Jesus: A Biography from a Believer

This book by Christian and biographical historian Paul Johnson is an interesting little creature. I've just speed-read it because I'm giving it to my mum for her birthday and I wanted to check it was the kind of thing she'd find interesting and edifying.

   Honestly I'm not really sure who this book is for. Pretty much all of the biographical details are lifted directly from the Gospels,* which is fine and all considering it was written by a Christian, but it makes the book of little apologetic value for non-believer readers who may well doubt the veracity of the New Testament texts at face value; and for Christian readers adds nothing that was not already present in those same texts except maybe a sprinkling of vaguely-insightful commentary here and there. There are several fairly helpful passages explicating historical bits of contextual culture or politics or norms, but none of these are things the average Christian reader couldn't find in a halfway-decent study Bible, and none of it really goes far enough to be again of much apologetic value to non-Christian readers.

   All that said, it is nice to have the life of the Messiah straightened out without having to dive chapter-and-verse between four different books trying to assemble a chronology; instead Jesus's life story is organised more by thematic blocks; early life, miracles, teaching, conflict with religious leaders, crucifixion, and afterwards. I don't know who I'd recommend this book to honestly, which is a shame because Paul Johnson's biography of Socrates was incredibly illuminating. Sorry mum, I hope you like it anyway.

* He does make good mention of the fact that Jesus is included in the official non-Christian histories by both Tacitus and Josephus, but doesn't dig into this a whole lot and it's more just an off-the-cuff reference.

Socrates: A Man for Our Times

This book is a biography of western philosophy's foundational figure by Paul Johnson - and my goodness, is it excellent. Dealing with his ideas deftly, and embedded in their original contexts, he brings the man to life that even Plato barely manages to fumble; the picture painted of ancient Athens, the raw challenges of Socrates's credo that one's life should be examined, directed with meaning and purpose, that it is open at all points to moral or intellectual challenge for not living up to its own purported standards; his monotheism, his reputation as a soldier and athlete, and statesman of the democratic society - or how these images of the man were skewed by philosophers and playwrights toward ulterior political or cultural ends after his willing submission to the death penalty for his "blasphemies"; even his amusingly-sketched relationship with his overbearing wife and their life of happy poverty - this is historical biography done to perfection, thoroughly entertaining to read but you can virtually smell the rigour of research on every page and I learnt more about Socrates through this one book than in that whole module of ancient Greek philosophy that - actually, now thinking about it I didn't take when I was an undergrad... OK maybe I'm thinking of Keanu's refs, but you get the point. Anyway, one last punt - the subtitle; Johnson does throughout pepper the text with considerations of how the life & thought of Socrates parallels those of numerous other thinkers across the history of western life & thought - and though in my view didn't expand this as fully as I'd have liked to see does draw some really interesting contemporary application points out of it all. Definitely worth a read for anyone who's a fan of philosophy, history, or both.