigstad on October 25, 2013

Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

• Publication Date: September 24, 2013
• Genres: History , Nonfiction
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• ISBN-10: 0805098542
• ISBN-13: 9780805098549

Killing Jesus

This book is going to be big, a near-lock for the bestseller lists. First Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard teamed up to write a book about Killing Lincoln and it sold more than a million copies. They followed it up with Killing Kennedy and it sold briskly as well. And now they turn their attention to their greatest subject: Jesus of Nazareth. Killing Jesus: A History is a short biography of Jesus, focusing on the events leading to his death.

From the outset, the authors make it clear that though they are Roman Catholics, they are not writing a religious book. Rather, they are writing a historical account of a historical figure “and are interested primarily in telling the truth about important people, not converting anyone to a spiritual cause.” They necessarily rely on the four gospels for their source material and often tell their story by directly quoting the Bible.

They begin, though, by setting Jesus firmly in his historical context and skillfully telling about the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and the subsequent ascension of Caesar Augustus. They introduce a cast characters who each make an appearance in the pages of the Bible: King Herod who would hear of a potential challenger to his throne and order the slaughter of innocent children, Herod Antipas who would behead John the Baptist and later refuse to deal fairly with Jesus, and Pontius Pilate, who would cave to pressure and order the execution of an innocent man. Each of these men becomes a living and breathing character in the narrative.

As the authors begin to tell about the life of Jesus, they follow the biblical accounts quite closely. They tell his life skillfully and with all the narrative tension and interest they used to tell their compelling accounts of Lincoln and Kennedy. The reader is left with no doubt that Jesus’ whole life was leading to a cross and that Jesus knew he would end up there. The reader sees that the claims Jesus made about himself put him at odds with both the Jews and the Romans.

As they approach Jesus’ death, the authors slow the pace a little, showing the injustice of the trial, the torment of crucifixion, and the necessary conclusion that Jesus really and truly died.

They take some license along the way, of course. The gospel writers were selective when they wrote about the life of Jesus and any author must at times fill in or at least imagine certain details. But even then, O’Reilly and Dugard have done their homework and refrain from taking large or irrational leaps from their source material. And because they tell the account using the Bible as their source, they are able to tell the story as if it is true and as if they believe it. They do not say, “he supposedly did this” or is “reputed to have done this.” They simply tell it as the Bible tells it.

As a historical account of the life of Jesus, the story, though selective, is well told, well written, and very, very interesting. This is especially true when it comes to the historical and cultural contexts, details the biblical writers were able to assume and, therefore, not describe in great detail. I am no expert on this period of history, but spotted no major missteps and felt the authors were attempting to do justice to the historical facts the Bible presents. Their list of secondary sources is quite strong, leaning more toward conservative than liberal authors.

The same Bible that describes Jesus’ life, also interprets and explains it.

However, Jesus’ life is not mere history. Yes, he was a real man who lived a real life and died a real death, but that is not all he was and all he did. He also claimed to be God’s Son and his followers claimed that in his life and death he had done something unique and, literally, world-changing. The same Bible that describes Jesus’ life, also interprets and explains it. And this is the story the authors do not tell.

Any author who writes a narrative account of Jesus’ life will find it difficult to do justice to both his humanity and his divinity (and we saw, for example, in Anne Rice’s series on Jesus). These authors err far to the side of his humanity. It becomes quickly apparent they will not focus on Jesus’ miracles. While they mention a few of the wonders he performed, and especially the ones involving healings, they do not commit all the way and tend to present these as events Jesus’ followers believed had happened as much as events that had actually taken place.

The authors primarily portray Jesus as a rebel against Rome who threatened to destabilize the region and who, therefore, suffered the inevitable wrath of the empire. They show that through his life Jesus believed he was the Son of God and even suggest this must mean he was either a liar, a lunatic, or that he really was who he said he was. As the book comes to a close they state that Jesus’ followers soon claimed he had been raised from the dead and that his followers believed this to such an extent that they willingly gave up their own lives to his cause.

But O’Reilly and Dugard do not ever explain what happened there at the cross between Jesus and God the Father. Of all Jesus said on the cross, each word laden with meaning and significance, they mention only two. They do not explain the cross as substitution, where Jesus went to the cross in place of people he loved; they do not explain the cross as justice, where Jesus was punished as a law-breaker; they do not explain the cross as propitiation, where Jesus faced and emptied the Father’s wrath against sin; they do not explain the cross as redemption, where we now need only put our faith in Jesus in order to receive all the benefits of what he accomplished.

Killing Jesus is not a bad book as much as it is an incomplete book.

Killing Jesus is not a bad book as much as it is an incomplete book. As history it is compelling, but of all historical events, none has greater spiritual significance than the life and death of Jesus Christ. And this is the story they miss.

A brief aside before I wrap up: If you have read Killing Kennedy you may remember that the authors seem have a strange obsession with kinky sexuality. Both Kennedy and the Roman rulers give them a lot to work with in that regard, and in this account they are sure to point to the ugly sexual deviancies that marked the Roman rulers of that day. While they do not go into lurid detail and do not mean to excite lust, neither do they exercise a lot of discretion, making this a book you would probably not want to hand to a child.

As O’Reilly and Dugard begin this book they claim the story of Jesus’ life and death “has never fully been told. Until now.” That’s very dramatic but also ridiculous. This story has been told repeatedly over the past two millennia and it will be told again and again in the millennia to come. Killing Jesus is another account that will be here for a while and then disappear and be forgotten. In the meantime, it will take Jesus out of the realm of fantasy and place him squarely in history, but even as it does that, it will neglect to tell why his life, his crucifixion, his resurrection are of eternal significance, a matter of his life and death and our own.

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Book Review: Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard

The book Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard was released in September of last year. This comes as the latest book in a series of works by these two gentlemen dealing with the circumstances behind the deaths of significant historical figures – the preceding books, Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln , have been best sellers. Given the fan following for these books and the fact that O’Reilly is a big-time TV personality and well-known political commentator, it comes as no surprise that Killing Jesus is also a New York Times best-selling book.

I was somewhat intrigued about what this highly-charged, somewhat controversial, public figure might have to say about Jesus Christ and how he would treat the man who some consider the literal Son of God and whom O’Reilly himself calls, “the most influential man in history.” But at the same time I was hesitant since what I know of O’Reilly seems to be that he is very hot-tempered, argumentative, and impatient with the opinions of others.

Both O’Reilly and Dugard are Christians, being (as I understand it) devout Roman Catholics, so I figured I could be fairly confident that their views on Christ would be pretty respectful, but I wasn’t sure if it would be in line with my own beliefs about the Son of God – the things I have learned of Christ through scripture study and the teachings of the LDS church, which I have been learning since childhood. But then my father-in-law told me that the book was absolutely amazing and that he was discovering many things about Jesus he didn’t know before. With glowing praise like that, I decided that it might be worth my time to check it out.

One thing I noticed immediately as I began this book is that it reads like a dramatic novel or a sensationalist news report. The book begins with, “BETHLEHEM, JUDEA: MARCH, 5 B.C.: MORNING. The child with thirty-six years to live is being hunted. Heavily armed soldiers from the capital city of Jerusalem are marching to this small town, intent on finding and killing the baby boy.” There is an immediacy and intensity with this style of writing, and I will be quite honest, this writing style threw me off just a little.

When I am reading a historical account, I expect it to be in past tense because, obviously, the events that are being described have already happened. But this seems to be a very deliberate stylistic choice that is meant to draw the reader in so that they can feel like they are experiencing the events they are reading about first-hand. And I will admit that the writing was very engaging and readable, even if it is not what I expected. I can see how this readability might make it easier for those who have a hard time getting into the story of Christ through scripture to learn about Him and His life, since the language is more complicated and somewhat archaic in the New Testament.

O-Reilly and Dugard also include a lot of information about the history of the Roman Empire and the interaction between the Roman and the Jewish governing entities in Israel at the time of Christ’s birth and life. I appreciated the inclusion of this historical information because I have not previously done a lot of study about the Roman Empire or knew about its influence on the Jewish world at that time. It was a time of intense political unrest and the political climate had a profound influence on how Christ was treated and contributed in part to what ultimately happened to Him at the end of His life.

The thing that struck me the most about the information presented about Rome and its leaders was that the cruelty of state punishments such as crucifixion was very common and almost rampant. Grisly stories were recounted about some of the stranger and more gruesome pastimes and activities of some of the Roman despots, as well as details about some of the unsavory acts of Jewish rulers. Many political “enemies” to Rome were killed by crucifixion as well as by other equally cruel methods. This does not diminish the horror of what they did to Jesus Christ, indeed His suffering was different in some ways because of the callousness of his guards which heightened the cruelty of the act (such as the crown of thorns), but this book does make it evident that Christ was not the only one to suffer such vicious treatment. I think this is something that the Christian world may often tend to forget since we concentrate so much on only Christ’s experiences.

Much of the information that the authors of Killing Jesus give about Christ himself is very familiar and falls right in line with the scriptural accounts that are given in the New Testament. I have seen some criticism by other readers that some of the more controversial facts that O’Reilly and Dugard give about the man Christ are still being debated and that it cannot be considered as hard-and-fast truth. There are also complaints that the gospels of the New Testament were written by men who never actually met Jesus Christ and therefore contain a lot of inaccuracies, or at least remain less reliable and so do not represent Christ as well as time-honored tradition may dictate. Therefore we cannot rely on those scriptural accounts alone.

Indeed, I know that I for one take for granted that the portrayals of Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are true representations and can be taken at face value, and given the tone of O’Reilly and Dugard’s book, it is obvious that they feel the same way.

One complaint that I do have with this book, however, is that it does not go in a strictly chronological order.  Where the first chapter starts in 5 B.C., the second chapter skips back to 44 B.C.; chapter three moves from 42 B.C. to chapter four taking place in A.D. 7. Perhaps this is not a problem for most people, but I have a highly organized way of thinking and going back and forth through time periods caused me a little bit of confusion at times. It also led to the authors changing tense on occasion switching from the overall present tense narrative into past tense.

At one point they talk about the Roman emperor Tiberius saying, “He has long worn the mantle that comes with being born into a lifetime of power, with its expectations and judgments,” (present tense) and then in the next paragraph say, “In addition to the baths, cisterns, great hall, private suites, and lighthouse that Tiberius built to make life on Capri as comfortable as possible, he also constructed the special observatory that will allow Thrasyllus to make sense of the starts each night” (past tense into future tense with “will allow”!). I know I am probably the only person who would even notice this type of thing and be bothered by it, but it did break the flow of the story for me.

Relationship with Christ

When contemplating this book after reading it, there were two big things that I felt I needed to consider. First, did I learn anything about Jesus Christ that I didn’t already know? And the second thing I pondered on was whether I got the same type of uplifting feeling in reading this book as I do when I read about Christ in the New Testament or other more holy writ.

The answer to the first question is that no, I don’t feel that I learned anything really new about Jesus. Everything that O’Reilly and Dugard present about the man Himself are all the things I have learned about him in the past. As I mentioned earlier, their portrayal of Christ and even all the events they bring up are the same things that can be found in the gospels of the New Testament. They may have tried to show Him as a more regular modern man, influenced by the events and circumstances that existed in the world during His lifetime, but making the Lord seem like more of common man did not help me feel more connected to Him. It didn’t make me feel like it would strengthen my own relationship with the Lord.

And my feelings on the second consideration of whether I got the same uplifting feeling reading this book about Christ as compared to the scriptures I am so familiar with are that, again, no I don’t get the same spiritual fulfillment from this book. There is just something about true scripture that really does help me feel close to the Savior when I read it. I know that there are many really great books out there that aren’t scripture that can still have a significant impact in a person’s life. But on this subject, I feel that the New Testament and other sacred books are the place to go looking for Jesus Christ – nothing else can create that bond.

Overall, Killing Jesus is an interesting read and especially for the Roman historical aspect, it might be worth the time to check it out. I would recommend this as a decent introduction to someone who has little previous knowledge about Jesus Christ, but if you are looking to grow closer to the Son of God, I honestly have to say this book is not the thing that will get you there.

Lola Cook January 27, 2014

Background was interesting reminder of Josepheus's writings; however,I found the book's 'watered down' paraphrases of the King James' scriptures hollow. How blessed we are to know 'the rest of the story.'

Trish Crowe January 24, 2014

I just finished the book this evening and enjoyed it. I don't think I learned anything new about the Lord himself, but I found the historical background that the book provided was interesting. It was a challenge, I'm sure, for Mr. O'Reilly and Mr. Dugard to write a book about Jesus from a purely historical point of view and not a theological one. It could possibly interest someone who isn't really a Christian, but likes to read about history. I can't say there's anything wrong with that.

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Killing Jesus (Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series) Hardcover – September 24, 2013

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Part of series Bill O'Reilly's Killing
• Print length 304 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date September 24, 2013
• Dimensions 6.5 x 1 x 9.55 inches
• ISBN-10 9780805098549
• ISBN-13 978-0805098549
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About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., killing jesus, henry holt and company.

BETHLEHEM, JUDEA MARCH, 5 B.C. MORNING

The child with thirty-six years to live is being hunted.

Heavily armed soldiers from the capital city of Jerusalem are marching to this small town, intent on finding and killing the baby boy. They are a mixed-race group of foreign mercenaries from Greece, Gaul, and Syria. The child's name, unknown to them, is Jesus, and his only crime is that some believe he will be the next king of the Jewish people. The current monarch, a dying half-Jewish, half-Arab despot named Herod, is so intent on ensuring the baby's death that his army has been ordered to murder every male child under the age of two years in Bethlehem. None of the soldiers knows what the child's mother and father look like, or the precise location of his home, thus the need to kill every baby boy in the small town and surrounding area. This alone will guarantee the extermination of the potential king.

It is springtime in Judea, the peak of lambing season. The rolling dirt road takes the army past thick groves of olive trees and shepherds tending their flocks. The soldiers' feet are clad in sandals, their legs are bare, and they wear the skirtlike pteruges to cover their loins. The young men sweat profusely beneath the plates of armor on their chests and the tinned bronze attic helmets that cover the tops of their heads and the sides of their faces.

The soldiers are well aware of Herod's notorious cruelty and his penchant for killing anyone who would try to threaten his throne. But there is no moral debate about the right or wrong of slaughtering infants. Nor do the soldiers question whether they will have the nerve to rip a screaming child from his mother's arms and carry out the execution. When the time comes, they will follow orders and do their jobs — or risk being immediately killed for insubordination.

The sword's blade is how they plan to dispatch the babies. All soldiers are armed with the Judean version of the razor-sharp pugio and gladius preferred by the Roman legions, and they wear their weapons attached to the waist. Their method of murder, however, will not be restricted to the dagger or sword. Should they wish, Herod's soldiers can also use a skull-crushing stone, hurl the baby boys off a cliff en masse, or just wrap their fists around the infants' windpipes and strangle them.

The cause of death is not important. What matters most is one simple fact: king of the Jews or not, the infant must die.

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, King Herod gazes out a palace window toward Bethlehem, anxiously awaiting confirmation of the slaughter. In the cobbled streets below him, the Roman-appointed king sees the crowded bazaars, where vendors sell everything from water and dates to tourist trinkets and roast lamb. The walled city of some eighty thousand residents packed into less than a single square mile is a crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean. With one sweep of his eyes, Herod can s

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0805098542
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition (September 24, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780805098549
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805098549
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.55 inches
• #32 in History of Religions
• #88 in History of Christianity (Books)
• #107 in Christian Church History (Books)

About the authors

Martin dugard.

Martin Dugard is the New York Times #1 bestselling author of the Taking Series — including Taking Berlin (2022) and Taking Paris (2021).

He is also the co-author of the mega-million selling Killing series: Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, Killing Reagan, Killing England, Killing the Rising Sun, Killing the SS, Killing Crazy Horse, and Killing the Mob.

Other works include the New York Times bestseller The Murder of King Tut (with James Patterson; Little, Brown, 2009); The Last Voyage of Columbus (Little, Brown, 2005); Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone (Doubleday, 2003), Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook (Pocket Books, 2001), Knockdown (Pocket Books, 1999), and Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth (McGraw-Hill, 1998). In addition, Martin lived on the island of Pulau Tiga during the filming of Survivor's inaugural season to write the bestselling Survivor with mega-producer Mark Burnett.

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly is a trailblazing TV journalist who has experienced unprecedented success on cable news and in writing fifteen national number-one bestselling nonfiction books. There are currently more than 17 million books in the Killing series in print. He currently hosts the ‘No Spin News’ on BillOReilly.com. He lives on Long Island.

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Customers say

Customers find the book excellent, well-written, and entertaining. They describe it as a brilliant work of historical analysis, enlightening, and straightforward. Readers also describe the content as factual, believable, and enthralling. Opinions are mixed on the religious content, with some finding it without being religious or preachy, while others say it's not supported by Biblical truth.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book excellent, well-written, and entertaining. They say it provides some historical background of Jesus's life. Readers also mention the author does a good job weaving a narrative. Overall, they say the book is concise and easy to read.

"...We should praise Martin Dugard, too, for his excellent scholarship and for taking on such a daunting research project...." Read more

"...the many- but mostly minor- errors- I still found the book an entertaining read and recommend it...." Read more

" Excellent reading about when he came about reaching the day of his crucifixion.Who and what it all came to be...." Read more

"Thought it was very interesting and filled with some historical elements that I was unaware of, Tiberius, Rome's war tactics, Julius Caesar, things..." Read more

Customers find the book brilliant, straightforward, and well-researched. They say it's an informative read that delved beyond the crucifixion of Christ. Readers also mention the political context is enlightening.

"...Bill O'Reilly's Killing Jesus is a masterful history of the man Jesus of Nazareth, a scholarly examination his life which details his short, tragic..." Read more

"...again, all the info about Rome and Pilate and the debauched emperors was extremely interesting ...." Read more

"This was an informative read that delved beyond the crucifixion of Christ and his trial...." Read more

Customers find the book very factual, believable, and informative. They say it's filled with unpretentious truth and adds an air of authenticity. Readers also appreciate the excellent job of framing the motives and personalities of key characters.

"...Their list of secondary sources is quite strong , leaning more toward conservative than liberal authors...." Read more

"...inspired in part because their historical and chronological accuracy is so stunningly perfect that I, at least, find it impossible to conceive that..." Read more

"...The book does an excellent job of framing the motives and personalities of key characters...." Read more

"...I could go on and on. There are so many inaccuracies and omissions that it’s impossible to mention all of them here...." Read more

Customers find the book highly engaging, entertaining, and delightful. They say it holds their interest to the very end and completely enhances their Bible reading experience. Readers also mention the book is riveting and moves along nicely.

"...This one and all the ' Killing' series are very good ." Read more

"...I easily give it a 4 just as being an entertaining book about a subject I love and study a lot...." Read more

"...: A History is that it is a well written book, easy to read and entertaining ...." Read more

"...It does present a brilliant, highly engaging , and radical man who was put to death and leaves us with "to this day, the body of Jesus of..." Read more

Customers find the murder gripping, heart-wrenching, and visceral. They say it brings a totally different feeling, an overwhelming sadness at the terrible suffering. Readers also mention the book gives them the feeling of living during that time in Jerusalem.

"... The book is gripping ...." Read more

"...Killing Jesus is historical. Not a religious book. It gives context and sensory texture to the background to the life of Christ, pulling eyewitness..." Read more

"...It touched me greatly, grabbed at my heart , made me feel right down to my toes and wove its way into my heart. I admit I cried more than once...." Read more

"...his use on T.V. of the word "guy" very insulting and disrespectful to our loving Savior , and, also not using the word "Christ", he smugly defends by..." Read more

Customers find the book enjoyable and difficult to put down. They say it's a marvelous historical piece that is easy to pick up again after a few days.

"...All three are fascinating and hard to put down . I liked Killing Lincoln the best.I have read a lot about the historical Jesus...." Read more

"...All-in-all, very much a worthwhile, easy , and exciting read, highly recommended." Read more

"...It is difficult to put it down till you are finished." Read more

"...eminently readable and interesting book, easy to understand and hard to put down ...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the religious content of the book. Some mention it's without being religious or preachy, and the narrative is persuasive without insulting one's beliefs. Others say the book is not supported by Biblical truth, has very little historical writings about Christ, and shows a basic lack of understanding of the Bible.

"...authors begin to tell about the life of Jesus, they follow the biblical accounts quite closely ...." Read more

"... Without being religious or preachy , it differed little from my 64 years of knowledge collection...." Read more

"...It shows a basic lack of understanding of the Bible , which is by far our #1 source of info about the life of Jesus...." Read more

"...interpretation of the narrative deliberately and persuasively without insulting one's beliefs ...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the flow of the book. Some mention it's fast-paced and an easy read, while others say the story doesn't flow well and is slow in the beginning.

"...His work flows nicely , does not use obscure terms that would only appeal to someone who is a Ph.D. in History, and walks the line between religious..." Read more

"...The authors’ explanation of Matthew’s infancy narrative has obvious problems ...." Read more

"...But O'Reilly has done an excellent job of conveying the real life day-to-day dynamics of Jesus's controversial life...." Read more

"...His substitutionary death on the cross for our sins - the narrative DOESN'T make sense ...." Read more

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