Time travel story/book similar to Behold the Man, but closer to the bible

Question

The book/story starts with the author, perhaps an atheist, appearing on a talk show and upon leaving the show, has some sort of accident, and wakes up in the time of Jesus.

That's as close to Behold the Man as it gets, because he doesn't replace Jesus on the cross, but witnesses the life of Jesus, and as the story closes, he received a pendant from one of the disciples. It's this pendant that in turn saves his life, when a soldier/centurion/plain old spear thrower, hits him in the chest with a spear.

He wakes up in the present, imagining it all to be a dream, but with a sore chest he attributes to the accident he had earlier, goes to rub his chest and finds the pendant with a dent in it where the spear would have hit.

I've been looking for this book, or at least it's title, since the early 90's so it's something written before then, I imagine 70's or 80's.

Answer 1

It took me a long time to find the answer to this question, but I finally did.

The Christ Commission, by Og Mandino.

In front of eight million TV viewers, "The Greatest Mystery Writer in the World" bragged he could prove Christ was actually stolen from the tomb and never really rose from the dead . . . if he were given just one week back in ancient Jerusalem.That night author Matt Lawrence got his wish.A knock-out punch took him right out of this world and landed him in Biblical Judea in 26 A.D., just six years after the execution of Jesus at Golgotha.In relentless pursuit of his investigation, Lawrence walked the same streets Jesus walked, visited the same places . . . and found himself facing the same dangers.Eyewitness reports might lead him to a discovery that would shake the world--but will he live long enough to tell the 30th century that he just solved the greatest mystery of all time?"