I included this book in my Biography Project (reading lots of biographies in 2008) because I was wondering what it would be like to write a biography of a person who a)lived so long ago, and b)has come be so freighted in many peoples' minds. The answer, as it turns out, is that you can't really say anything for sure, and there has to be pages and pages of disclaimers for even the smallest assertion of fact. Which got a little tiresome, I must admit.

The book was pretty fascinating, though, for the social context of first-century Palestine, and the textual contrasts among the different canonical and non-canonical Gospels. Especially for a non-Christian like me, a useful background book.