A new book from an Idaho professor is out detailing the life and death of Jesus. The author is now up for an international award.
College of Idaho history professor Dr. Mark Smith has been researching the history of Jesus for years. Now he’s written a historical, not religious, book, titled “The Final Days of Jesus: The Thrill of Defeat, The Agony of Victory: A Classical Historian Explores Jesus’s Arrest, Trial, and Execution.”
“I want them to encounter Jesus’ last days on an intimate level, as if they are there. The story and the issues should live for them,” says Smith.
The book grew, in part, out of research Smith did on the mechanics of capital punishment in the Roman Empire. He has a PhD in history and wanted to examine the death of Jesus . . .
" . . . from the broader point of view of the ancient historian, kind of looking at the big picture and all the evidence, rather than just the smaller pieces of the evidence that most people look at,” says Smith.
Smith’s book has been nominated for Canada’s Cundill History Prize – an internationally recognized award. In November, historians and writers will pick a winner, who will get a $75,000 prize. Smith says it’s an honor to be nominated.
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