Book Review: The Christ Files by John Dickson

John Dickson states in the introduction to The Christ Files that questions from skeptics about the historicity of Jesus and the validity of the New Testament drove him to write his book. Subtitled How Historians Know What They Know about Jesus, the work assesses the various sources of information available and the methodology used to arrive at reliable conclusions about Christ.

Dickson, who is a senior research fellow of the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University, Australia, emphasizes the fact that “professional historians, regardless of their religious persuasions, treat the New Testament and its portrait of Christ far more seriously than the general public realizes.” (19) Unfortunately, he says, the media’s penchant for publicizing sensational, controversial topics that do not necessarily reflect serious and valid scholarship gives people the wrong impression. They end up thinking Scripture is just mythology and nonsense based on its negative portrayal in the news.

However, as Dickson notes, most skeptics do not deny the historicity of Jesus. There is just too much evidence for his existence as a real historical figure to be able to dismiss him honestly. For the purposes of his book, Dickson looks at what he calls mainstream or “middle” historians. They neither use the historical information apologetically to prove the truth of Christ nor approach it atheistically to attempt to disprove Jesus’ reality. In fact, he says, mainstream historians have little interest in debunking or defending Christ or Christianity. They are interested in history for history’s sake and treat the books of the New Testament as they would any other historical documents.

This represents one of Dickson’s strongest points, that neutral historians accept the fact that the religious nature of Scripture in no way diminishes its historical value. In fact, he says, it is “simplistic and unhistorical to say Christian bias undermines the historical worth of the New Testament texts.” (48) He lists a half-a-dozen criteria used by historians to assess documents (i.e. coherence, dissimilarity, multiple attestation) and explains how each, when applied to the Biblical record, validate God’s Word from the historian’s perspective.

Dickson also devotes considerable time to assessing non-Christian writings from ancient pagan authors such as Tacitus and Pliny the Younger and ancient Jewish writers such as Josephus as well as the “secret gospels”. With regard to the latter, he addresses the idea that documents such as the Gospel of Thomas have been purposely kept hidden by the Church because they do not line up with orthodox Christian belief, pointing out that the so-called secret gospels have never been a secret at all. And, yes, he does mention Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code and the misinformation that people have gleaned from it regarding Jesus and Scripture.

Dickson also discusses oral tradition and the popular question of why the account of Jesus was not written down until several decades after his death. Dickson says that is like asking the question, “Why weren’t the Sydney Morning Herald or the New York Times published on the Internet until the mid-1990s?” (73)

Lastly, he looks at sources that give us information about the culture of Christ’s era and puts Jesus in the context of his time. For example, “the Mishnah allows historians to set Jesus’ ministry against the backdrop of what mainstream rabbis were teaching in Palestine between, say, 50 BC – AD 70.” (80)

The book includes discussion questions that can be used in a small group study and there is a DVD of The Christ Files available as well. Ideally, it would be good to purchase both together for corporate study.

Dickson’s work is brief (only 116 pages), but surprisingly thorough. He presents his information simply, but effectively. The book particularly suits the everyday person who has neither the time nor the inclination to delve into huge historical tomes. It’s a handy thing to have on the shelf when a co-worker or your next-door neighbor says, “But Jesus didn’t really exist, did he? I mean, there’s no evidence that he was real, is there?” This book provides clear, concise answers for such questions and is, therefore, highly recommended.