Books by Joseph Ernest Renan

In this last and final volume of this series, Renan argues that the Roman emperor's acceptance of Stoic philosophy had great influence on the Christian church as he pushed these beliefs onto others in his empire. Although Aurelius was known as an even handed and fair ruler he influence all those around him in his philosophical thinking.

The dawn of the new century brought lots of growth to the Christian community as persecution slowed down and the community was allowed to flourish like never before. This volume details out the reigns of two Roman emperors and how their influence impacted the ever growing Christian community in the Roman Empire.

Describing the creation of the Gospel accounts, the author outlines the Gospels from top to bottom to construct the thought of a now lost template that was used to write the accounts of the Christ. Renan also uses the influence of the persecution of Christians as an influencing factor in the writing of the Christ in a critical form.

Following the years of the Crucifixion to the fall of Jerusalem, Renan details the deaths and persecutions of the newly formed Christian church by the Roman Emperor Nero. This work refers to Nero as the feared "Antichrist" following traditions and beliefs from the early church and interpretations of Revelations.

Looking at the life of Paul as outlined in the book of Acts, this work compares what the claims of the Bible are compared with other ancient sources. Although the claims of Acts are undisputed within the Church Renan still applies the higher criticism of other works.

This work had a large hand in shaping modern Biblical criticism. Using the German form of criticism in his own day Renan goes through the Gospels and examines the miracles and other aspects of the life of Jesus. Although the work denies the divinity of Christ, this documents role in shaping how we work with the Bible is significant.