What do you think?
Rate this book
Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From a renowned National Book Award–winning scholar, an extraordinary new account of the life of Jesus that explores the mystery of how a poor young man inspired a religion that reshaped the world.
“This is a brilliant and necessary book. Sober, wise, respectful, and fearless." —Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America
"Pagels’s story is for believers and non-believers alike.” —Tara Westover, author of Educated
"The depth of spirituality she uncovers is profound.” —The New York Times Book Review
Early in her career, Elaine Pagels changed our understanding of the origins of Christianity with her work in The Gnostic Gospels. Now, in the culmination of a decades-long career, she explores the biggest subject of all, Jesus. In Miracles and Wonder she sets out to discover how a poor young Jewish man inspired a religion that shaped the world.
The book reads like a historical mystery, with each chapter addressing a fascinating question and answering it based on the gospels Jesus's followers left behind. Why is Jesus said to have had a virgin birth? Why do we say he rose from the dead? Did his miracles really happen and what did they mean?
The story Pagels tells is thrilling and tense. Not just does Jesus comes to life but his desperate, hunted followers do as well. We realize that some of the most compelling details of Jesus's life are the explanations his disciples created to paper over inconvenient facts. So Jesus wasn't illegitimate, his mother conceived by God; Jesus's body wasn't humiliatingly left to rot and tossed into a common grave—no, he rose from the dead and was seen whole by his followers; Jesus isn't a failed messiah, his kingdom is a he lives in us. These necessary fabrications were the very details and promises that electrified their listeners and helped his followers' numbers grow.
In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels does more than solve a historical mystery. She sheds light on Jesus's enduring power to inspire and attract.
“This is a brilliant and necessary book. Sober, wise, respectful, and fearless." —Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America
"Pagels’s story is for believers and non-believers alike.” —Tara Westover, author of Educated
"The depth of spirituality she uncovers is profound.” —The New York Times Book Review
Early in her career, Elaine Pagels changed our understanding of the origins of Christianity with her work in The Gnostic Gospels. Now, in the culmination of a decades-long career, she explores the biggest subject of all, Jesus. In Miracles and Wonder she sets out to discover how a poor young Jewish man inspired a religion that shaped the world.
The book reads like a historical mystery, with each chapter addressing a fascinating question and answering it based on the gospels Jesus's followers left behind. Why is Jesus said to have had a virgin birth? Why do we say he rose from the dead? Did his miracles really happen and what did they mean?
The story Pagels tells is thrilling and tense. Not just does Jesus comes to life but his desperate, hunted followers do as well. We realize that some of the most compelling details of Jesus's life are the explanations his disciples created to paper over inconvenient facts. So Jesus wasn't illegitimate, his mother conceived by God; Jesus's body wasn't humiliatingly left to rot and tossed into a common grave—no, he rose from the dead and was seen whole by his followers; Jesus isn't a failed messiah, his kingdom is a he lives in us. These necessary fabrications were the very details and promises that electrified their listeners and helped his followers' numbers grow.
In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels does more than solve a historical mystery. She sheds light on Jesus's enduring power to inspire and attract.
Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2025
957 people are currently reading
4336 people want to read
About the author
Elaine Pagels
39 books852 followersElaine Pagels is a preeminent figure in the theological community whose scholarship has earned her international respect. The Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University, she was awarded the Rockefeller, Guggenheim & MacArthur Fellowships in three consecutive years.
As a young researcher at Barnard College, she changed forever the historical landscape of the Christian religion by exploding the myth of the early Christian Church as a unified movement. Her findings were published in the bestselling book, The Gnostic Gospels, an analysis of 52 early Christian manuscripts that were unearthed in Egypt. Known collectively as the Nag Hammadi Library, the manuscripts show the pluralistic nature of the early church & the role of women in the developing movement. As the early church moved toward becoming an orthodox body with a canon, rites & clergy, the Nag Hammadi manuscripts were suppressed & deemed heretical. The Gnostic Gospels won both the Nat'l Book Critic’s Circle Award & the Nat'l Book Award & was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best books of the 20th Century.
As a young researcher at Barnard College, she changed forever the historical landscape of the Christian religion by exploding the myth of the early Christian Church as a unified movement. Her findings were published in the bestselling book, The Gnostic Gospels, an analysis of 52 early Christian manuscripts that were unearthed in Egypt. Known collectively as the Nag Hammadi Library, the manuscripts show the pluralistic nature of the early church & the role of women in the developing movement. As the early church moved toward becoming an orthodox body with a canon, rites & clergy, the Nag Hammadi manuscripts were suppressed & deemed heretical. The Gnostic Gospels won both the Nat'l Book Critic’s Circle Award & the Nat'l Book Award & was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best books of the 20th Century.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 229 reviews
April 17, 2025
From where I sit, Pagels was always writing in one way or another about Jesus. But in the preface of her new book, “Miracles and Wonder,” she says, “Only now, after reflecting on the themes, texts, and enigmas of Christian tradition for decades, have I felt ready to engage the stories of Jesus directly.” Here she presents a fleet and accessible survey of scholarship about Jesus filtered through her own liberal sensibility as a person alive to the spiritual power of his message. As usual, there’s a peculiar tension in Pagels’s new book between her introductory approach and her brisk assumption of critical experience. She’s the physicist who can explain to a child how a balloon stays aloft while also casually mentioning adiabatic expansion. One could read “Miracles and Wonder” without ever wrestling with the bruising academic debates she passes over so breezily.
It is, as she claims, an “adventure.”
Whether it’s an adventure you want to take will depend substantially on the depth of your interest in Jesus and the resiliency of your faith. Like many otherwise rational Christians, I take the Gospels as literally true even while puttering around the material world wearing a seatbelt. I don’t need science or archaeology to confirm the events described in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John any more than I expect a cardiologist to pry open my chest and show me where love resides. But I’m still susceptible to the prick of academic skepticism, which is probably healthy for anyone’s system.
Pagels confesses that in her naive student days, she imagined “that if we went back to 1st-century sources, we would be able to find out what Jesus actually said and did.” A lifetime of research, though, has taught her how knotty that quest actually is. She’s certain that the historical evidence confirms the existence of Jesus, but everything about him beyond that must be judged according to what was written down — with “reverence or contempt.”
Her goal in this book, then, is to disintegrate those voices and suss out why we have these particular accounts. That task would.....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
It is, as she claims, an “adventure.”
Whether it’s an adventure you want to take will depend substantially on the depth of your interest in Jesus and the resiliency of your faith. Like many otherwise rational Christians, I take the Gospels as literally true even while puttering around the material world wearing a seatbelt. I don’t need science or archaeology to confirm the events described in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John any more than I expect a cardiologist to pry open my chest and show me where love resides. But I’m still susceptible to the prick of academic skepticism, which is probably healthy for anyone’s system.
Pagels confesses that in her naive student days, she imagined “that if we went back to 1st-century sources, we would be able to find out what Jesus actually said and did.” A lifetime of research, though, has taught her how knotty that quest actually is. She’s certain that the historical evidence confirms the existence of Jesus, but everything about him beyond that must be judged according to what was written down — with “reverence or contempt.”
Her goal in this book, then, is to disintegrate those voices and suss out why we have these particular accounts. That task would.....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
September 16, 2025
Elaine Pagels is out with an exciting new book. This is my eighth, I think, and I’m a general reader. As usual, there’s further elaboration here of The Gnostic Gospels, including more about my favorite anti-gnostic dastards: Irenaeus and Tertullian.
The opening chapter on how it came to be said that
Mary bore Jesus as a virgin birth is fascinating. But there are also chapters on the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, etc. Here’s just two of many startling quotes:
“…When I began to consider the crucifixion stories with these concerns in mind, I was startled and distressed by things I had never noticed before.
“How had I failed to see that the way Jesus's followers shaped these stories — casting "the Jews" as agents of Satan — opened the way for Christians to demonize Jews outside their movement in ways that have ignited turbulence, violence, even state-sponsored mass murder, throughout Christianity's two-thousand-year history?“ (p. 145)
And:
“Even after the sixteenth century, when Martin Luther began protesting papal authority, giving rise to ‘Protestant’ Christianity and the Reformation, many groups that were spawned from that movement maintained the Nicene Creed and the sacred meal as the center of worship, while endorsing the authority of ‘Scripture alone.’ Especially from the seventeenth century through the nineteenth, other religious reformers, part of the ‘Radical Reformation,’ took Christianity in new directions, creating groups as diverse as the Society of Friends (often called Quakers), Unitarians and Universalists, the Church of Latter-day Saints, and Christian Science. And today, many evangelical Christians who reject denominational labels claim to hold to "the fundamentals" of faith, endorsing the literal truth of the Bible.“ (p. 207)
I also warmly recommend Pagel’s The Origin of Satan; Adam, Eve, and the Serpent; The Gnostic Gospels; and Why Religion?: A Personal Story.
The opening chapter on how it came to be said that
Mary bore Jesus as a virgin birth is fascinating. But there are also chapters on the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, etc. Here’s just two of many startling quotes:
“…When I began to consider the crucifixion stories with these concerns in mind, I was startled and distressed by things I had never noticed before.
“How had I failed to see that the way Jesus's followers shaped these stories — casting "the Jews" as agents of Satan — opened the way for Christians to demonize Jews outside their movement in ways that have ignited turbulence, violence, even state-sponsored mass murder, throughout Christianity's two-thousand-year history?“ (p. 145)
And:
“Even after the sixteenth century, when Martin Luther began protesting papal authority, giving rise to ‘Protestant’ Christianity and the Reformation, many groups that were spawned from that movement maintained the Nicene Creed and the sacred meal as the center of worship, while endorsing the authority of ‘Scripture alone.’ Especially from the seventeenth century through the nineteenth, other religious reformers, part of the ‘Radical Reformation,’ took Christianity in new directions, creating groups as diverse as the Society of Friends (often called Quakers), Unitarians and Universalists, the Church of Latter-day Saints, and Christian Science. And today, many evangelical Christians who reject denominational labels claim to hold to "the fundamentals" of faith, endorsing the literal truth of the Bible.“ (p. 207)
I also warmly recommend Pagel’s The Origin of Satan; Adam, Eve, and the Serpent; The Gnostic Gospels; and Why Religion?: A Personal Story.
May 25, 2025
Elaine Pagels is such an interesting writer/scholar of Christianity. Her books always are written from a unique perspective, a mix of rigorous scholarship with a respect for faith. I love the way she leads her readers through her own research methods and sources as she writes. Nothing about her writing is polemical. She takes me on an exploration.
This latest book trains its focus on Jesus. Pagels is so disinterested in the ssme old questions about historical accuracy vs. the Gospels. Instead, she takes us through the Gospels in a way that I find unique, not trying to prove their accuracy or disprove it, neither shying away from their contradictions or embracing those contradictions as proof of anything, but rather, locating these writings within the historic, political, and religious tradition of their times. It’s fascinating.
I love the way she takes the wilder aspects of the gospels—for instance, the story of Jesus removing a passel of demons from a man and then casting these demons into a nearby herd of swine andyhen compelling those swine to rush into the sea and drown themselves—and provides context for why the writers of these gospels chose to write these stories the way they did.
i don’t suppose someone who believes the infallible word of God is transcribed into the Bible would love this book since it explores the many contradictions in the gospels—if Matthew is right about the Nativity, then Luke is wrong, for instance—and instead of ignoring these contradictions, or using them as evidence that the gospels are flawed and nonsensical, Pagels asks ‘why did the authors of these gospels write these stories the way they did?’ and, to my mind, comes to a place where the contradictions can be faith-affirming when read in context. Not that it’s Pagel’s goal to be faith-affirming, or faith-enriching. She just has a talent for adding to our understandings without needing to prove or disprove.
Although the book is nearly entirely focused on Jesus, there was a paragraph about the Holy Spirit, that most elusive-to-me member of the Trinity, that delighted me, I learned that in pre-latin versions of the Gospels the Holy Spirit is a ‘she’ —the word used for ‘spirit’ is feminine, although there were male alternatives that might have been chosen—and it was only after the latin male-gendered ‘spiritus’ was standardized that this sense of the Holy Spirit as ‘Mother’ in the trinity was lost.
This latest book trains its focus on Jesus. Pagels is so disinterested in the ssme old questions about historical accuracy vs. the Gospels. Instead, she takes us through the Gospels in a way that I find unique, not trying to prove their accuracy or disprove it, neither shying away from their contradictions or embracing those contradictions as proof of anything, but rather, locating these writings within the historic, political, and religious tradition of their times. It’s fascinating.
I love the way she takes the wilder aspects of the gospels—for instance, the story of Jesus removing a passel of demons from a man and then casting these demons into a nearby herd of swine andyhen compelling those swine to rush into the sea and drown themselves—and provides context for why the writers of these gospels chose to write these stories the way they did.
i don’t suppose someone who believes the infallible word of God is transcribed into the Bible would love this book since it explores the many contradictions in the gospels—if Matthew is right about the Nativity, then Luke is wrong, for instance—and instead of ignoring these contradictions, or using them as evidence that the gospels are flawed and nonsensical, Pagels asks ‘why did the authors of these gospels write these stories the way they did?’ and, to my mind, comes to a place where the contradictions can be faith-affirming when read in context. Not that it’s Pagel’s goal to be faith-affirming, or faith-enriching. She just has a talent for adding to our understandings without needing to prove or disprove.
Although the book is nearly entirely focused on Jesus, there was a paragraph about the Holy Spirit, that most elusive-to-me member of the Trinity, that delighted me, I learned that in pre-latin versions of the Gospels the Holy Spirit is a ‘she’ —the word used for ‘spirit’ is feminine, although there were male alternatives that might have been chosen—and it was only after the latin male-gendered ‘spiritus’ was standardized that this sense of the Holy Spirit as ‘Mother’ in the trinity was lost.
August 17, 2025
I'm glad to see something new from Pagels. This one has the best analysis I've seen of how the gospel accounts link to Old Testament themes. It has close to the most reflective analysis I've seen on what "resurrection" meant to all the various ancient people concerned. Toward the end, Pagels goes spinning around the world relating stories of what Jesus has meant to diverse religious groups, writers, artists, or film makers. She abandons looking for "the real story," and just closely compares them. It's a big exploration, considering the kinds of inspiration or possibility that different people find.
January 26, 2025
I'm still reflecting on the light Pagels casts on the historical Jesus. As always, impeccable scholarship brought to inform non-scholars about religious thinking on the interpretation of Jesus' life through the lens of the Gospels, taking into account how long after Jesus death each was written, and how this interpretation has changed throughout history.
August 9, 2025
In this latest book from Elaine Pagels she reviews both canonical and non-canonical written literature about Jesus and how what was written contributed to the subsequent success of the Christian religion. She notes the differences and discrepancies between the different sources and delves into the possible motivations that could cause the writers to offer differing views of the same events.
For the rest of my review I will use excerpts from the book to summarize Pagels' response to the various questions that arise when studying the writings.
In dealing with the virgin birth the writers of Matthew and Luke were addressing a reading audience expecting fulfillment of Hebrew scriptures as well as competing against contemporary tales of quasi-divine births of Emperors and other prophets. The fact that the writers of Matthew and Luke were writing in Greek and were reading the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures also influenced their writing.
For the rest of my review I will use excerpts from the book to summarize Pagels' response to the various questions that arise when studying the writings.
In dealing with the virgin birth the writers of Matthew and Luke were addressing a reading audience expecting fulfillment of Hebrew scriptures as well as competing against contemporary tales of quasi-divine births of Emperors and other prophets. The fact that the writers of Matthew and Luke were writing in Greek and were reading the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures also influenced their writing.
Matthew's and Luke's birth narratives, then, likely contain more literary adaptation of Hebrew Bible stories than history. This similarity between their gospels shows that, although the New Testament writers often mention historical events, they were not writing primarily to report history, or even biography—not, at any rate, in ways that conform to Greek and Roman literary conventions. Instead, they were writing, some forty to seventy years after Jesus's death, primarily to publicize his message. Simply put, Jesus's devoted believers wrote these narratives to persuade others to "believe in the gospel”—the Greek term euangelion translates as "good news”—and join their new movement.Modern readers tend to skip over the accounts of miracles since they don’t fit well with modern rational thinking. What caused the writers to make miracles a prominent feature of the written text?
Like many readers influenced by rationalist assumptions, I once tended to skip over the miracle stories to focus instead on Jesus's teachings. But Mark's contemporaries would have recognized that the two are intimately linked. For, as he intends to show, when God's spirit descends upon Jesus, the spirit inspires him to speak in prophecy, and to perform acts of power. As Mark tells it, Jesus's power to heal is what demonstrates—and validates—his claim to speak for God.One observable differences between the four canonical Gospels is that the ones written later in time were more likely to de-emphasize “God’s Kingdom” and to emphasize the divinity of Jesus. So what accounts for the morphing from kingdom to divinity? As the length of time since Jesus’ life increased it became increasingly apparent that God’s kingdom on earth may not soon arrive.
And whereas Mark, Luke, Matthew, and Thomas all focus primarily on God's kingdom, John almost never mentions it. At the start of his gospel, he speaks of it only once, and then only as a spiritual state that only baptized people may "see" (3:3). And when John's Jesus does speak of the kingdom, he radically changes the required criteria for "entering" it. Instead of calling for repentance to change how we live, John's Jesus insists above all that we "must" believe—not in the message of the kingdom but in Jesus himself—and to seal this belief by accepting baptism. This alone, John's Jesus insists, enables those who are baptized to "see the kingdom of God".So what is the meaning of the crucifixion and what really happened?
What I find most astonishing about the gospel stories is that Jesus's followers managed to take what their critics saw as the most damning evidence against their Messiah—his crucifixion—and transform it into evidence of his divine mission. So powerfully were they able to reimagine it that, to this day, countless Christians all over the world—Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and many others—have turned their ritual enactment of his crucifixion into the centerpiece of worship: the "mass," "the Lord's supper," "holy communion." often called "eucharist." from the Greek word for "thanksgiving."Next Pagels addresses the resurrection noting what people said happened and what can be known about the purported event.
… historical evidence can neither prove nor disprove the reality that gave rise to such experiences. What we can verify historically, though, is that after Jesus died, many people claimed to have seen him alive. What fascinates me, and many others, is how their various reports of visions and appearances catalyzed the explosion of activity that led to the spread of Christianity all over the world; even now it attracts new converts.Next Pagels describes the influence of Constantine and how his impatience with the conflicting theologies being taught caused him to call for the council at Nicaea and demanded to have a single version to which all were to agree.
When they arrived, he personally stood to welcome them, and ordered them to compose a document specifying what Christians should believe. What a committee of bishops wrote, and more than three hundred finally endorsed, came to be called the Nicene Creed, which has enormously influenced Christian doctrine ever since.Next Pagels describes the selection of which writing was to be canonical and how Constantine ordered the selection be made.
Constantine then ordered his closest ally among them, Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, "Get me fifty copies of the [Christian] Scriptures, so that he could send a uniform collection to major churches throughout the empire. First, though, Eusebius had to answer the question, “Which ones?" What belonged on such a list?In the later chapters of this book Pagels explores the reasons for the success of the Christian movement and why it continues to attract new converts. She explores “who is Jesus” today by investigating how he is seen by a range of recently converted believers from different parts of the world, and by artists, writers, and filmmakers among our contemporaries.
April 24, 2025
Pagels is a serious scholar of religion at Princeton. Her book on the Gnostic Gospels is a classic.
In this book she explores the central questions about Jesus. Was Jesus an actual person? Did he have a virgin birth? Did he perform miracles? What did he teach? How and why was he crucified and was he resurrected? What did he become to believers in the last 2000 years? She has done a close study of the accepted scripture and the other non-official scriptures.
Who was Jesus' paternal grandfather? Mathew 1-16 says it was Jacob. Luke 3-23 says it was Heli. These aren't different names for the same guy, because each book traces back Grandpa's genealogy to King David, but they use a different list of names to get there. Either Mathew is correct, and Luke is wrong, or vice versa. They can't both be right. This is direct proof that the Gospels are not the unerring word of God. This is one simple example among many.
Pagel does not approve of that kind of logical analytic approach to scripture. She explains the significance of showing that Jesus was descended from David. She traces the differences in the origins of the Matthew and Luke scriptures. She avoids picking a side. She uses the inconsistency as a way into understanding scripture.
I found her approach frustrating at times. She has spent years researching and studying scripture. She seems torn between giving an accurate, informed reading of the problems with the historical reliability of scripture and a desire to preserve scripture as a valuable source of spiritual strength and guidance for Christians.
The central belief of the Christian Church is that Jesus died and was resurrected. Pagels shows, in detail, that the biblical descriptions of the resurrection are inconsistent and incompatible. She explains that they are likely a later attempt to explain how Jesus could have been a God if he was a convicted executed criminal. At the same time, she says that the stories of the resurrection have value because they "give hope that many may appreciate.". Is it a good thing to give hope by telling a story that is not true?
This is well written and deeply researched survey of questions that are still central to Christianity, and therefore to our country. Pagels uses her good judgment and deep historical knowledge to fairly analyze the evidence. She also seems to think that it is important to cherish the force that scriptures can continue to have. Her job as a historian is in tension with her job as an advocate.
Pagels forced me to stop and consider her approach. She presents her arguments fairly and convincingly. I enjoyed wrestling with this book.
In this book she explores the central questions about Jesus. Was Jesus an actual person? Did he have a virgin birth? Did he perform miracles? What did he teach? How and why was he crucified and was he resurrected? What did he become to believers in the last 2000 years? She has done a close study of the accepted scripture and the other non-official scriptures.
Who was Jesus' paternal grandfather? Mathew 1-16 says it was Jacob. Luke 3-23 says it was Heli. These aren't different names for the same guy, because each book traces back Grandpa's genealogy to King David, but they use a different list of names to get there. Either Mathew is correct, and Luke is wrong, or vice versa. They can't both be right. This is direct proof that the Gospels are not the unerring word of God. This is one simple example among many.
Pagel does not approve of that kind of logical analytic approach to scripture. She explains the significance of showing that Jesus was descended from David. She traces the differences in the origins of the Matthew and Luke scriptures. She avoids picking a side. She uses the inconsistency as a way into understanding scripture.
I found her approach frustrating at times. She has spent years researching and studying scripture. She seems torn between giving an accurate, informed reading of the problems with the historical reliability of scripture and a desire to preserve scripture as a valuable source of spiritual strength and guidance for Christians.
The central belief of the Christian Church is that Jesus died and was resurrected. Pagels shows, in detail, that the biblical descriptions of the resurrection are inconsistent and incompatible. She explains that they are likely a later attempt to explain how Jesus could have been a God if he was a convicted executed criminal. At the same time, she says that the stories of the resurrection have value because they "give hope that many may appreciate.". Is it a good thing to give hope by telling a story that is not true?
This is well written and deeply researched survey of questions that are still central to Christianity, and therefore to our country. Pagels uses her good judgment and deep historical knowledge to fairly analyze the evidence. She also seems to think that it is important to cherish the force that scriptures can continue to have. Her job as a historian is in tension with her job as an advocate.
Pagels forced me to stop and consider her approach. She presents her arguments fairly and convincingly. I enjoyed wrestling with this book.
April 4, 2025
I was a bit disappointed with this book, so my rating is 3.5. Principally it was the author's views and commentary on the gospels. I had no significant disagreements with anything she wrote, but her observations are the same argument presented time and again; is the bible history or myth? I was hoping for more historical information and facts and less opinion as was stated in the title. Still, it is a good read leading up to Easter.
August 3, 2025
It’s a good book, I’d recommend it over zealot, that’s for sure. I found it upsetting in some ways, in others I found it very enlightening. It certainly made me think about my life and my own spirituality. On the one hand, the more I know about the Bible, the mechanics of its production and all that, the less I think the Bible itself is relevant to anyone’s capacity to have faith. On the other hand, I feel that there is a very simple, very radical story in the Jesus myth that is the reason for the cultural staying power of the story.
April 2, 2025
Many thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Elaine Pagels excellent new book Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus. Pagels, the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University, has examined writing related to the New Testament in her other books. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of reading The Gnostic Gospels, which focused on writings from the early days of Christianity that were somehow stored in a cave for nearly 2,000 years. This book challenged my thinking about the New Testament as Pagels explores the theology and beliefs that were ultimately left out of the New Testament, which I hadn’t really known about before. I attended Catholic school for my entire k-12 education experience, and bible stories were an integral part of my education. It was fascinating to learn that there were decisions about which writings were included in the final draft, and that these writings were left out, as Pagels explains, due to considerations for Christianity’s growth and evangelism. In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels revisits some of these texts, but also examines the Gospels that most Christians are familiar with in order to explore the life and continued interest in Jesus. Als like The Gnostic Gospels, Miracles and Wonder opened my eyes up to reconsider the stories related to Jesus’ life and times.
In addition to being a thought-provoking book that challenges our assumptions and ideas about who Jesus actually was and what the purpose of these stories about his life mean, the book was also a personal exploration for Pagels, who starts the book with questions about why Jesus and his message still resonate with so many people after more than 2,000 years. As Pagels frames this question in different ways, it really challenged my own thinking about Jesus and his significance to others. She not only explores his life and time, but at the end of the book examines how the idea of Jesus has changed over time and especially how his life, times, suffering and death hold resonance for new Christians in other cultures, particularly for people who have been colonized, enslaved, or have experienced other instances of social, cultural, and physical violence. This last chapter, focused on how new converts, artists, and filmmakers have engaged with the idea of Jesus, was probably my favorite in the book. It was fascinating to see how different cultures and groups identified with elements of Jesus’ life or message. One of the more powerful moments is when Pagels explores James Cone’s, the founder of Black Liberation Theology, family’s experience with Jesus as someone who shared the experience of suffering due to discrimination and facing eventual state violence due to his beliefs. Other cultures and groups that Pagels mentioned identified with similar elements of Jesus’ beliefs and acceptance of those who were on the periphery of society. For example, Pagels explains how the Piro people of Peru were initially viewed as Pagans who would not receive equal status with their European colonizers or the Mestizos, yet, once they began to convert, Christianity provided them with not only the “good news” of Jesus’ message, but also with an improved status in society. Although it is sad that their original culture was ultimately displaced by their colonizers, it was still interesting to see how accepting a belief enabled them to move up in society’s standing. Pagels also examines popular depictions of Jesus in the 20th and 21st centuries, and explores how these conceptualizations of Jesus helped to further challenge our understanding, but also held personal meaning to the artists and directors. It was a fascinating chapter.
Other chapters look at different elements of Jesus’ life, his message, the miracles attributed to him, his death and resurrection, ultimately looking at both the historical context of these events, but also trying to make sense of when these events were written and possibly copied or revised by the early Christian followers. I also found these chapters to be really fascinating, especially for someone who grew up hearing these stories since I was really young and having them become such a part of my learning experiences. In school, I think we always tried to examine the meaning of these stories, looking for the moral or message, and what these events might have conveyed about how to live and treat others. However, I really appreciated Pagels’ scholarship and research in examining the historical context as well as some of the texts from the Gnostic Gospels that were ultimately left out of the New Testament. Furthermore, it’s important to understand that some of the Gospels and other books of the New Testament were written down many generations after Jesus’ death, and the stories were passed down or revised before being recorded and included in the New Testament. As Pagels explains, this most likely led to some creative license and enhancing elements of Jesus’ life. In addition, she provides some context to the struggles of the early church, and how the occupation of Judea (modern day Israel) and suspicion and persecution of early Christians led to adding details and events to these stories. What I enjoyed most, though, in Pagels’ analysis of the Gospels was how she drew parallels between these stories and other stories from the Old Testament and noted some of the tropes and archetypes found not only in the bible, but in other ancient literature. She notes similarities between Jesus’ birth and miracles he is credited with performing to those of King David, as well as the biographies of Roman emperors. This was something I also thought about when I first read Eliot’s Wasteland, which explores death and regeneration particularly looking at the myth of the holy grail. It’s interesting to think about Jesus’ life and death in this context as well, especially considering that his birth and death are placed near holidays celebrating the changes in seasons, and in particular, his resurrection, celebrated as Easter, has elements of regeneration and growth. This part of the Pagels’ book, that focuses on the Crucifixion and Resurrection, touched on the metaphorical meaning, and how it relates to the spiritual rebirth or the idea of an eternal spirit, not necessarily a physical body. I think that this was always apparent, that these events are metaphorical and allegorical, yet she also provides historical context about the nature of crucifixion in ancient Judea, and what most likely happened to Jesus’ body at the time.
I also didn’t realize that Jesus was like a political rebel at the time, and that his actions and followers most likely disturbed the Roman occupiers, along with the traditional Jewish leaders in Judea. As Pagels notes in the book, there were some uprisings against the Roman occupation, which were put down violently, using public crucifixions on roads into and out of town to serve as reminders to those who transgress the state. Surprisingly, Pagels explains that these rebels were never usually taken down from their punishment, left to serve as food for carrion birds and other wild animals. She also notes that there are few instances of crucified bodies found in ancient Judea, suggesting that Jesus may not have actually been buried. Nevertheless, as Pagels explains in both earlier chapters and the end of her book, the Gospel writers took creative license to share the message and meaning of Jesus’ life and help spread the word and philosophy of Christians. Similarly, other groups have taken that message and adapted it to meet their own needs or find meaning in times of struggle or change. I found this book to be fascinating and compelling to read. Although many of the stories and events were familiar to me from attending Catholic school, I think that this book could be appealing to those who don’t have as much knowledge or experience with the Gospels and Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Furthermore, I found the historical context and details surrounding ancient Judea to be incredibly helpful in thinking about the challenges that a person like Jesus might have faced. It’s almost ironic to think about how rebellious Jesus and that he was challenging not just the status quo, but also the political authority of the Romans. Yet, Pagels also notes how the stories of Jesus healing others and performing miracles showed him interacting with those who were on the periphery of society or were considered outcasts. He was willing to take care of the sick, to spend time with people we might consider mentally ill today, and to minister to the poor and downtrodden. This was a really great book, and I’m glad I’m reading it during the time of Lent, a time of contemplation and sacrifice, when we try to live a little more like Jesus. This book is a great reminder of the wonderful aspects of Jesus’ life and a great read. Highly recommended!
In addition to being a thought-provoking book that challenges our assumptions and ideas about who Jesus actually was and what the purpose of these stories about his life mean, the book was also a personal exploration for Pagels, who starts the book with questions about why Jesus and his message still resonate with so many people after more than 2,000 years. As Pagels frames this question in different ways, it really challenged my own thinking about Jesus and his significance to others. She not only explores his life and time, but at the end of the book examines how the idea of Jesus has changed over time and especially how his life, times, suffering and death hold resonance for new Christians in other cultures, particularly for people who have been colonized, enslaved, or have experienced other instances of social, cultural, and physical violence. This last chapter, focused on how new converts, artists, and filmmakers have engaged with the idea of Jesus, was probably my favorite in the book. It was fascinating to see how different cultures and groups identified with elements of Jesus’ life or message. One of the more powerful moments is when Pagels explores James Cone’s, the founder of Black Liberation Theology, family’s experience with Jesus as someone who shared the experience of suffering due to discrimination and facing eventual state violence due to his beliefs. Other cultures and groups that Pagels mentioned identified with similar elements of Jesus’ beliefs and acceptance of those who were on the periphery of society. For example, Pagels explains how the Piro people of Peru were initially viewed as Pagans who would not receive equal status with their European colonizers or the Mestizos, yet, once they began to convert, Christianity provided them with not only the “good news” of Jesus’ message, but also with an improved status in society. Although it is sad that their original culture was ultimately displaced by their colonizers, it was still interesting to see how accepting a belief enabled them to move up in society’s standing. Pagels also examines popular depictions of Jesus in the 20th and 21st centuries, and explores how these conceptualizations of Jesus helped to further challenge our understanding, but also held personal meaning to the artists and directors. It was a fascinating chapter.
Other chapters look at different elements of Jesus’ life, his message, the miracles attributed to him, his death and resurrection, ultimately looking at both the historical context of these events, but also trying to make sense of when these events were written and possibly copied or revised by the early Christian followers. I also found these chapters to be really fascinating, especially for someone who grew up hearing these stories since I was really young and having them become such a part of my learning experiences. In school, I think we always tried to examine the meaning of these stories, looking for the moral or message, and what these events might have conveyed about how to live and treat others. However, I really appreciated Pagels’ scholarship and research in examining the historical context as well as some of the texts from the Gnostic Gospels that were ultimately left out of the New Testament. Furthermore, it’s important to understand that some of the Gospels and other books of the New Testament were written down many generations after Jesus’ death, and the stories were passed down or revised before being recorded and included in the New Testament. As Pagels explains, this most likely led to some creative license and enhancing elements of Jesus’ life. In addition, she provides some context to the struggles of the early church, and how the occupation of Judea (modern day Israel) and suspicion and persecution of early Christians led to adding details and events to these stories. What I enjoyed most, though, in Pagels’ analysis of the Gospels was how she drew parallels between these stories and other stories from the Old Testament and noted some of the tropes and archetypes found not only in the bible, but in other ancient literature. She notes similarities between Jesus’ birth and miracles he is credited with performing to those of King David, as well as the biographies of Roman emperors. This was something I also thought about when I first read Eliot’s Wasteland, which explores death and regeneration particularly looking at the myth of the holy grail. It’s interesting to think about Jesus’ life and death in this context as well, especially considering that his birth and death are placed near holidays celebrating the changes in seasons, and in particular, his resurrection, celebrated as Easter, has elements of regeneration and growth. This part of the Pagels’ book, that focuses on the Crucifixion and Resurrection, touched on the metaphorical meaning, and how it relates to the spiritual rebirth or the idea of an eternal spirit, not necessarily a physical body. I think that this was always apparent, that these events are metaphorical and allegorical, yet she also provides historical context about the nature of crucifixion in ancient Judea, and what most likely happened to Jesus’ body at the time.
I also didn’t realize that Jesus was like a political rebel at the time, and that his actions and followers most likely disturbed the Roman occupiers, along with the traditional Jewish leaders in Judea. As Pagels notes in the book, there were some uprisings against the Roman occupation, which were put down violently, using public crucifixions on roads into and out of town to serve as reminders to those who transgress the state. Surprisingly, Pagels explains that these rebels were never usually taken down from their punishment, left to serve as food for carrion birds and other wild animals. She also notes that there are few instances of crucified bodies found in ancient Judea, suggesting that Jesus may not have actually been buried. Nevertheless, as Pagels explains in both earlier chapters and the end of her book, the Gospel writers took creative license to share the message and meaning of Jesus’ life and help spread the word and philosophy of Christians. Similarly, other groups have taken that message and adapted it to meet their own needs or find meaning in times of struggle or change. I found this book to be fascinating and compelling to read. Although many of the stories and events were familiar to me from attending Catholic school, I think that this book could be appealing to those who don’t have as much knowledge or experience with the Gospels and Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Furthermore, I found the historical context and details surrounding ancient Judea to be incredibly helpful in thinking about the challenges that a person like Jesus might have faced. It’s almost ironic to think about how rebellious Jesus and that he was challenging not just the status quo, but also the political authority of the Romans. Yet, Pagels also notes how the stories of Jesus healing others and performing miracles showed him interacting with those who were on the periphery of society or were considered outcasts. He was willing to take care of the sick, to spend time with people we might consider mentally ill today, and to minister to the poor and downtrodden. This was a really great book, and I’m glad I’m reading it during the time of Lent, a time of contemplation and sacrifice, when we try to live a little more like Jesus. This book is a great reminder of the wonderful aspects of Jesus’ life and a great read. Highly recommended!
April 8, 2025
I found the book thoughtful, thought-provoking, and easy to read. There is some repetition, but only slightly annoying. More annoying was the lack of indication of end notes within the text. The reader is left to guess how much is Pagels’ conjecture or interpretation of others’ research and words. It is either laziness on the part of the author, editor and/or publisher or an intentional attempt to obscure, conflate or even inflate the importance of the author’s opinions or interpretations as fact.
Regardless, in my opinion it diminishes the value and respect for the prior research done by others. So, in my own small act of not accepting the practice, I dinged my rating of this book by one star.
Regardless, in my opinion it diminishes the value and respect for the prior research done by others. So, in my own small act of not accepting the practice, I dinged my rating of this book by one star.
October 1, 2025
I have read a few books recently that address the different views of Jesus embodied in the various gospel stories. This was the best of them. Partly because of the author's long career of work in this area, and partly because she aims her discussion at a thoughtful but not too-scholarly level. It is quite accessible and readable.
The point that was most notable to me was her discussion of who was to blame for Jesus' crucifixion. The gospels tend to blame "the Jews" more than the Romans and local political powers. In fact in John, the last gospel, this is most evident. She makes the point that the Christians of this era had a lot to fear from the Roman powers and that they did all they could to not alienate them--so blaming "the Jews" was the safe story to tell.
Pagels does not present as a Christian--though she is not unsympathetic. But her accounts of details of Jesus' life often connected with passages from the Hebrew Bible. Many Christians see the Hebrew passages as prophesying the later events around Jesus. But she is quite willing to propose that the gospel writers made up details in their accounts specifically to conform to earlier writings. You might say that this gives meaning to the whole. I have to say that this sounds quite plausible to me. Christians see things in certain ways.
In her last chapter she looks at what attracts people in the contemporary world to Christianity. She looks for the timeless aspects of the Jesus story--that primarily have to do with care for the marginalized.
The point that was most notable to me was her discussion of who was to blame for Jesus' crucifixion. The gospels tend to blame "the Jews" more than the Romans and local political powers. In fact in John, the last gospel, this is most evident. She makes the point that the Christians of this era had a lot to fear from the Roman powers and that they did all they could to not alienate them--so blaming "the Jews" was the safe story to tell.
Pagels does not present as a Christian--though she is not unsympathetic. But her accounts of details of Jesus' life often connected with passages from the Hebrew Bible. Many Christians see the Hebrew passages as prophesying the later events around Jesus. But she is quite willing to propose that the gospel writers made up details in their accounts specifically to conform to earlier writings. You might say that this gives meaning to the whole. I have to say that this sounds quite plausible to me. Christians see things in certain ways.
In her last chapter she looks at what attracts people in the contemporary world to Christianity. She looks for the timeless aspects of the Jesus story--that primarily have to do with care for the marginalized.
January 2, 2026
2.5 stars
This was very interesting but lost me when I realized it was more focused on her own interpretation mixed with research. I felt like her intention was to sway, and on a topic like this, I wasn’t a huge fan of it.
This was very interesting but lost me when I realized it was more focused on her own interpretation mixed with research. I felt like her intention was to sway, and on a topic like this, I wasn’t a huge fan of it.
April 20, 2025
This is an unusual but interesting book. Elaine Pagels is a well known historian who has written many books on Christianity. Her approach is largely, but not altogether, historical. She adopts a sympathetic tone toward “believers” and a slightly superior tone toward “rationalists.” Even so, her approach to the “mystery” of Jesus has little to do with mainline Catholicism or Protestantism.
Pagels' approach to the four Gospels is interesting. Instead of reading them together, as telling a single story, Pagels prefers to read them separately. In her view, they tell somewhat different stories in response to different political climates and audience needs. The gospel designated “Mark” is the earliest text, written at a politically volatile moment in Judea. Thus, Jesus is portrayed as a somewhat more political figure. The gospel designated "Matthew" was written twenty or so years later. It works to soften and “universalize” Jesus’ story. Luke and John were written a couple of generations after that and adapt their work to a still different political climate and different audience needs and questions. Of course Paul’s letters, which follow the gospels in the New Testament chronology but were written first, are also documents that the gospel writers were responding to.
I sort of knew some of that, but having it explicated in readable language is helpful. The last couple of chapters abandon textual analysis altogether and discuss different versions of Christianity that have developed in different cultures around the world and the way in which Christianity has continuously inspired great artists, writers and filmmakers.
I rated this book 4 rather than 5 because even though I enjoyed the last couple of chapters, they seemed to me to belong to a different book.
I read the Kindle version. 48% percent was the text itself. 52% were chapter notes and an extensive bibliography. I would recommend reading a traditional text to make it easier to read the notes while going through the book.
Pagels' approach to the four Gospels is interesting. Instead of reading them together, as telling a single story, Pagels prefers to read them separately. In her view, they tell somewhat different stories in response to different political climates and audience needs. The gospel designated “Mark” is the earliest text, written at a politically volatile moment in Judea. Thus, Jesus is portrayed as a somewhat more political figure. The gospel designated "Matthew" was written twenty or so years later. It works to soften and “universalize” Jesus’ story. Luke and John were written a couple of generations after that and adapt their work to a still different political climate and different audience needs and questions. Of course Paul’s letters, which follow the gospels in the New Testament chronology but were written first, are also documents that the gospel writers were responding to.
I sort of knew some of that, but having it explicated in readable language is helpful. The last couple of chapters abandon textual analysis altogether and discuss different versions of Christianity that have developed in different cultures around the world and the way in which Christianity has continuously inspired great artists, writers and filmmakers.
I rated this book 4 rather than 5 because even though I enjoyed the last couple of chapters, they seemed to me to belong to a different book.
I read the Kindle version. 48% percent was the text itself. 52% were chapter notes and an extensive bibliography. I would recommend reading a traditional text to make it easier to read the notes while going through the book.
August 24, 2025
I didn’t begin reading this book with an expectation of agreeing with Pagels. I knew this would be a skeptical, historical-Jesus book. I picked it up hoping to read something that made me think through my positions. The one star came from a few places where Pagels notes some fringe positions and backs away from them. Besides that, this was a very bad book. Pagels trots out extreme theories, gives little to no defense of them, and speaks a lot about what thoughts sound nice. She makes random interpretive leaps. She notes the Jewishness of Jesus when it helps her, but ignores it in large parts of the book. She comments on the genre of texts while ignoring the likely genre of texts (Gospels are a specific genre. EVERY text is written for a purpose, not just the Gospels. How did the Gospel of Thomas influence the Gospel of John when it is accepted by an overwhelming amount of scholarship that the Gospel of John was written first? Why is it so nice that the Round Dance was meant to be read out loud, when ALL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT WAS FIRST INTENDED TO BE READ OUT LOUD.) She throws out a story about NT Wright to undermine his scholarly credentials, but it is so self-serving that it’s laughable. This isn’t scholarship. This is a vague opinion piece masquerading as scholarship. Don’t bother with this.
June 14, 2025
Elaine Pagels’ “Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus” is a masterful, career-capping inquiry into the enduring enigma of Jesus—a figure whose story has shaped cultures, inspired revolutions, and provoked endless debate. Pagels, renowned for her groundbreaking work on early Christianity and the Gnostic Gospels, approaches the subject with both scholarly rigor and personal reflection, weaving together historical analysis and spiritual curiosity into a narrative as compelling as it is illuminating. Rather than seeking to “debunk” or simply demystify the miracles attributed to Jesus, Pagels is fascinated by their narrative power: Why did these stories captivate ancient audiences? What existential needs did they address? She delves into the origins of gospel accounts, revealing how the earliest followers—living in a world wracked by Roman oppression and existential crisis—crafted stories of virgin birth, resurrection, and divine intervention not as literal reportage, but as passionate manifestos of hope and transformation. Pagels demonstrates that these stories, written decades after Jesus’ death by anonymous authors, were shaped as much by the needs and anxieties of their communities as by any historical memory. Pagels’ forensic reading of both canonical and non-canonical texts—such as the Gospel of Thomas—uncovers a vibrant diversity of early Christian thought, much of it later suppressed or forgotten. She traces how the gospel writers, facing rumors of illegitimacy or failed messiahship, recast inconvenient facts into electrifying promises: the virgin birth counters accusations of scandal, the resurrection transforms defeat into triumph, and Jesus’ kingdom becomes a metaphor for inner renewal. Pagels’ nuanced empathy for both skeptics and believers is evident throughout; she neither dismisses faith nor shies from historical complexity. Ultimately, “Miracles and Wonder” is less about solving the “mystery” of Jesus than about deepening it. Pagels invites readers to see how the power of these ancient stories lies not in their factual certainty, but in their ability to offer hope, challenge despair, and continually inspire new generations. The result is a work of profound scholarship and spiritual insight—a testament to the astonishing persistence of Jesus’ message in a world still searching for miracles.
July 13, 2025
I’m not religious, but over the years I’ve become more and more amazed at the influence one individual who lived thousands of years ago continues to have on people across the world. I’ve been looking for a book for that would discuss Jesus Christ and the religions he’s inspired not from a purely religious perspective, but from a historical perspective. The books available were a mixed bag until I read this one. It’s respectful of religion while making honest assessments of the motivations of the various gospel writers. Because of this, I think this book may be approachable to Christians and non Christian’s alike. For anyone wishing to understand the historical Jesus and the faiths that have evolved from him and his followers, I think this is an excellent book.
Read
October 12, 2025This is the first review I’ve ever written on Goodreads.
I started reading Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation on October 1, 2025, and finished it today. It feels quite meaningful that my first post here is about faith, history, and the mystery of God’s promise.
Elaine Pagels writes with both scholarship and soul. She helps readers see that the Book of Revelation isn’t just about the end of time it’s about hope born out of fear, courage born out of persecution. Her words made me pause many times, especially when she described how early believers held on to faith when everything around them seemed to fall apart.
As someone who has also walked through loss, change, and renewal, I found deep comfort in these pages. It reminded me that faith doesn’t always roar; sometimes it whispers, “Keep walking, you are not alone.”
🙏 A short prayer
“Lord, thank You for giving me the courage to begin again.
Let every ending lead me closer to Your light,
and let my words even here, in this small review
carry a little grace for whoever might need it.
Amen.”
I started reading Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation on October 1, 2025, and finished it today. It feels quite meaningful that my first post here is about faith, history, and the mystery of God’s promise.
Elaine Pagels writes with both scholarship and soul. She helps readers see that the Book of Revelation isn’t just about the end of time it’s about hope born out of fear, courage born out of persecution. Her words made me pause many times, especially when she described how early believers held on to faith when everything around them seemed to fall apart.
As someone who has also walked through loss, change, and renewal, I found deep comfort in these pages. It reminded me that faith doesn’t always roar; sometimes it whispers, “Keep walking, you are not alone.”
🙏 A short prayer
“Lord, thank You for giving me the courage to begin again.
Let every ending lead me closer to Your light,
and let my words even here, in this small review
carry a little grace for whoever might need it.
Amen.”
December 11, 2025
Pop historical Jesus scholarship at its cringiest.
May 3, 2025
Pagels is attempting in this book to reexamine the major aspects of Jesus' life, taking into account all that we know about the major mystery's of his life -- his birth, resurrection, the miracles, his oneness with God. In her brief conclusion, she admits that there is a lot we will never know, and the book provides no clear answers which of course is to be expected. She asks how such a brief life with so many unknowns and so much confusing messages could have inspired such passion for so many years, and seems to answer this by intuiting that their passion must have been inspired about the truth of his life. But somehow it left me rather unconvinced and uninspired.
April 7, 2025
A mix of the author’s religious experiences and aspirations with historical scholarship made for an inviting read. What we can say is this: whether Jesus existed, whether the reports in the biblical writings are accurate, whether myth or fact, the “presence” of jesus in hearts and minds has made a great difference. Those who find in Jesus a model of compassion and kindness can also proclaim him and in this divided era perhaps should bear witness.
June 10, 2025
A fascinating read, especially the first half which I found riveting. I love how Pagels thinks. This is my second book of hers, the first being Why Religion? (Also very good and thought provoking.)
Read
May 18, 2025Once in a great while, a book comes out that almost makes me want to resume preaching. That’s what happened when I obtained the results of The Jesus Seminar in a book called The Fifth Gospel, which included sayings from The Gospel of Thomas, composed at about the same time as the Gospel According to Mark. Its 114 sayings provided material for the gospels of Matthew and Luke in addition to what they adapted from Mark and from the source document known as Q. Fragments of the Gospel of Thomas were first found in Egypt in about 1900, but complete forms weren’t found until 1945.
In “the knotty pine room,” where I practiced my trumpet lessons in the late 1950s, we had a library. I remember some titles, including The Dead Sea Scrolls. I’m impressed that my family obtained a copy of this (when—in 1959?) not long after the discovery of these ancient manuscripts in a cave in the West Bank of Palestine between 1947 and 1956. Later, as I recall, we had a coffee table book about the Nag Hammadi scrolls, which include the Gospel of Thomas.
Elaine Pagels established her career as a popular scholar with her study, The Gnostic Gospels, focusing on the Nag Hammadi manuscripts, which had been preserved in sealed jars in cave in Egypt for nearly 2000 years, and which shed light on early Christian beliefs, legends, and rituals.
Pagels authored The Gnostic Gospels in 1979. She has written seven other books produced from her research, teaching, and professional dialogues about these ancient documents in comparison to the standard scriptures, primarily the New Testament. As her studies evolved over the past 45 years, she turned her attention to Jesus. Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus starts with questions about historicity (what happened if we can even know?) and moves toward questions of meaning for today. While she considers herself a historian, much of her book reads like a literary analysis of the gospels and related ancient texts.
Her outline covers the birth narratives, miracles and mysteries (secrets), what “the Good News” and “kingdom of God” mean, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and differences of Christology among the earliest followers. Much material wasn’t new to me as I’ve tried to stay abreast of it for the past 50 years. However, the detailed comparisons with the broad sweep of the four gospels and the noncanonical sources reinvigorated my interest in studying Jesus.
I wanted to know more about the author, who has invested her career in investigating sources contemporaneous with the New Testament but left out of it. I learned that one of her sons died at an early age from illness, followed by her husband, who lost his life in a hiking accident. She eventually remarried and later divorced. I wondered how these subjective experiences might have influenced her point of view as a scholar. I had perceived her as a rational intellectual standing somewhere outside of traditional religion. However, when I read her chapter on the resurrection, I found these words remarkable:
I myself was shaken by “experiences that I cannot explain” –by experiencing the presence of people who had died. These were not mediated by ordinary vision or hearing but by some other mode of perception, one that I found inexplicable, yet it felt “more real than real. . .” I now remain open to wonder, and even to hope for some kind of unimaginable transformation. (p. 194)Elaine Pagels makes esoteric scholarship easy to understand. I feel a fresh sense of clarity about questions that have been pestering me (along with myriads of others) for sixty years. So, yes, I recommend this book to you, and I will appreciate hearing your opinion of it.
May 27, 2025
Pagels’ view of the New Testament is that it’s a tangle of fabrications, contradictions, myths, as well as true stories, with thousands of competing interpretations of what to make of the accounts of Christ’s time on earth. But rather than being a problem, she sees all of this as its great virtue. Through twenty centuries people have responded to the writings about Jesus, always grounded in their own experiences.
If there’s any one thing in the life and death of Christ that accounts for his influence through the centuries, I think Pagels finds it in the element of hope. It begins in the Hebrew scriptures where people are set free. There is always a way out of suffering, a transformation of suffering into joy. It may come about, , improbably, in this world, or more improbably, in a future dimension after death. Pagels concludes her book, “As I see it, they [the gospel stories] give us what we often need most; an outburst of hope.”
Pagels’ book is organized into seven chapters, beginning with the “Virgin Birth”, followed by ones about Christ’s identify, the “Good News” that he brings, and then chapters on Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The last two chapters concentrate on historical theories about the divinity of Christ, and finally how Christ today has been re imagined in cinematic stories.
I think a crucial concept that Pagels makes is that Christ was not a figure that embraced the tradition of rationality, such as Socrates or the Romans espoused, but rather something the author calls Galilean Judaism, one that accepted the stories of the Hebrew testament which was full of spiritual beings (angels, for example) and myths (Adam and Eve, Noah, Tower of Babel, the sun standing still for Joshua, etc.) Much of this language is metaphorical, not literal, and is carried on in the narratives of Jesus’ life.
This tendency can be seen in the stories of Christ’s death and resurrection. It is a matter of historical fact that Christ was crucified. But accounts of his resurrection from the dead are not. What happened is not clear; the four evangelists, writing several generations after Christ’s death depend upon eye witness accounts of seeing the resurrected Christ, and this gives credence to their faith in Christ as a divine figure. Paul, though, writing much earlier, hardly mentions the details of the resurrection. His faith is based on a vision he had, and all that he wrote was a struggle to intellectually explain the significance of Christ’s life and death. What can be said with assurance about Christ’s rising from the dead is that something remarkable happened, and that it had a powerful influence on his followers.
It enabled his followers to embrace the notion of a “kingdom of God,” best summed up in the Lord’s prayer, and in the ideas, often paradoxical, expressed in the Beatitudes. It is a message of giving and of love, even in the face of injustice and suffering, and will lead to a kind of perfection. Whether the perfect “kingdom” comes now or later is open to debate..
If a reader is looking for definite answers to perennial questions about Christ, his identity and what exactly he taught, they won’t be found in this book. What will be found is the historical and mythical context in which these questions are raised.
If there’s any one thing in the life and death of Christ that accounts for his influence through the centuries, I think Pagels finds it in the element of hope. It begins in the Hebrew scriptures where people are set free. There is always a way out of suffering, a transformation of suffering into joy. It may come about, , improbably, in this world, or more improbably, in a future dimension after death. Pagels concludes her book, “As I see it, they [the gospel stories] give us what we often need most; an outburst of hope.”
Pagels’ book is organized into seven chapters, beginning with the “Virgin Birth”, followed by ones about Christ’s identify, the “Good News” that he brings, and then chapters on Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The last two chapters concentrate on historical theories about the divinity of Christ, and finally how Christ today has been re imagined in cinematic stories.
I think a crucial concept that Pagels makes is that Christ was not a figure that embraced the tradition of rationality, such as Socrates or the Romans espoused, but rather something the author calls Galilean Judaism, one that accepted the stories of the Hebrew testament which was full of spiritual beings (angels, for example) and myths (Adam and Eve, Noah, Tower of Babel, the sun standing still for Joshua, etc.) Much of this language is metaphorical, not literal, and is carried on in the narratives of Jesus’ life.
This tendency can be seen in the stories of Christ’s death and resurrection. It is a matter of historical fact that Christ was crucified. But accounts of his resurrection from the dead are not. What happened is not clear; the four evangelists, writing several generations after Christ’s death depend upon eye witness accounts of seeing the resurrected Christ, and this gives credence to their faith in Christ as a divine figure. Paul, though, writing much earlier, hardly mentions the details of the resurrection. His faith is based on a vision he had, and all that he wrote was a struggle to intellectually explain the significance of Christ’s life and death. What can be said with assurance about Christ’s rising from the dead is that something remarkable happened, and that it had a powerful influence on his followers.
It enabled his followers to embrace the notion of a “kingdom of God,” best summed up in the Lord’s prayer, and in the ideas, often paradoxical, expressed in the Beatitudes. It is a message of giving and of love, even in the face of injustice and suffering, and will lead to a kind of perfection. Whether the perfect “kingdom” comes now or later is open to debate..
If a reader is looking for definite answers to perennial questions about Christ, his identity and what exactly he taught, they won’t be found in this book. What will be found is the historical and mythical context in which these questions are raised.
May 15, 2025
Elaine Pagels has been a scholar and historian of religion - and Christianity in particular - for more than 50 years. In Miracles and Wonders, after a lifetime of scholarship at age 82 Pagels asks these questions:
"What was the social and political context of Jesus's life in Judea? How is it that Jesus, who lived thousands of years ago, has not gone the way of other beings, gods or humans, like Zeus or Julius Caesar, who populate our culture's remote past? How do so many people relate to him as a living presence, even as someone they know intimately? What attracts people to Jesus today?"
In many ways Pagels is particularly qualified to address these questions. She knows, as do we, that for believers faith trumps history and belief surpasses fact. Pagels is no atheist and is drawn to the Christian tradition, although I expect she does not identify with any particular denomination.
She shows that Christianity has been polymorphous since the beginning. Followers of Christ disagreed, even fought, over who Jesus was, a man blessed by god or god himself, over the kingdom of god, was it coming or was it already here, over the place of women, over "right" practice, over whether the Messiah was for Jews alone, over authority religious and secular. Communities of believers isolated from one another were influenced by charismatic leaders jealous of their own ideas and beliefs. Emerson wrote that "there is properly no history, only biography" and so it was with Christianity: here one, there another local bishop took it upon himself to define what orthodoxy (right belief) was; his interpretation of scripture was the only correct one and all others heretical. Thus came a metaphorical and at times literal battlefield about the faith and its practice. Looking to create one empire, one faith, Constantine in 325ce called a meeting of bishops at Nicea to formulate a creed to settle these differences. In this it succeeded in part, but resolving disagreements about the nature of Christ and the faith for then and for all time, it did not.
In the final chapter Pagels brings in contemporary images, still and film, to illustrate continuing disparate images of and ideas about Jesus, and Christianity as still being adapted in non-western and third world cultures. While I can understand why she chose to do this, I found these abrupt jumps from the fourth to the twenty-first century jarring. I doubt that this was her intention but it struck me as a tack-on to connect the disjointed and fraught history of Christianity to today. This was not necessary.
That Pagels is a first rank scholar there is no doubt, that she can write for the rest of us is remarkable. As in her other books, Pagels provides detailed source notes. She also includes a comprehensive bibliography that is of estimable value for the studious.
"What was the social and political context of Jesus's life in Judea? How is it that Jesus, who lived thousands of years ago, has not gone the way of other beings, gods or humans, like Zeus or Julius Caesar, who populate our culture's remote past? How do so many people relate to him as a living presence, even as someone they know intimately? What attracts people to Jesus today?"
In many ways Pagels is particularly qualified to address these questions. She knows, as do we, that for believers faith trumps history and belief surpasses fact. Pagels is no atheist and is drawn to the Christian tradition, although I expect she does not identify with any particular denomination.
She shows that Christianity has been polymorphous since the beginning. Followers of Christ disagreed, even fought, over who Jesus was, a man blessed by god or god himself, over the kingdom of god, was it coming or was it already here, over the place of women, over "right" practice, over whether the Messiah was for Jews alone, over authority religious and secular. Communities of believers isolated from one another were influenced by charismatic leaders jealous of their own ideas and beliefs. Emerson wrote that "there is properly no history, only biography" and so it was with Christianity: here one, there another local bishop took it upon himself to define what orthodoxy (right belief) was; his interpretation of scripture was the only correct one and all others heretical. Thus came a metaphorical and at times literal battlefield about the faith and its practice. Looking to create one empire, one faith, Constantine in 325ce called a meeting of bishops at Nicea to formulate a creed to settle these differences. In this it succeeded in part, but resolving disagreements about the nature of Christ and the faith for then and for all time, it did not.
In the final chapter Pagels brings in contemporary images, still and film, to illustrate continuing disparate images of and ideas about Jesus, and Christianity as still being adapted in non-western and third world cultures. While I can understand why she chose to do this, I found these abrupt jumps from the fourth to the twenty-first century jarring. I doubt that this was her intention but it struck me as a tack-on to connect the disjointed and fraught history of Christianity to today. This was not necessary.
That Pagels is a first rank scholar there is no doubt, that she can write for the rest of us is remarkable. As in her other books, Pagels provides detailed source notes. She also includes a comprehensive bibliography that is of estimable value for the studious.
August 6, 2025
Elaine Pagels, being one of the great giants of modern Biblical scholarship, is a goddess to me. I am an Episcopal priest and have admired her work for many years. “The Gnostic Gospels” has been very influential in my life. I am having a bit of trouble reviewing this book because how one responds to it might depend on how much of her work—or the work of any modern biblical historical scholar— you have read. This book goes over a LOT of already well- tread ground—the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, the infancy narratives etc.—so if you are already familiar with a lot of that literature you probably won’t find much new here. Still, there were a number of tidbits I was not familiar with that made the book more than worth the read for me. One place I got hung up was in her insistence that the Romans, I.e., Pontius Pilate, were solely responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. Unbeknownst to me, that seems to be the majority opinion among biblical scholars today. According to Pagels, the Gospels erroneuously blame the high priests, scribes and Pharisees (I.e., “the Jews”) for his death in order to escape prosecution by Rome which was in fact a danger at the time they were written. I still am not convinced. First of all, all of the Gospels are clear that Jesus was turned over to Pilate by Jewish authorities because many of his teachings were contrary to Jewish law. He was attracting too much attention. His tantrum in the temple was the last straw. He was undermining their authority. Even Pagels seems to admit in at least one place that he was turned over to Rome by the Jewish authorities. Secondly, Pagel’s insistence that Rome alone was responsible for the crucifixion would require one to conclude that Jesus was an insurrectionist trying to overthrow Roman occupation. I do not see a single shred of evidence for this in any of the gospel narratives. To the contrary, when shown Caesar’s likeness on a Roman coin he famously said “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s…” If Jesus was just all about getting Rome out of Palestine, then he would not be of any interest to most Christians for the following 2000 years after his death. It is his spiritual and ethical teachings that have captivated people for 2000+ years. And if he WERE just an “insurrectionist” he was a complete failure as such. Rome remained in power until the 7th Century when the Muslims conquered the Levant. Third, it seems to me that taking all of the blame for the crucifixion from the Jewish authorities is a “woke” attempt to disavow the anti-semitism that has flowed partly from the idea that “the Jews killed Jesus.” However no right thinking person blames “the Jews” for the crucifixion, at least not in the sense that would lead to anti-Semitism. Jesus and all of his disciples and earliest followers were Jews. Theologically, the point of Good Friday is that ALL OF US kill the love of God at times in our lives, and certainly all cultures kill the love of God. This is not the particular province of ancient Israel. Look at what is happening right now in the United States of America. I thought the last chapter, about new coverts, etc., was the weakest. She sketchily discusses a few traditions and practices of nonwestern, non mainstream cultures, as well as contemporary art and films and frankly I didn’t think this discussion added anything to the book.
November 19, 2025
The historian Elaine Pagels pivots in this book from the origins of Christianity as depicted in her seminal work The Gnostic Gospels to the Jesus Christ himself. While in graduate school, she wondered who is the historical Jesus? How could such a humble man in a backwater region of Israel who died such as a brutal and humilitating death begin a religious movement that still resonates 2,000 years. Within the pages of this well-researched book she explores the similarities and differences within the four Gospels; early writings on the crucifixation and resurrection; how Jesus became divine, and how various artists and filmmakers have depicted the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Although this is a scholarly book, it is an easily readable book. Additional material is available to use in class discussion. If youu are interested in a non-varnished portrayal of Jesus, I would recommend you pick this one up.
Although this is a scholarly book, it is an easily readable book. Additional material is available to use in class discussion. If youu are interested in a non-varnished portrayal of Jesus, I would recommend you pick this one up.
August 6, 2025
Listened to audio version using Libby. Pagels is an academician, so every direct quote is followed by a reference which I'm thankful for but that does not make for easy listening because the references disrupt the message being presented. Lots of rewinding. Better to read but still interesting.
I am not an academic nor a historian; I'm a skeptic that has an interest in the history of Christianity. I read Pagels' Gnostic Gospels so the release notice of this book caught my eye. I appreciated the direct comparison of the main gospels, as well as others that didn't make the cut in the confirmation of which items would be 'The Gospels' (an action item out of First Council of Nicaea, with Matthew, Mark, Luke, John as the winners), on major events in Christianity: birth of Jesus, his crucifixion, and resurrection. I also liked the last section where she summarized and analyzed three films that used Jesus' life as the subject.
I am not an academic nor a historian; I'm a skeptic that has an interest in the history of Christianity. I read Pagels' Gnostic Gospels so the release notice of this book caught my eye. I appreciated the direct comparison of the main gospels, as well as others that didn't make the cut in the confirmation of which items would be 'The Gospels' (an action item out of First Council of Nicaea, with Matthew, Mark, Luke, John as the winners), on major events in Christianity: birth of Jesus, his crucifixion, and resurrection. I also liked the last section where she summarized and analyzed three films that used Jesus' life as the subject.
May 16, 2025
i listened to the Audible version. while i found much to agree with being an ex evangelical/Charasmatic Christian. i now just say i'm a liberal Jesus Follower. i found little actual "proof" of the writers opinions. But as a conversation with good insights I found it interesting. i certainly am aware of Dr Pagels and this is a very approachable book. Much better than a dry academic tome. Still there isn't anything new or stunning about it. Her detour into psychiatrist opinions on mental devience of people who pray to invisible characters just seemed silly and outdated. most of us have a running conversation in our own heads. Consciousness isn't a 19th century brain = consciousness slam dunk. But i digress. my only real issue with this audiobook is the narrator. I'm not meaning any snark. But she sounds like an aging Valley Girl. But the work itself is certainly worth checking out.
March 28, 2025
I received a review copy of this book from Netgalley. Sometimes Pagels makes statements that seemed to me inaccurate or confused. For example, she says that the Romans re-named Israel as Judea. Actually, in the Books of Judges, we see that there were two Jewish kingdoms. One was the kingdom of Judea, and the other was the kingdom of Israel. They were two different territories. It seemed odd to me that Pagels didn't know this. Perhaps she has specialized too narrowly on the New Testament.
I did learn various things from this book that I hadn't known previously. For example, I discovered some paintings by Marc Chagall that I hadn't known about. I am grateful to have found them.
The blog version of this review can be found at https://shomeretmasked.blogspot.com/2...
I did learn various things from this book that I hadn't known previously. For example, I discovered some paintings by Marc Chagall that I hadn't known about. I am grateful to have found them.
The blog version of this review can be found at https://shomeretmasked.blogspot.com/2...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 229 reviews