FINDING JESUS

FINDING JESUS explores six major artifacts, including the Shroud of Turin, the True Cross, and John the Baptist, that give us the most direct evidence about the life and world of Jesus.

The man who changed the course of history left no earthly trace of his existence. Jesus of Nazareth never wrote a word—he might have even been illiterate—and the first ac? counts of his life, the Gospels, weren’t written until decades after his death. We have no idea what he looked like because, despite his popular following, no one thought about describing him for future generations. Jews didn’t worship idols, and Jesus was most definitely a Jew—a rabbi who wanted to shake up Judaism, nothing more, but who ended up creating a whole new religion. His birthplace is a matter of faith more than history, and so, too, is his death: three days after dying on the cross he rose from the tomb, as tradition holds, and then ascended into heaven—taking with him any physical evidence that he ever lived. No wonder modern?day skeptics are confidently floating the theory that Jesus may have been invented out of whole cloth. FINDING JESUS, rooted in the documentary series of the same name created by the authors in which they are primary consultants and named producers, aims to engage and entertain read? ers with a fresh look at the life of the greatest man who ever lived through six blockbuster arti? facts directly connected to him—relics that attract billions of faithful people across the globe. In telling the story behind each artifact, the authors investigate, in the company of sleuths and scholars who use modern?day tools to solve ancient riddles, whether the stunning relics are authentic or frauds. Or maybe a bit of both. David Gibson is an award-winning journalist, author and filmmaker who specializes in covering the Catholic Church. He is a frequent NPR commentator, and has written three books. He also writes for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune among others. Michael McKinley is an award-winning author, filmmaker, journalist and screenwriter. He has written several books, and wrote and co-produced the documentary film “Sacred Ballot” as well as several documentaries for CNN Presents.