What do you think?
Rate this book
Understanding Jesus: A Guide to His Life and Times
He’s the most important person in human history—and Understanding Jesus: A Guide to His Life and Times makes His teaching and impact clearer than ever. More than any other Bible character, Jesus is the person both Christians and non-Christians admire and want to better understand. From Stephen M. Miller, author of the bestselling Who’s Who and Where’s Where in the Bible, this black-and-white paperback reference details the life of Christ, His teachings, and the faith He introduced to the world. You’ll love Miller’s casual, easy-to-read journalistic style, as he sets the story in the Roman world where Jesus lived, adding new insights from archaeology and ancient history. Fascinating sidebars and a complete topical index round out this important book.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2013
25 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Stephen M. Miller
88 books22 followersSTEPHEN M. MILLER was born in Oakland, Maryland on August 3, 1952. He was the first of six children--four boys, two girls--born to Clyde and Virginia Miller. Their sixth child, a boy, lived just a few hours. So Steve grew up in a family of five kids and both parents. At age 12, when his Grandpap died, Granny moved in with Steve's family. She's was Virginia's mom.
Steve's parents grew up two miles apart in coal country near Tunnelton, West Virginia, a deer hunter's long walk south of Morgantown.
After Steve came along, Clyde went looking for a job that didn't involve dragging a pick into a dark hole. He moved the family to Akron, Ohio where he became a tool and die maker, crafting steel parts for machinery.
His tax withholding statement for 1963 shows a salary of $5,990.51. By that time, all five kids were on board, the youngest age three.
Virginia didn't work outside the home until all the kids were in school. Then she took a part-time job as a sales clerk at JC Penney--as much for the clothing discount as for the slight salary.
Steve, at age 15, started working part-time after school at a Sohio service station, pumping gas, changing oil, and fixing flat tires. (Sohio stood for Standard Oil of Ohio.) It was a job he kept into his college years, until the owner died. The salary, which started at 75 cents an hour, paid for his first car. An extreme vehicle. Extremely used. Ford Galaxy, dingy green. The first time he drove it, he didn't know how to work the manual choke. A kid on a bicycle passed him.
NEWS JOURNALISM AT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
In college, Steve knocked out his general courses at the nearby University of Akron. Then he transferred to Kent State University, where he got a bachelor's degree in news journalism. For those wondering where he was in 1970 when the Ohio National Guard came to Kent State to quell the Vietnam War protests and ended up killing four students in the parking lot outside the School of Journalism, Steve was a senior in high school.
His mother enrolled at Kent State the same year he did. She got a degree in elementary education, launching her career as a public school teacher. Don't ask Steve who finished college with a higher grade-point average.
Steve commuted to college; he couldn't afford to live on campus. He drove the 45 minutes each day to Kent, Ohio. After the owner of the Sohio service station died, Steve found a full-time summer job working in a factory. He ran heated molds that pressed uncured rubber into auto parts. Then he dug out the parts with a brass pick. He sweat through his clothes in the first 10 minutes, and through his boots by 30. At shift's end, his crust of body salt sculpted him into Lot's wife's brother.
WORKING AT THE NEWSPAPER
When Steve landed a summer internship his senior year, working as a news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune in central Ohio, life was looking up. He lived in a rented trailer and listened to his mouse traps snapping at night. Which wasn't as tough as listening to the girl next door match her oscillating voice to a record player with an rpm that couldn't decide which r to pm. But Steve was out of the rubber factory. And into an air-conditioned office.
After graduation, he took a job as a news reporter with the Alliance Review. He worked there a year and a half, covering general news and editing the religion section and the business section. Small paper. Pleasant town.
It was during those months that he decided the Christian publishing world needed a little help from writers and editors who had taken journalism 101.
further info...
http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/auth...
Steve's parents grew up two miles apart in coal country near Tunnelton, West Virginia, a deer hunter's long walk south of Morgantown.
After Steve came along, Clyde went looking for a job that didn't involve dragging a pick into a dark hole. He moved the family to Akron, Ohio where he became a tool and die maker, crafting steel parts for machinery.
His tax withholding statement for 1963 shows a salary of $5,990.51. By that time, all five kids were on board, the youngest age three.
Virginia didn't work outside the home until all the kids were in school. Then she took a part-time job as a sales clerk at JC Penney--as much for the clothing discount as for the slight salary.
Steve, at age 15, started working part-time after school at a Sohio service station, pumping gas, changing oil, and fixing flat tires. (Sohio stood for Standard Oil of Ohio.) It was a job he kept into his college years, until the owner died. The salary, which started at 75 cents an hour, paid for his first car. An extreme vehicle. Extremely used. Ford Galaxy, dingy green. The first time he drove it, he didn't know how to work the manual choke. A kid on a bicycle passed him.
NEWS JOURNALISM AT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
In college, Steve knocked out his general courses at the nearby University of Akron. Then he transferred to Kent State University, where he got a bachelor's degree in news journalism. For those wondering where he was in 1970 when the Ohio National Guard came to Kent State to quell the Vietnam War protests and ended up killing four students in the parking lot outside the School of Journalism, Steve was a senior in high school.
His mother enrolled at Kent State the same year he did. She got a degree in elementary education, launching her career as a public school teacher. Don't ask Steve who finished college with a higher grade-point average.
Steve commuted to college; he couldn't afford to live on campus. He drove the 45 minutes each day to Kent, Ohio. After the owner of the Sohio service station died, Steve found a full-time summer job working in a factory. He ran heated molds that pressed uncured rubber into auto parts. Then he dug out the parts with a brass pick. He sweat through his clothes in the first 10 minutes, and through his boots by 30. At shift's end, his crust of body salt sculpted him into Lot's wife's brother.
WORKING AT THE NEWSPAPER
When Steve landed a summer internship his senior year, working as a news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune in central Ohio, life was looking up. He lived in a rented trailer and listened to his mouse traps snapping at night. Which wasn't as tough as listening to the girl next door match her oscillating voice to a record player with an rpm that couldn't decide which r to pm. But Steve was out of the rubber factory. And into an air-conditioned office.
After graduation, he took a job as a news reporter with the Alliance Review. He worked there a year and a half, covering general news and editing the religion section and the business section. Small paper. Pleasant town.
It was during those months that he decided the Christian publishing world needed a little help from writers and editors who had taken journalism 101.
further info...
http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/auth...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 21, 2017
A history of the life and times of Jesus.
Miller uses both the Bible and historical documents to put the life of Jesus into perspective. A great read no matter what level of Faith you profess.
Miller uses both the Bible and historical documents to put the life of Jesus into perspective. A great read no matter what level of Faith you profess.
Read
May 5, 2020Very interesting
Well written and held my attention throughout. Learned a lot about the world and people around Jesus. Would recommend for anyone.
Well written and held my attention throughout. Learned a lot about the world and people around Jesus. Would recommend for anyone.
March 4, 2013
"Understanding Jesus" is a Bible reference book about the gospels. It's a detailed historical background book but also a comparative commentary on selected verses or events. It's written in a casual tone but stays focused and contained in-depth, complex information.
The author wrote this book for people who don't know much about Jesus, yet I suspect they would either find this book overwhelming or confusing. For example, his information on the difference between a bride price, a dowry, and a bride gift, the amounts typically paid for each during that time period, and the exact wording of a divorce paper was interesting to me. However, this information didn't really help me understand Jesus' life and teachings better. This depth and type of information is more something I'd recommend to those familiar with the Bible and who want to go deeper than the typical study Bible or Bible handbook.
This book also contained comparative commentary. He'd compare the views of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and various Protestant scholars on certain verses. For example, why do the two genealogies for Jesus appear different, and why were women--and shameful women at that--included in one genealogy? Again, these were questions that those not familiar with the gospel accounts probably aren't worried about and the variety of opinions given could leave them confused instead of enlightened.
A more advanced student of the Bible might find this book useful. It's a good resource for detailed historical background information on certain topics, and I really enjoyed those sections. This information was based off of ancient literary sources and archaeological finds.
The book could also be a time saver for those who don't want to look up various commentary opinions for themselves. However, I didn't really like the commentary comparison because it came from a different starting point than I do. I would have been okay with it if it'd been presented as "we know it's true, but people have various opinions on the specifics." But I felt like the author was saying, "Here are some differing opinions as well as reasons why those opinions don't work. It's up to you to judge which opinion is true, or even to decide that Jesus or the gospel writer made a mistake."
I received this book as a review ebook copy from the publisher through Netgalley.
The author wrote this book for people who don't know much about Jesus, yet I suspect they would either find this book overwhelming or confusing. For example, his information on the difference between a bride price, a dowry, and a bride gift, the amounts typically paid for each during that time period, and the exact wording of a divorce paper was interesting to me. However, this information didn't really help me understand Jesus' life and teachings better. This depth and type of information is more something I'd recommend to those familiar with the Bible and who want to go deeper than the typical study Bible or Bible handbook.
This book also contained comparative commentary. He'd compare the views of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and various Protestant scholars on certain verses. For example, why do the two genealogies for Jesus appear different, and why were women--and shameful women at that--included in one genealogy? Again, these were questions that those not familiar with the gospel accounts probably aren't worried about and the variety of opinions given could leave them confused instead of enlightened.
A more advanced student of the Bible might find this book useful. It's a good resource for detailed historical background information on certain topics, and I really enjoyed those sections. This information was based off of ancient literary sources and archaeological finds.
The book could also be a time saver for those who don't want to look up various commentary opinions for themselves. However, I didn't really like the commentary comparison because it came from a different starting point than I do. I would have been okay with it if it'd been presented as "we know it's true, but people have various opinions on the specifics." But I felt like the author was saying, "Here are some differing opinions as well as reasons why those opinions don't work. It's up to you to judge which opinion is true, or even to decide that Jesus or the gospel writer made a mistake."
I received this book as a review ebook copy from the publisher through Netgalley.
October 14, 2015
Stephen M Miller's Best Book on the Life of Christ - Now For Kindle!
By TNPanMan Wayne Sacchi on February 8, 2013
I have reviewed many books by Stephen M. Miller and what can I say? They are all great! This was the second book of his that I read (first edition), the first was "The Complete Guide to the Bible." This book is well researched and will give you an overview of the Life of Christ. Miller provides insights on Jewish history -- tracing all the background leading up to Jesus the Messiah, his family tree, and the homeland of Israel. He does a wonderful job going through all 4 gospels and explaining historically the Life of Christ. He even covers what the New Testament teaches about Jesus and the Second Coming of Christ. He has wonderful sidebars -- one that I found amusing was the "Jesus Seminar" where so-called Bible scholars "voted" on what they thought was "the real words of Jesus" -- they came to the conclusion that "Our Father" was the only legitimate words of Jesus. On the next page, Miller shows that the Jewish Kaddish is very similar to the Lord's Prayer -- and Jews were praying this at the same time of Jesus! Every Christian and Jew should own this book -- it provides so much insight into the Life and times of Jesus Christ.
By TNPanMan Wayne Sacchi on February 8, 2013
I have reviewed many books by Stephen M. Miller and what can I say? They are all great! This was the second book of his that I read (first edition), the first was "The Complete Guide to the Bible." This book is well researched and will give you an overview of the Life of Christ. Miller provides insights on Jewish history -- tracing all the background leading up to Jesus the Messiah, his family tree, and the homeland of Israel. He does a wonderful job going through all 4 gospels and explaining historically the Life of Christ. He even covers what the New Testament teaches about Jesus and the Second Coming of Christ. He has wonderful sidebars -- one that I found amusing was the "Jesus Seminar" where so-called Bible scholars "voted" on what they thought was "the real words of Jesus" -- they came to the conclusion that "Our Father" was the only legitimate words of Jesus. On the next page, Miller shows that the Jewish Kaddish is very similar to the Lord's Prayer -- and Jews were praying this at the same time of Jesus! Every Christian and Jew should own this book -- it provides so much insight into the Life and times of Jesus Christ.
February 2, 2017
Well written
I enjoy this book both times I read it. It is a must when wanting to look deeper into the culture of men. Jesus's life becomes more than words on a page. Coupling this book with the Holy Bible lends the study a helpful hand.
I enjoy this book both times I read it. It is a must when wanting to look deeper into the culture of men. Jesus's life becomes more than words on a page. Coupling this book with the Holy Bible lends the study a helpful hand.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews