The substance of this paper is a comparative review of Jesus and Judaism by E.P. Sanders, and The Historical Jesus: The Life of A Mediterranean Jewish Peasant by John D. Crossan. Sanders' work, according to his Preface, was begun in 1975-76 but the book did not reach publication, for a variety of unspecified reasons, until 1985. Crossan's book, initially published in 1991, is obviously the culmination of a number of years of scholarly research, exactly how many is not known, although Crossan indicates that he was granted a sabbatical leave in 1988-89 in order to work on the text.
While not totally dissimilar, there are few points of commonality between the two books. The most obvious is each author's reliance on Josephus (Against Apion/Contra Apionem, Jewish Antiquities/Antiquitates Judaicae, and Jewish Wars/De Bello Judaico) for much insight into first century Jewish thought and practice. But Sanders relies principally upon the Bible for his portrait of Jesus--supported with Jewish rabbinic literature such as the Midrash and Talmud--in order to provide the fabric of Jesus' ministry among the Jews of His time, while Crossan expends extraordinary effort in consulting an extensive list of "Pagan" authors for an understanding of the historical background which would have possibly influenced the life of Jesus, and more likely influenced the canon of books which collectively constitute the New Testament.
Sanders' stated purpose is "to take up two related questions with regard to Jesus: his intention and his relationship to his contemporaries in Judaism" (3). In order to accomplish this task, his goal is to examine the "securest evidence," although he admits that "finding agreement about the ground rules by which what is relatively secure can be identified is very difficult" (4). Sanders methodology is ultimately defined by what he determines to be the area of least-explored study: "a convincing historical depiction of Jesus-...