Earlier this year, as the advance publicity about The Passion of the Christ gathered like a storm, the staff team in our church wondered how we should respond. We tried to think of a book that we could give to people in our church, which would prepare them for the questions that people might ask. We also wanted to find a book that Christians could give to their enquiring friends.
The book we came up with was The Truth About Jesus by Paul Barnett. This has just been re-issued by Aquila Press.
Paul Barnett lectured me in New Testament history at Moore College. He struck me as a man who understood the true vocation of the historian: to carefully sift the evidence and to claim to know only as much as the evidence would allow. And that is what this book does. Barnett looks at the historical evidence for the Christian faith. In turn, he examines the known facts about Jesus, using Paul and the other New Testament writers as well as sources outside the New Testament. Specifically he examines what we can know about Jesus’ claims to divinity, the Christmas story and the resurrection.
Barnett’s use of history is always skilful and never speculative. At the beginning of the book he comments on the historical method of writers like Barbara Thiering and John Shelby Spong’, who have been widely acclaimed in popular media and scorned by serious historians. At the heart of their approach is conjecture. By contrast this book provides a careful examination of serious evidence.
For instance, one of the obvious questions we need to ask is when was the New Testament written? By thinking carefully and clearly about the historical events of the first century, Barnett outlines a persuasive argument that most, if not all, of the New Testament was written before AD 72.
Of course, at the end of this investigation there is a decision to be made - who do we believe Jesus to be? The strength of this book is that it outlines clearly what we can know about the person of Jesus. This puts us in a position to make an informed response. My guess is that many serious enquirers will be surprised at the extent and the clarity of the evidence for Jesus.
The Truth About Jesus is a great book for anyone who is interested in history, whether believer or not. It is not written ‘impartially’. No work of history ever is. It is written by a man who believes that Jesus is the son of God and is keen for others to know that too.

Edward Vaughan

Edward Vaughan is senior minister at Darling Street Anglican Church. He has an honours degree in Australian history.