The Roman Army and the New Testament
By Christopher Zeichmann
Fortress Academic, 208pp, £60/$80
Few phrases are as cringe-inducing as “the historical Jesus”, with its implication that there is an alternative, mythical Jesus created by those wishing to deny the historical accuracy of the New Testament, orthodox Christology and the supernatural generally. Defence of the mutual conformity of traditional theology with the facts of history should not, however, lead us to overlook another perfectly valid point – that while our understanding of facts with theological significance has improved over time, many more mundane events connected to biblical history have been lost to human memory.
