Introducing the Quest

The Historical Jesus, Part 1

By: David Z. Flanagin

Narrated by: David Z. Flanagin

You are invited to join the quest for the historical Jesus of Nazareth.

For 2,000 years, Christians have studied the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps no other individual has had such a wide-ranging and powerful impact on the history of the Western world. But deciphering the person of Jesus requires a firm understanding of history, culture, and language.

In these lectures, you will gather and interpret evidence about Jesus’ life, exploring the New Testament, the oral tradition, issues of translation, archaeology, and accounts written during Jesus’ life. Your guide, the award-winning professor David Zachariah Flanagin (PhD, University of Chicago), is both a trained historian and a Catholic educator - a winning combination for a subject that so encompasses the church and the path of civilization. Introducing the Quest is part of a larger audio course titled The Historical Jesus. We invite you to explore the other segments of this course.

©2015 Now You Know Media Inc. (P)2015 Now You Know Media Inc.

Outstanding presentation by a masterful teacher

Professor Flanagan manages to present an exhaustive and scholarly overview of how historians approach the story of Jesus. He does so in language that is easily understood. His presentation is very entertaining. He manages to include modern Jesus stories such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" or Dan Brown's books in a relevant manner. The only drawback is that the lectures are divided into more than twenty parts, so one will have to pay a few dollars for each installment. In my case, I anticipate I will complete the entire course, given the value I attribute to the first lecture. I should add that this course is far more than an exploration of Jesus. It also provides a broad survey of how historians think, as well as their methodology. Again, his examples are well-chosen, contemporary and enlightening. In this lecture, Sesame Street is referenced to illuminate the concepts of context and genre. You will have to listen for yourself to appreciate the mastery of this teacher.