Several people have asked for material to further their understanding of the historical Jesus.  Here are some of the sources I used for the sermon on September 14th:

The Difficult Words of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings

Amy-Jill Levine

Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi

by Amy-Jill Levine, Donna Postel, et al.

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

by Reza Aslan

Jesus’s Manifesto: The Sermon on the Plain

Roman A. Montero, James Crossley

A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story

Diana Butler Bass

Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus

Elaine Pagels

Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith

Marcus Borg

The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus

John Dominic Crossan

The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant

By John Dominic Crossan

Lectures on the same topic:

https://www.homebrewedchristianty.com/2025/09/08/from-iron-swords-to-nuclear-bombs-tracing-3000-years-of-escalatory-violence-with-john-dominic-crossan/