Miracles and Wonder

The Historical Mystery of Jesus

De: Elaine Pagels

Narrado por: Eunice Wong

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a renowned National Book Award-winning scholar, an extraordinary new account of the life of Jesus that explores the mystery of how a poor young man inspired a religion that reshaped the world.

“This a brilliant and necessary book. Sober, wise, respectful, and fearless."—Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America

"Pagels’ story is for believers and non-believers alike.”—Tara Westover, author of Educated

"The depth of spirituality she uncovers is profound.”—The New York Times Book Review

Early in her career, Elaine Pagels changed our understanding of the origins of Christianity with her work in The Gnostic Gospels. Now, in the culmination of a decades-long career, she explores the biggest subject of all, Jesus. In Miracles and Wonder she sets out to discover how a poor young Jewish man inspired a religion that shaped the world.

The book comes across like a historical mystery, with each chapter addressing a fascinating question and answering it based on the gospels Jesus's followers left behind. Why is Jesus said to have had a virgin birth? Why do we say he rose from the dead? Did his miracles really happen and what did they mean?

The story Pagels tells is thrilling and tense. Not just does Jesus comes to life but his desperate, hunted followers do as well. We realize that some of the most compelling details of Jesus's life are the explanations his disciples created to paper over inconvenient facts. So Jesus wasn't illegitimate, his mother conceived by God; Jesus's body wasn't humiliatingly left to rot and tossed into a common grave—no, he rose from the dead and was seen whole by his followers; Jesus isn't a failed messiah, his kingdom is a metaphor: he lives in us. These necessary fabrications were the very details and promises that electrified their listeners and helped his followers' numbers grow.

In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels does more than solve a historical mystery. She sheds light on Jesus's enduring power to inspire and attract.

©2025 Elaine Pagels (P)2025 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Pagels, rehabilitating aspects of Christianity on terms that a secular scholar can respect, revels in the contradictions and the inconsistencies not as flaws to be explained away but as signs of the faith’s capaciousness.”—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

“The ‘quest’ for Jesus . . . has taken on many forms. Pagels takes the historical approach. . . . The depth of spirituality she uncovers is profound.”—The New York Times Book Review

"Using the tools of the historian as well as the literary critic, she tries to unearth the [gospel] writers’ concerns and influences. . . . recontextualizing the old stories gives them an unexpected poignancy."—The Atlantic

Meh

The search for the essence of Christianity to me ended up being a bit of a let down. It starts strong, but closes with a lot of time spent on things like whether resurrected Jesus was a zombie or a ghost.

Super Compelling

A careful, respectful, well-researched, and cautiously stated study of the life of Christ that, due to its meticulous approach, proves to be kind of brilliant and revelatory.

Fantastic "Read"

I loved it. I have had an issue with having to believe Jesus literally rose from the dead since I was 13. I felt I had to make a choice and for a long time atheism was the choice. Books so thoughtfully and thoroughly written and researched, with the author's personal experiences and a thorough research and investigation of her own, is what I've been looking for since I was 13. Making Jesus more understandable and accessible is doing for me what preachers couldn't do.

An insightful read into Jesus Christ

This really opened my eyes to the world that surrounded Jesus. This made Jesus more human relatable rather than the washed version of Jesus always wearing white robes and having a soft voice like the white Michael Jackson. Jesus wasn’t just some untouchable spirit in human form. Jesus really came and experienced what it was like to be human. The world around him influenced how he taught and how he died. I once thought the cross was reserved for Jesus only. If Jesus was born in the 1700s or 1800s, he’d probably be hanged or killed by gun fire. Which makes me question if we should wear crosses. If Jesus died by the gun would we be wearing gun necklaces?

Pagels Does not Disappoint

In this book, Elaine Pagels, with courage, honesty, nuance, and erudition, finds a way to overcome the ages old divisions between faith, belonging, and thought. The ridiculous boundaries between dogma and learning, spirit and thought, discipline and rationality, may finally be breached and ignite the fully human post-civilization age of pisces long anticipated by love and faith in life. The pernicious division of "science" and "religion" breached by Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, Einstein, and many others, may finally cease to enrich those who would instigate hate and support those who would atone for human crimes against creation by reversing the modern impulse toward extinction of evolved life. It support me in that way and I hope it will support others as well. Redemption is still an available choice, and old wisdom can guide us if we take responsibility for our actions and their consequences. Thanks for the many blessings of truth here offered.

Good conversation

while i found much to agree with being an ex evangelical/Charasmatic Christian. i now just say i'm a liberal Jesus Follower. i found little actual "proof" of the writers opinions. But as a conversation with good insights I found it interesting. i certainly am aware of Dr Pagels and this is a very approachable book. Much better than a dry academic tome. Still there isn't anything new or stunning about it. Her detour into psychiatrist opinions on mental devience of people who pray to invisible characters just seemed silly and outdated. most of us have a running conversation in our own heads. Consciousness isn't a 19th century brain = consciousness slam dunk. But i digress. my only real issue with this audiobook is the narrator. I'm not meaning any snark. But she sounds like an aging Valley Girl. But the work itself is certainly worth checking out.

Not for the weak in faith

Dr. Pagels explores historically plausible explanations of the Gospel canon, She thus challenges the idea that Jesus is God, born, lived, and resurrected miraculously, But, she offers a way for even the atheist and agnostic to view Scripture, as a reminder of hope in the world. Scripture, and especially the Gospels, tell a story of hope against sufferings in this world. It is this hope that makes Christianity compelling now, some 2,000 years after its founding events took place.

All Wonders with One Exception

“Miracles and Wonders” is the third book that I have read by Elaine Pagels and it is my favorite with one of the major reservations that I will save for last. First, the scholarship is first rate and the way she expresses her interpretations seems eminently fair minded. She is skilled at looking at controversies from various perspectives. She writes with elegance and lucidity and this is supported in the audiobook by a first class narration. I found the book to be fascinating . . . except for the last major portion of it when she falls off the cliff into some kind of sampling anthropological history. She is determined to share how Christianity has been interpreted in this and that microculture, book and film. Her bent is to show how Christianity seems to still inspire in positive ways. This struck me as weirdly myopic. We are immersed in a giant, Christian Nationalist political movement. No mention is made of this or other popular faiths such as the Gospel of Prosperity. Spare me the butterflies and unicorns of today’s Christianity. I would grade this a 4.5 if the choice were available marking off only for my last criticism..  

Well Researched, Could Have Taken a Stand

Elaine Pagels is clearly brilliant and each section of the book was well written. The narrator was excellent and the book was easy to listen to. I just found the overall thesis just wasn't that compelling. She does talk in detail about the distinct phases of Jesus' life and then what happened after the crucifixion alongside the miracles that were reported in Paul's letters and the Gospels. It was interesting when she discusses how the story of Jesus morphed between the earliest writings (the letters of Paul) to the first Gospel (Mark) and then to the later Gospels. But she just doesn't drive an overall point home. How germain were the reported miracles to the eventual success of Christianity? Why did these miracle stories survive? Can the miracle stories be debunked? Overall the story doesn't seem to go anywhere. If you liked this book, I would strongly suggest reading some of Professor Bart Ehrman's work (or check out his website). He's playing in the same general vicinity, but his prose and conclusions are much punchier.

Elaine pagels is great!

A tour de force! Good writer. An academic’s perspective. An account near the end of her career.