Introduction

Millions of readers have thrilled by bestselling authors Bill O’Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, page-turning works of nonfiction that have changed the way we read history.

Now the anchor of The O’Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly two thousand years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God. Killing Jesus will take readers inside Jesus’s life, recounting the seismic political and historical events that made his death inevitable – and changed the world forever.

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Excerpt

BOOK I

THE WORLD OF JESUS

CHAPTER ONE

BETHLEHEM, JUDEA

MARCH, 5 B.C.

MORNING

The child with thirty-six years to live is being hunted.

Heavily armed soldiers from the capital city of Jerusalem are marching to this small town, intent on finding and killing the baby boy. They are a mixed-race group of foreign mercenaries from Greece, Gaul, and Syria. The child’s name, unknown to them, is Jesus, and his only crime is that some believe he will be the next king of the Jewish people. The current monarch, a dying half-Jewish, half-Arab despot named Herod, is so intent on ensuring the baby’s death that his army has been ordered to murder every male child under the age of two years in Bethlehem.* None of the soldiers knows what the child’s mother and father look like, or the precise location of his home, thus the need to kill every baby boy in the small town and surrounding area. This alone will guarantee the extermination of the potential king. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

Courtesy of LitLovers:

1. Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard say that their book Killing Jesus book is not a religious book. Do you agree? Is this a strict historical account or is there a spiritual element to the book?

2. The authors portray Jesus as a rebel against Rome? Does that description of Jesus accord with (or differ from) your own understanding of Jesus?

3. From what you know of the Bible, how closely do O'Reilly and Dugard adhere to the gospels? The authors also write that they are aware of contradictions within the Gospels. Many would disagree that contradictions exist. Where do you stand?

4. Have you come away from this book with a different understanding of Biblical times and the figure of Jesus? Did anything surprise you? What have you learned you didn't know before reading Killing Jesus?

5. How does the book present the critical decisions leading up to the arrest and crucification of Jesus? What roles did both Herod and Pontius Pilat play? What motivated their decisions?

6. The book does not dwell on Jesus's miracle work. It covers but does not emphasize his healing powers, for instance. Nor do the authors explore what happened between Jesus and God on the cross. Why do you supposed they don't? Do you wish they had spent more time exploring the spiritual or supernatural aspects of Jesus's life?

Weblinks

»	See Bill O'Reilly discuss the book on 60 Minutes

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Recommended to book clubs by 11 of 12 members.

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