(Redirected from Jesus of Nazareth)
'Jesus' (8–2 BC/BCE to 29–36
AD/
CE),
[1] also known as 'Jesus of
Nazareth', is the central figure of
Christianity. He is also called 'Jesus Christ', where "
Christ" is a title derived from the Greek ''christós'', meaning the "Anointed One," which corresponds to the Hebrew-derived "
Messiah". The name "Jesus" is an
Anglicization of the
Greek Ίησους ('''Iēsous'''), itself a
Hellenization of the
Hebrew יהושע ('''Yehoshua''') or Hebrew-
Aramaic ישוע ('''Yeshua'''), meaning "
YHWH is salvation".
The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the
four canonical Gospels of the
New Testament:
Matthew,
Mark,
Luke, and
John. Most scholars in the fields of
history and
biblical studies agree that Jesus was a
Galilean Jew, was regarded as a teacher and
healer, was
baptized by
John the Baptist, and was
crucified in
Jerusalem on orders of the
Roman Governor Pontius Pilate under the accusation of
sedition against the
Roman Empire.
[2][3] While disbelief in the historicity of Jesus enjoyed a brief
vogue at the turn of the
20th century, modern scholars believe Jesus was a historical figure
[4] and that early documents provide at least some historical information concerning his life — though there is much debate over the extent of the accuracy of these accounts.
[5]
Christian views of Jesus (see also
Christology) center on the belief that Jesus is the Messiah whose coming was
promised in the Old Testament and that he was
resurrected after his crucifixion. Christians predominantly believe that Jesus is
God incarnate, who came to provide
salvation and reconciliation with
God.
Nontrinitarian Christians profess various other interpretations regarding his divinity (see
below). Other Christian beliefs include Jesus'
Virgin Birth, performance of
miracles, fulfillment of
biblical prophecy,
ascension into
Heaven, and future
Second Coming.
In
Islam, Jesus (
Arabic: عيسى, commonly transliterated as '''
Isa''') is considered one of
God's most beloved and important
prophets, a bringer of divine scripture, a worker of miracles, and the Messiah.
Muslims, however, do not share the Christian belief in the crucifixion or
divinity of Jesus. Muslims believe that Jesus' crucifixion was a divine illusion and that he
ascended bodily to heaven. Most Muslims also believe that he will
return to the earth in the company of the
Mahdi once the earth has become full of sin and injustice at the time of the arrival of Islam's
Antichrist-like
Dajjal.
Chronology
Main articles: Chronology of Jesus
The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the
Gospel of Matthew (probably written between 65 and 90 AD/CE),
[6] and the
Gospel of Luke (probably written between 65 and 100 AD/CE).
[7] Scholars debate over the details of Jesus' birth, and few claim to know the exact year or date of his birth or death.
The nativity accounts in the
New Testament gospels of Matthew and Luke do not mention a date or time of year for the birth of Jesus. In
Western Christianity, it has been traditionally celebrated on December 25 as
Christmas (in the
liturgical season of
Christmastide), a date that can be traced as early as 330 among Roman Christians. Before then, and still today in
Eastern Christianity, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on
January 6 as part of the feast of
Theophany,
[8] also known as
Epiphany, which commemorated not only Jesus' birth but also his
baptism by
John in the
Jordan River and possibly additional events in Jesus' life. Some scholars note that Luke's descriptions of shepherds' activities at the time of Jesus' birth suggest a spring or summer date.
[9] Scholars speculate that the date of the celebration was moved by the
Roman Catholic Church in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of
Saturnalia (or more specifically, the birthday of the
Roman god
Sol Invictus).
In the 247th year during the
Diocletian Era (based on Diocletian's ascension to the Roman throne),
Dionysius Exiguus attempted to pinpoint the number of years since Jesus' birth, arriving at a figure of 753 years after the
founding of Rome. Dionysius then set Jesus' birth as being
December 25 1 ACN (for "Ante Christum Natum," or "before Christ (was) born"), and assigned AD 1 to the following year — thereby establishing the system of numbering years from the birth of Jesus: ''
Anno Domini'' (which translates as "in the year of
Lord"). The system was created in the then current year 532, and almost two centuries later it won acceptance and became the established
calendar in Western civilization.
It is hard to date Jesus' birth because some sources are now gone and over 1900 years have passed since the
Gospels were written; however, based on a
lunar eclipse that the first-century historian
Josephus reported shortly before the death of
Herod the Great (who plays a role in Matthew's account), as well as a more accurate understanding of the succession of Roman Emperors, Jesus' birth would have been before the year 3 BC/BCE.
The Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew both place Jesus' birth under the reign of
Herod the Great. Luke similarly describes Jesus' birth as occurring during the Roman governorship of
Quirinius, and involving the
first census of the Roman provinces of
Syria and
Iudaea. Josephus places the governorship of Quirinius, and a census, in 6 AD/CE (which Luke refers to in ), long after the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC/BCE. Hence, debate has centered over whether or not the sources can be reconciled by asserting a prior governorship of Quirinius in Syria, or if an earlier census was conducted and, if not, which source to consider in error.
[10]
The date of Jesus' death is also unclear. The
Gospel of John depicts the crucifixion as directly before the
Passover festival on Friday 14
Nisan (called the
Quartodeciman), whereas the
synoptic gospels (except for ) describe Jesus'
Last Supper as the Passover meal on Friday 15 Nisan; however, some scholars hold that the synoptic account is harmonious with the account in John.
[11] Further, the Jews followed a
lunisolar calendar with phases of the moon as dates, complicating calculations of any exact date in a solar calendar. According to
John P. Meier's ''A Marginal Jew'', which takes into consideration the
procuratorship of
Pontius Pilate and the dates of the Passover in those years, Jesus' death was probably on
April 7,
30 AD/CE or
April 3,
33 AD/CE.
[12]
Life and teachings, as told in the Gospels
Main articles: New Testament view on Jesus' life
The
Bible's four
canonical gospels are the main sources for the traditional
Christian biography of Jesus' life.
Christian scholars generally believe the gospel accounts to be
historically accurate; critical scholars, on the other hand, debate the extent of their historicity.
Genealogy and family
Main articles: Genealogy of Jesus,
Desposyni
Of the four gospels, only Matthew and Luke give accounts of Jesus' genealogy. The accounts in the two gospels are substantially different, and various theories have been proposed to explain the discrepancies.
[13] Both accounts, however, trace his line back to
King David and from there to
Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David, but they differ between David and Joseph. Matthew starts with
Solomon and proceeds through the kings of
Judah to the last king,
Jeconiah. After Jeconiah, the line of kings terminated when
Babylon conquered Judah. Thus, Matthew shows that Jesus is the legal heir to the throne of
Israel. Luke's genealogy is longer than Matthew's; it goes back to
Adam and provides more names between David and Jesus.
Joseph, husband of '
Mary' and Jesus' father, appears in descriptions of Jesus' childhood. John's account of Jesus commending
Mary into the care of the
beloved disciple during his crucifixion () suggests that Joseph had died by the time of Jesus' ministry.
[14] The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Galatians tell of Jesus' relatives, including what may have been brothers and sisters.
[15] The Greek word ''adelphos'' in these verses, often translated as ''brother'', can refer to any familial relation, and most Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians translate the word as ''kinsman'' or ''cousin'' in this context (see
Perpetual virginity of Mary). Luke also mentions that
Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, was a "cousin" or "relative" of Mary (), which would make John a distant cousin of Jesus.
Nativity and early life
Main articles: Annunciation,
Nativity of Jesus,
Child Jesus
According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of
Judea to Mary, a virgin, by a miracle of the
Holy Spirit. The Gospel of Luke gives an account of the
angel Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her that she was chosen to bear the
Son of God (). According to Luke, an order of
Caesar Augustus had forced Mary and Joseph to leave their homes in
Nazareth and come to the home of Joseph's ancestors, the house of
David, for the
Census of Quirinius.
After Jesus' birth, the couple was forced to use a
manger in place of a crib because there was no room for them in the town's inn (). According to Luke, an angel announced Jesus' birth to shepherds who came to see the newborn child and who subsequently publicized what they had witnessed throughout the area (see
The First Noël). Matthew tells of the "
Wise Men" or "
Magi" who brought gifts to the infant Jesus after following a star which they believed was a sign that the
King of the Jews had been born ().
Jesus' childhood home is identified as the town of
Nazareth in
Galilee. Except for a
journey to Egypt by his family in his infancy to escape Herod's
Massacre of the Innocents and a short trip to
Tyre and
Sidon (in what is now Lebanon), the Gospels place all other events in Jesus' life in
ancient Israel.
[16] According to Matthew, the family remained in Egypt until Herod's death, whereupon they returned to Nazareth to avoid living under the authority of Herod's son and successor
Archelaus ().
Only Luke tells that Jesus was found teaching in the temple by his parents after being lost. The
Finding in the Temple () is the only event between Jesus' infancy and baptism mentioned in any of the canonical Gospels. According to Luke, Jesus was "about thirty years of age" when he was baptized (). In Mark, Jesus is called a carpenter. Matthew says he was a carpenter's son, suggesting to some that Jesus may have spent some of his first 30 years practicing carpentry with his father (, ).
Baptism and Temptation
Main articles: Baptism of Jesus,
Temptation of Jesus,
John the Baptist
All three synoptic Gospels describe the
Baptism of Jesus by
John the Baptist, an event which Biblical scholars describe as the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. According to these accounts, Jesus came to the
Jordan River where John the Baptist had been preaching and baptizing people in the crowd. Matthew describes John as initially hesitant to comply with Jesus' request for John to baptize him, stating that it was Jesus who should baptize him. Jesus persisted, "It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness" (). After Jesus was baptized and rose from the water, Mark states Jesus "saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven saying: 'You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'" (). The Gospel of John doesn't include the baptism but does attest that Jesus is the very one about whom John the Baptist had been preaching — the Son of God.
Following his baptism, Jesus was led into the desert by God where he
fasted for forty days and forty nights (). During this time, the
devil appeared to him and tempted Jesus three times. Each time, Jesus refused each temptation with a quote of
scripture from the
Book of Deuteronomy. Having failed, the devil departed and angels came and brought nourishment to Jesus (, , ).
Ministry
Main articles: Ministry of Jesus,
Sermon on the Mount,
Sermon on the Plain,
Twelve Apostles,
Transfiguration of Jesus
The Gospels state that Jesus, as Messiah, was sent to "give his life as a ransom for many" and "preach the good news of the
Kingdom of God."
[17] Over the course of his ministry, Jesus is said to have
performed various miracles, including healings,
exorcisms,
walking on water,
turning water into wine, and raising several people, such as
Lazarus, from the dead (, , and ).
Judæa and Galilee at the time of Jesus
The Gospel of John describes three different
passover feasts over the course of Jesus' ministry. This implies that Jesus preached for a period of three years, although some interpretations of the
Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year.
[18]
The focus of his ministry was toward his closest adherents, the
Twelve Apostles, though many of his followers were considered
disciples. The Twelve Apostles and others closest to Jesus were all Jews as shown by Jesus’ statement that his mission is directed only to those of the house of Israel () and by the fact that only after the death of Jesus did the apostles agree with Paul that the teaching of the gospel could be extended to uncircumcised Gentiles (, ). Jesus led an
apocalyptic following. He preached that the
end of the current world would come unexpectedly, and that he would return to judge the world, especially according to
how they treated the vulnerable; for this reason, he called on his followers to be ever alert and faithful. Jesus also taught that repentance was necessary to escape hell, and promised to give those who believe in him eternal life ().
At the height of his ministry, Jesus attracted huge crowds numbering in the thousands, primarily in the areas of
Galilee and Perea (in modern-day
Israel and
Jordan respectively).
[19] Some of Jesus' most famous teachings come from the
Sermon on the Mount, which contained the
Beatitudes and the
Lord's Prayer. Jesus often employed
parables, such as the
Parable of the Prodigal Son and the
Parable of the Sower. His teachings encouraged unconditional self-sacrificing
God-like love for God and for all people. During his sermons, he preached about service and humility, the forgiveness of sin, faith,
turning the other cheek,
love for one's enemies as well as friends, and the need to follow the spirit of
the law in addition to the letter.
[20]
Jesus often met with society's outcasts, such as the
publicani (Imperial tax collectors who were despised for extorting money), including the apostle
Matthew; when the
Pharisees objected to Jesus' meeting with sinners rather than the righteous, Jesus replied that it was the sick who need a physician, not the healthy (). According to Luke and John, Jesus also made efforts to extend his ministry to the
Samaritans, who followed
a different form of the Israelite religion. This is reflected in his preaching to the Samaritans of
Sychar, resulting in their conversion ().
According to the synoptic gospels, Jesus led three of
his apostles —
Peter,
John, and
James — to the top of a mountain to pray. While there, he was
transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun and his clothes brilliant white;
Elijah and
Moses appeared adjacent to him. A bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the sky said, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased."
[21] The gospels also state that toward the end of his ministry, Jesus began to warn his disciples of his future death and resurrection ().
Arrest, trial, and death
Main articles: Jesus and the Money Changers,
Last Supper,
Arrest of Jesus,
Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus,
Death of Jesus
''
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man!)'',
Antonio Ciseri, 19th c.: Pontius Pilate presents a
scourged Jesus of Nazareth to onlookers: a very popular motif in Christian art.
In the account given by the synoptic gospels, Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival where a large crowd came to meet him, shouting, "
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!"
[22] Following his
triumphal entry,
[23] Jesus created a disturbance at
Herod's Temple by
overturning the tables of the moneychangers who set up shop there, and claiming that they had made the Temple a "den of robbers." (). Later that week, Jesus celebrated the
Passover meal with his disciples — an event subsequently known as the
Last Supper — in which he prophesied that he would be betrayed by one of his disciples, and would then be executed. In this ritual he took bread and wine in hand, saying: "this is my body which is given for you" and "this cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood," and instructed them to "do this in
remembrance of me" (). Following the supper, Jesus and his disciples went to pray in the
Garden of Gethsemane.
While in the Garden, Jesus was
arrested by temple guards on the orders of the
Sanhedrin and the high priest,
Caiaphas (, ). The arrest took place clandestinely at night to avoid a riot, as Jesus was popular with the people at large ().
Judas Iscariot, one of his apostles, betrayed Jesus by identifying him to the guards with
a kiss. Simon Peter, another one of Jesus' apostles, used a sword to attack one of Jesus' captors, cutting off his ear, which, according to Luke, Jesus immediately healed miraculously.
[24] Jesus rebuked the apostle, stating "all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword" (). After his arrest, Jesus' apostles went into hiding.
During the
Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, the high priests and elders asked Jesus, "Are you the
Son of God?," and after he replied, "You say that I am," they condemned Jesus for
blasphemy (). The high priests then turned him over to the Roman
procurator Pontius Pilate, based on an accusation of
sedition for claiming to be King of the Jews.
[25] When Jesus came before Pilate, Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" to which he replied, "It is as you say." According to the Gospels, Pilate personally felt that Jesus was not guilty of any crime against the Romans, and since there was a custom at Passover for the Roman governor to free a prisoner (a custom not recorded outside the Gospels), Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Jesus of Nazareth and an insurrectionist named
Barabbas. The crowd chose to have Barabbas freed and Jesus crucified. Pilate washed his hands to indicate that he was innocent of the injustice of the decision ().
According to all four Gospels, Jesus died before late afternoon at
Calvary, which was also called Golgotha. The wealthy Judean
Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the
Sanhedrin according to Mark and Luke, received Pilate's permission to take possession of Jesus' body, placing it in a tomb.
[25] According to John, Joseph was aided by
Nicodemus, who joined him to help bury Jesus, and who appears in other parts of John's gospel (). The three Synoptic Gospels tell of the darkening of the sky from twelve until three that afternoon; Matthew also mentions an
earthquake ().
Resurrection and Ascension
Main articles: Harrowing of Hell,
Resurrection of Jesus,
Resurrection appearances of Jesus,
Great Commission,
Ascension,
Second Coming
According to the Gospels, Jesus
rose from the dead on the third day after his
crucifixion.
[27] The Gospel of Matthew states that an angel appeared near the tomb of Jesus and announced his resurrection to
Mary Magdelene and "another Mary" who had arrived to
anoint the body (). According to Luke there were two angels (), and according to Mark there was a youth dressed in white (). Mark states that on the morning of his resurrection, Jesus first appeared to
Mary Magdalene (). John states that when Mary looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus until he spoke her name ().
The
Acts of the Apostles state that Jesus appeared to various people in various places over the next forty days. Hours after his resurrection, he appeared to two travelers on the road to
Emmaus (). To his assembled disciples he showed himself on the evening after his resurrection (). Although his own ministry had been specifically to Jews, Jesus is said to have sent his apostles to the Gentiles with the
Great Commission and
ascended to heaven while a cloud concealed him from their sight. According to Acts,
Paul of Tarsus had a vision of Jesus during his
Road to Damascus experience. Jesus promised to
come again to fulfill the remainder of
Messianic prophecy.
[28]
Fulfillment of prophecy
Main articles: Messianic prophecy in Christianity
According to the Gospels, Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection fulfilled many prophecies found in the Hebrew Bible. See, for example, the
virgin birth, the
flight into Egypt, Immanuel (), and the
suffering servant.
Historicity
Main articles: Historicity of Jesus
Scholars have used the
historical method to develop probable reconstructions of Jesus' life. Some scholars draw a distinction between Jesus as reconstructed through historical methods and Jesus as understood through a theological point of view, while other scholars hold that a
theological Jesus represents a historical figure.
[29] The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Biblical scholars and classical historians generally accept the historical existence of Jesus, with claims against existence regarded as "effectively refuted".
[30]
Reconstructing a historical Jesus
Main articles: Historical Jesus,
Cultural and historical background of Jesus
Secular historians generally describe Jesus as an itinerant preacher and leader of a religious movement within Judaism.
[31] According to historical reconstruction, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, taught in parables and aphorisms, challenged pious traditions, legalism and social hierarchy, and was crucified by the Romans. Historians are divided over whether Jesus led a career of healing and exorcism, preached the end of the world was imminent, and saw his crucifixion as inevitable.
Most scholars agree the Gospel of Mark was written about the time of the destruction of
the Jewish Temple by the Romans under
Titus in the year 70, and that the other gospels written between 70–100.
[32] The historical outlook on Jesus relies on
criticism of the Bible, especially the gospels. Many scholars have sought to reconstruct Jesus' life in terms of contemporaneous political, cultural, and religious currents in Israel, including differences between Galilee and Judea, and between different sects such the
Pharisees,
Sadducees,
Essenes and
Zealots.
[33][34] and in terms of conflicts among Jews in the context of Roman occupation.
Ties to religious groups
The Gospels record that Jesus was a
Nazarene, a term commonly taken to refer to his place of birth, but sometimes as a religious affiliation.
[35] Some scholars speculate that Jesus was himself a
Pharisee.
[36] In Jesus' day, the two main schools of thought among the Pharisees were the
House of Hillel, which had been founded by the eminent
Tanna,
Hillel the Elder, and the
House of Shammai. Jesus' assertion of hypocrisy may have been directed against the stricter members of the House of Shammai, although he also agreed with their teachings on divorce ().
[37] Jesus also commented on the House of Hillel's teachings (
Babylonian Talmud,
Shabbat 31a) concerning the
greatest commandment () and the
Golden Rule ().
Other scholars theorize that Jesus was an
Essene, a sect of Judaism not mentioned in the
New Testament.
[38] Still other scholars hypothesize that Jesus led a new
apocalyptic sect, possibly related to
John the Baptist,
[39]
Still other scholars conjecture that Jesus was a failed apocalyptic prophet
[40] who became
early Christian after the
Great Commission spread his teachings to the
Gentiles.
[41] This is distinct from an earlier commission Jesus gave to the
twelve Apostles, limited to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" and specifically excluding the
Gentiles or
Samaritans ().
Names and titles
Main articles: Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament
According to most historians, Jesus probably lived in
Galilee for most of his life and he probably spoke
Aramaic and
Hebrew. The name "Jesus" is an
English transliteration of the
Latin (''IÄ“sus'') which in turn comes from the
Greek name Iesous (''). The name has also been translated into English as "Joshua."
[42] Since most scholars hold that Jesus was an Aramaic-speaking Jew living in Galilee around 30 AD/CE, it is highly improbable that he had a Greek personal name. Further examination of the
Septuagint finds that the Greek, in turn, is a transliteration of the Hebrew/
Aramaic Yeshua (ישוע) (''Yeshua'' — he will save) a contraction of
Hebrew name
Yehoshua (יהושוע ''Yeho'' —
Yahweh [is] ''shua`'' — help/salvation, usually Romanized as ''Joshua''). As a result, scholars believe that one of these was most likely the name that Jesus was known by during his lifetime by his peers.
[43]
''
Christ'' (which is a title and not a part of his name) is an Anglicization of the Greek term for ''
Messiah'', and literally means "anointed one." Historians have debated what this title might have meant at the time Jesus lived; some historians have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament had meanings in the first century quite different from those meanings ascribed today.
[44]
The titles "Divine," "
Son of God," "God," "God from God," "Lord," "Redeemer," "Liberator," and "Saviour of the World" were collectively applied to
Octavian, who became
Caesar Augustus after defeating
Mark Antony at the
Battle of Actium in 31 BC/BCE
John Dominic Crossan cites the adoption of them by the early Christians to apply to Jesus as denying them of Caesar the Augustus. "They were taking the identity of the Roman emperor and giving it to a Jewish peasant. Either that was a peculiar joke and a very low lampoon, or it was what the Romans called ''majistas'' and we call high treason. "
[45]
Sources on Jesus' life
Most Biblical scholars hold that the works describing Jesus were initially communicated by
oral tradition, and were not committed to writing until several decades after Jesus' crucifixion. The earliest
extant texts which refer to Jesus are
Paul's letters, which are usually dated from the mid-1st century. Paul wrote that he only saw Jesus in visions, but that they were divine
revelations and hence authoritative (). The earliest extant texts describing Jesus in any detail were the four
Gospels. These texts, being part of the
Biblical canon, have received much more analysis and acceptance from Christian sources than other possible sources for information on Jesus.
Many other early Christian texts detail events in Jesus' life and teachings, though they were not included when
the Bible was canonized due to a belief that they were
pseudepigraphical, not inspired, or written too long after his death, while others were suppressed because they contradicted Christian
orthodoxy. It took several centuries before the list of what was and was not part of the
Bible became finally fixed, and for much of the early period the
Book of Revelation was not included while works like
The Shepherd of Hermas were.
Books that were not included are known as the
New Testament apocrypha. These include the ''
Gospel of Thomas'', a collection of ''
logia'' — phrases and sayings attributed to Jesus without a narrative framework, only rediscovered in the 20th century. Other important apocryphal works that had a heavy influence in forming traditional Christian beliefs include the
Apocalypse of Peter,
Protevangelium of James,
Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and
Acts of Peter. A number of Christian traditions (such as
Veronica's veil and the
Assumption of Mary) are found not in the canonical gospels but in these and other apocryphal works.
Possible earlier texts
Some texts with even earlier historical or mythological information on Jesus are speculated to have existed prior to the Gospels,
[46] though none have been found. Based on the
unusual similarities and differences between the
Synoptic Gospels —
Matthew,
Mark and
Luke, the first three canonical gospels — many Biblical scholars have suggested that
oral tradition and
logia (such as the
Gospel of Thomas and the theoretical
Q document)
[47] probably played a strong role in initially passing down stories of Jesus, and may have inspired some of the Synoptic Gospels.
Specifically, many scholars believe that the Q document and the Gospel of Mark were the
two sources used for the gospels of Matthew and Luke; however, other theories, such as the older
Augustinian hypothesis, continue to hold sway with some Biblical scholars. Another theoretical document is the
Signs Gospel, believed to have been a source for the
Gospel of John.
[48]
There are also early non-canonical gospels which may predate the canonical Gospels, although few surviving fragments have been found. Among these are the
Unknown Berlin Gospel, the
Oxyrhynchus Gospels, the
Egerton Gospel, the
Fayyum Fragment, the
Dialogue of the Saviour, the
Gospel of the Ebionites, the
Gospel of the Hebrews, and the
Gospel of the Nazarenes.
[49]
Questions of reliability
As a result of perhaps a several-decade time gap between events and the writing of the Gospels where they are described, the accuracy of early texts describing the details of Jesus' life have been disputed by various parties. The authors of the Gospels are traditionally thought to have been witnesses to the events included. After the original oral stories were written down in Greek, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. This is not unique to the
Bible — other documents of antiquity have been scrutinized for gaps between the date of an event and the date it was written. Several historians claim unreliability of the gospel accounts often as biased and second-hand, and frequently dates from several decades after the events described. This is in sharp contrast to the earliest biographies for Alexander the Great written by Arrian and Plutarch more than four hundred years after Alexander's death in 323 BC/BCE, yet historians consider them to be generally trustworthy. For example,
Paul Barnett pointed out that "scholars of
ancient history have always recognized the '
subjectivity' factor in their available sources" and "have so few sources available compared to their modern counterparts that they will gladly seize whatever scraps of information that are at hand." He noted that
modern history and
ancient history are two separate disciplines, with differing methods of analysis and interpretation.
[50]
The
Age of Enlightenment and the
Scientific Revolution brought skepticism regarding the historical accuracy of these texts. Although some critical scholars, including archaeologists, continue to use them as points of reference in the study of ancient Near Eastern history,
[51] others have come to view the texts as cultural and literary documents, generally regarding them as part of the genre of literature called
hagiography, an account of a holy person regarded as representing a moral and divine ideal. Hagiography has as its primary aim the glorification of the religion itself and of the example set by the perfect holy person represented as its central focus.
The views of intellectuals who entirely reject Jesus' historicity are summarized in the chapter on Jesus in
Will Durant's ''Caesar and Christ''. It is based on a reputed scarcity of eyewitness, a lack of direct archaeological evidence, the failure of certain ancient works to mention Jesus, and alleged similarities between early Christianity and contemporary mythology.
[52]
Those who have a
naturalistic view of history generally do not believe in divine intervention or
miracles, such as the resurrection of Jesus mentioned by the Gospels. One method used to estimate the factual accuracy of stories in the gospels is known as the "
criterion of embarrassment," which holds that stories about events with embarrassing aspects (such as the denial of Jesus by
Peter, or the fleeing of Jesus' followers after his arrest) would likely not have been included if those accounts were fictional.
[53]
Possible external influence
Some scholars suggest that the gospel accounts of Jesus have little or no historical basis. They see similarities between stories about Jesus and older myths of
pagan god-men such as
Mithras,
Attis and
Osiris-Dionysus. Their conjecture is that the pagan myths were adopted by some authors of early accounts of Jesus to form a
syncretism with Christianity. Some popular writers such as
Earl Doherty carry this even further and propose that the gospels are actually a reworking of non-Abrahamic myths and
not based on a historical figure.
[54] Some Christian authors, such as
Justin Martyr and
C.S. Lewis, suggest that the myths were created by ancient pagans who took prophetic attributes of the Messiah as taught in the Pentateuch and Prophets applied them to their particular deity.
Still other researchers disagree with the view that the stories about Jesus were adapted from older myths. In 1962, Judaic scholar Samuel Sandmel cautioned against this practice and adapted the term "Parallelomania" to describe it. "We might for our purposes define parallelomania as that extravagance among scholars which first overdoes the supposed similarity in passages and then proceeds to describe source and derivation as if implying a literary connection flowing in an inevitable or predetermined direction."
[55] In the book ''Reinventing Jesus'', the authors put forth the position that "Only after 100 (AD/CE) did the mysteries begin to look very much like Christianity, precisely because their existence was threatened by this new religion. They had to compete to survive."
[56] Other scholars, such as
Michael Grant, also do not see significant similarity between the pagan myths and Christianity. Grant states in ''Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels'' that "Judaism was a milieu to which doctrines of the deaths and rebirths, of mythical gods seemed so entirely foreign that the emergence of such a fabrication from its midst is very hard to credit."
[57]
Religious perspectives
Main articles: Religious perspectives on Jesus
Christian views
Main articles: Christian views of Jesus
Though
Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to describe a general majority Christian view by examining the similarities between Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and certain Protestant doctrines found in their
catechetical or
confessional texts.
[58] This view, given below as the Principal view, does not encompass all groups which describe themselves as Christian, with other views immediately following.
Principal view
''Jesus Carrying the Cross'',
El Greco, 1580.
Christians predominately profess that Jesus is the Messiah (Greek: ''Christos''; English: Christ) prophesied in the Old Testament,
[59] who, through his life, death, and resurrection, restored humanity's communion with God in the blood of the
New Covenant. His death on a cross is understood as the redemptive sacrifice: the source of humanity's salvation and the atonement for
sin,
[60] which had
entered human history through the
sin of Adam.
[61]
They profess Jesus to be the only
Son of God, the Lord,
[62] and the eternal
Word (which is a translation of the
Greek ''Logos''),
[63] who became man in the
incarnation,
[64] so that those who believe in him might have eternal life.
[65] They further hold that he was born of the
Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit in an event described as the miraculous
virgin birth or Incarnation.
[66] In his life Jesus proclaimed the "good news" (Middle English:
gospel; Greek: ''euangelion'') that the coming
Kingdom of Heaven was at hand,
[67] and established the
Christian Church, which is the seed of the kingdom, into which Jesus calls the poor in spirit.
[68] Jesus' actions at the
Last Supper, where he instituted the
Eucharist, are understood as central to communion with God and remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice.
[69]
Christians also predominately profess that Jesus suffered death by
crucifixion,
[70] descended into Hell (variously understood as either the place of eternal punishment or place of the dead),
[71] and rose bodily from the dead in the definitive miracle that foreshadows the
resurrection of humanity at the end of time,
[72] when Christ will come again to
judge the living and the dead, resulting in election to Heaven or damnation to Hell.
[73]
The nature of Jesus was theologically articulated and refined by a series of seven
ecumenical councils, between 325 and 681 (see
Christology). These councils described Jesus as one of the three divine
hypostases or persons of the
Holy Trinity: the Son is defined as constituting, together with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the single
substance of the One God.
[74] Furthermore, Jesus is defined to be one person with a fully human and a fully divine
nature, a doctrine known as the
Hypostatic union[75] (an articulation not accepted by
Oriental Orthodoxy, see
Nestorianism,
Monophysitism and
Miaphysitism). In defense of Jesus' divinity, some apologists argue that there is a
trilemma, or three possibilities, resulting from Jesus' reported claims that he is the one God of Israel:
[76] either he is truly God, a liar, or a lunatic — the latter two dismissed on the basis of Jesus' coherence.
[77]
Alternative views
Current religious groups that do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity include the
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
Jehovah's Witnesses and the
Christadelphians. Non-Trinitarian groups from history included
Unitarians, and from antiquity,
Arians.
Mormons
Latter-day Saints theology maintains that the ''Heavenly Father'', ''Jesus Christ'', and the ''Holy Ghost'' are three separate and distinct beings, though all eternal and equally divine, who together constitute the
Godhead. Though described as "one God in purpose," each play different roles: the Holy Ghost is a spirit without a physical body, the Father and Son possess distinct, perfected, bodies of flesh and bone. The
Book of Mormon records that the resurrected Jesus visited and taught some of the inhabitants of the early Americas after he appeared to his apostles in Jerusalem.
[78] Mormons also believe that an
apostasy occurred after the death of Christ and his apostles. They believe that Christ and the Heavenly Father appeared to
Joseph Smith in 1820 as part of a series of heavenly visits to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They believe Jesus (not the Father) is the same as
Jehovah or
Yahweh of the
Old Testament. ''See
Jesus in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.''
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus to be God's (or Jehovah's) son, but rather than being God himself, Jehovah's Witnesses believe he was the same divine created being as
Michael the Archangel, and that he became a perfect human to come down to earth.
[79] They view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotten (unique) Son,"
[76] the "firstborn of all creation,"
[76] the one "of whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things."
[76] Lastly, they believe that Jesus died on a single-piece torture stake, not a cross.
[83]
Christadelphians
Christadelphians believe that Jesus is literally God's son, hence the Biblical title ''son of God'',
[84] not ''God the Son''. They believe that Jesus was in God's plan right from the beginning of creation,
[84] but that he came into existence at his birth.
[86] Quoting Biblical passages such as , they maintain that Jesus was fully human, and that Jesus' total humanity was vital in saving people from their sins. This, Christadelphians believe, would not have been possible had Jesus actually been God.
[86] They believe that Jesus is now in heaven, at God's right hand, waiting to return to the Earth to establish God's kingdom here forever.
[88]
Other alternative views
Others believe that the one God, who revealed himself in the Old Testament as Jehovah, came to earth, taking on the human form of Jesus Christ. They believe Jesus is Jehovah, is the Holy Spirit, and is the one Person who is God. Examples of such churches today are
Oneness Pentecostals and the
New Church.
Other early views
Various
early Christian groups and theologians held differing views of Jesus.
The
Ebionites, an early
Jewish Christian community, believed that Jesus was the last of the
prophets and the
Messiah. They believed that Jesus was the natural-born son of Mary and Joseph, and thus they rejected the Virgin Birth. The Ebionites were
adoptionists, believing that Jesus was not divine, but became the
son of God at his baptism. They rejected the
Epistles of Paul, believing that Jesus kept the
Mosaic Law perfectly and wanted his followers to do the same. However, they felt that Jesus' crucifixion was the ultimate sacrifice, and thus
animal sacrifices were no longer necessary. Therefore, some Ebionites were
vegetarian and considered both Jesus and
John the Baptist to have been vegetarians.
[89]
In
Gnosticism, Jesus is said to have brought the secret knowledge (
gnosis) of the spiritual world necessary for salvation.
[90] Their secret teachings were paths to gnosis, and not gnosis itself. While some Gnostics were
docetics, other Gnostics believed that Jesus was a human who became possessed by the spirit of Christ during his baptism.
[91] Many Gnostics believed that Christ was an
Aeon sent by
a higher deity than the evil
demiurge who created the material world. Some Gnostics believed that Christ had a
syzygy named
Sophia. The Gnostics tended to
interpret the books that were included in the New Testament as
allegory, and some Gnostics interpreted Jesus himself as an allegory. The Gnostics also used a number of
other texts that did not become part of the New Testament canon.
Marcionites were 2nd century
Gentile followers of the Christian theologian
Marcion of Sinope. They believed that Jesus rejected the
Jewish Scriptures, or at least the parts that were incompatible with his teachings.
[92] Seeing a stark contrast between the vengeful God of the
Old Testament and the loving God of Jesus, Marcion came to the conclusion that the Jewish God and Jesus were two separate deities. Like some Gnostics, Marcionites saw the Jewish God as the evil creator of the world, and Jesus as the savior from the material world. They also believed Jesus was not human, but instead a completely divine spiritual being whose material body, and thus his crucifixion and death, were
divine illusions. Marcion was the first known early Christian to have created a
canon, which consisted of ten
Pauline epistles, and
a version of the
Gospel of Luke (possibly without the first two chapters that are in modern versions, and without Jewish references),
[93] and his treatise on the ''Antithesis'' between the Old and New Testaments. Marcionism was declared a
heresy by proto-orthodox Christianity.
Montanists in the
2nd century and
Sabellius in the
3rd century taught that the Trinity represented not three persons but a single person in three "modes."
Islamic views
Main articles: Islamic views of Jesus
In
Islam, Jesus (known as '
Isa' in Arabic,
Arabic: عيسى), is considered one of God's most-beloved and important
prophets and the Messiah.
[94] He is one of five messengers (''rusul''), and one of the five "Resolute" prophets. The
Hadith states that Jesus will return to the world in the flesh following
Imam Mahdi to defeat the ''
Dajjal'' (an
Antichrist-like figure, translated as "Deceiver"),
[95]
though some Islamic scholars regard these traditions as unreliable and false.
[96][97][98]
As in the Christian nativity accounts, the 7th-century
Qur'an holds that Jesus was born without a biological father to the virgin Mary, by the will of God (in Arabic,
Allah). He is referred to as ''Isa ibn Maryam'' (English: Jesus son of Mary), a
matronymic, as he had no biological father.
[99] In Muslim traditions, Jesus lived a perfect life of nonviolence, showing kindness to humans and animals (similar to the other Islamic prophets), without material possessions, and abstaining from
sin.
[100] Islamic belief also holds that Jesus could perform miracles, but only by the will of God.
[101]
Muslims, however, do not believe Jesus to have divine nature as God nor as the Son of God. The Qu'ran warns against believing that Jesus was divine.
[102] Muslims believe that Jesus received a gospel from God called the ''
Injil'' in Arabic that corresponds to the Christian New Testament, but that parts of it have been misinterpreted over time so that they no longer accurately represent God's message (See
Tahrif).
[103]
Muslims also do not believe in Jesus' sacrificial role, and the Qur'an, as commonly understood, states that Jesus was not killed on the cross. Islam also does not accept any human sacrifice for sin.
[104] Regarding the crucifixion, the Qur'an is against the Jews who claimed "we slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God," and categorically states that "yet they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them."
[105][106] Some muslims writers like
Ahmed Deedat have elaborated the Quranic verse in the light of the
Bible[107]. However, the Muslim tradition completes the statement of the Qur'an: Some traditions say Christ was replaced by a double, and according to others it was Simon of Cyrene or one of the Apostles (Judas).
106 The denial of crucifixion is viewed as Jesus's [representing faith] triumph over his executioners [representing forces of evil and adversity].
106 However certain Muslim scholars and some Ismaili commentators have interpreted the relevant verse differently: "the Jews intended to destroy the person of Jesus completely; in fact, they crucified only his nasut, his lahut remained alive" or that "The Qur'an is not here speaking about a man, righteous and wronged though he may be, but about the Word of God who was sent to earth and returned to God. Thus the denial of killing of Jesus is a denial of the power of men to vanquish and destroy the divine Word, which is for ever victorious."
106[108]
Ahmadiyya views
The
Ahmadiyya Movement (a movement that originated in Islam during the 19th Century, with a small number of followers but now numbers around 10 million) believes that Jesus did not ascend to heaven, survived the crucifixion and migrated to
Kashmir, where he died as a prophet under the name of
Yuz Asaf (whose grave they identify in
Srinagar,
India).
[109] and that the prophecy concerning his second coming was fulfilled in the person of
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad The founder of the movement.
Judaism's view
Main articles: Judaism's view of Jesus
Judaism holds the idea of Jesus being God, or part of a Trinity, or a mediator to God, to be heresy.(''
Emunoth ve-Deoth'', II:5) Judaism also holds that Jesus is not the
Messiah, arguing that he had not fulfilled the
Messianic prophecies in the
Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
[110]
The ''
Mishneh Torah'' (an authoritative work of
Jewish law) states:
: Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be
Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by
Daniel. So that it was said, "And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled" (Daniel 11.14). Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the
prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world — there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (
Muhammad) the
Ishmaelite who stood after him — there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, "Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder" (Zephaniah 3.9). Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the
Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcised of heart. (''Hilkhot Melakhim'' 11:10–12)
[111]
Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states ''For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an
apostate.'' (Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68).
[112]
According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after
420 BC/BCE,
Malachi being the last prophet, who lived centuries before Jesus. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the
Torah to prove that he was a prophet. Even if Jesus had produced such a sign that Judaism recognized, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah, which Judaism states Jesus did. (
Devarim 13:1–5)
[113]
Buddhist views
Buddhists' views of Jesus differ, since Jesus is not mentioned in any Buddhist text. Some
Buddhists, including
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama[114] regard Jesus as a
bodhisattva who dedicated his life to the welfare of human beings. Both Jesus and Buddha advocated radical alterations in the common religious practices of the day. There are occasional similarities in language, such as the use of the common metaphor of a line of blind men to refer to religious authorities with whom they disagreed (
DN 13.15,
Matthew 15:14). Some believe there is a particularly close affinity between Buddhism (or Eastern spiritual thought generally) and the doctrine of
Gnostic texts such as
The Gospel of Thomas[115]
Hindu views
Hindu beliefs about Jesus vary. Many in the
Surat Shabd Yoga tradition regard Jesus as a
Satguru.
Swami Vivekananda has praised Jesus and cited him as a source of strength and the epitome of perfection.
[116] Paramahansa Yogananda taught that Jesus was the reincarnation of
Elisha and a student of
John the Baptist, the reincarnation of
Elijah.
[117] Mahatma Gandhi considered Jesus one of his main teachers and inspirations for
nonviolent resistance, saying "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
[118]
Bahá'à views
The
Bahá'à Faith considers Jesus, along with
Muhammad, the
Buddha,
Krishna, and
Zoroaster, and other messengers of the great religions of the world to be
Manifestations of God (or
prophets), with both human and divine stations.
[119] In their divine station Bahá'Ãs view them in essential unity with each other and with God, and in their human station they view them as distinct individuals.
119 Thus, in the Bahá'à view, Jesus incarnates God's attributes, perfectly reflecting and expressing them.
119 However, the Bahá'à view rejects the belief that the essence of God was perfectly or completely contained in Jesus or any other human body, since
Bahá'à scripture emphasizes the transcendence of the essence of God.
119 Jesus is believed to be the "Son of God" though not literally a biological son. The title "Son of God" in the Bahá'à view is seen as entirely spiritual and shows the close relationship between him and God.
[120]
Bahá'Ãs accept Jesus as the Messiah foretold in the Jewish Scriptures. They believe though that their messenger,
Baha'u'llah is the symbolic return of Christ expected during the last days.
[121] In the Bahá'à view religion is
progressively revealed by God through messengers/prophets, and the messengers from God are all the spiritual return of the messengers before them.
121
Mandaean views
Mandaeanism regards Jesus as a deceiving prophet (mšiha kdaba) of the false Jewish god of the Old Testament,
Adonai,
[122] and an opponent of the good prophet
John the Baptist, who is considered a great teacher in Mandaeanism.
Other views
The
New Age movement entertains a wide variety of views on Jesus. Some New Age practitioners (such as the creators of
A Course In Miracles) claim to go so far as to trance-
channel his spirit. However, the New Age movement generally teaches that Christhood is something that all may attain.
Theosophists, from whom many New Age teachings originated (a Theosophist named
Alice A. Bailey invented the term ''New Age''), refer to Jesus of Nazareth as the
Master Jesus and believe he had previous
incarnations and is presently one of the
Cosmic Masters of the Ancient Wisdom (
deities responsible for governing the
planet Earth).
Many writers emphasize Jesus' moral teachings.
Garry Wills argues that Jesus' ethics are distinct from those usually taught by Christianity.
[123] The
Jesus Seminar[124] portrays Jesus as an itinerant preacher (), who taught peace () and love (), rights for women () and respect for children (), and who spoke out against the hypocrisy of religious leaders () and the rich ().
Thomas Jefferson, one of the
Founding Fathers and a
deist, created the
Jefferson Bible entitled "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" that included only Jesus' ethical teachings because he did not believe in Jesus' divinity or any of the other supernatural aspects of the
Bible.
Philosopher and atheist
Bertrand Russell saw Jesus' teachings and values as surpassed by other philosophers; Russell writes 'I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to History. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in those respects.'
[125] Friedrich Nietzsche saw
Socrates and Jesus as foundational to Western culture and criticized them both. He considered Jesus' concern for the weak to be a reversal of noble morality and accused Christianity of spreading the concept of equal rights for all, which he opposed.
[126]
Legacy
According to most Christian interpretations of the
Bible, the theme of Jesus' teachings was that of
repentance,
unconditional love,
[76] forgiveness of
sin,
grace, and the coming of the
Kingdom of God.
[128] Jesus extensively trained disciples who, after his death, spread his teachings. Within a few decades his followers comprised a religion clearly distinct from
Judaism. Christianity spread throughout the
Roman Empire under a version known as
Nicene Christianity and became the
state religion under
Constantine the Great. Over the centuries, it spread to most of
Europe, and around the world.
Jesus has been
drawn, painted, sculpted and
portrayed on stage and in films in many different ways, both serious and
humorous. The figure of Jesus features prominently in
art and
literature. A number of popular novels, such as ''
The Da Vinci Code'', have also portrayed various ideas about Jesus, and a number of films, such as ''
The Passion of the Christ'', have portrayed his life, death, and resurrection. Many of the sayings attributed to Jesus have become part of the culture of
Western civilization. There are many items purported to be
relics of Jesus, of which the most famous are the
Shroud of Turin and the
Sudarium of Oviedo.
Other legacies include a view of God as more lovingly parental, merciful, and more forgiving, and the growth of a belief in a blissful
afterlife and in the
resurrection of the dead. His teaching promoted the value of those who had commonly been regarded as inferior: women, the poor, ethnic outsiders, children, prostitutes, the sick, prisoners, etc. For over a thousand years, countless hospitals, orphanages, and schools have been founded explicitly in Jesus' name. Jesus and his message have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Jesus has been explained notably by
Paul of Tarsus, the
Church Fathers, including
Augustine of Hippo,
Martin Luther, and more recently by
C.S. Lewis and
Pope John Paul II.
Thomas Jefferson considered Jesus' teaching to be "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man."
[129]
For some Jews, the legacy of Jesus has been a history of
Christian antisemitism,
[130] although in the wake of
the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote interfaith dialog and mutual respect. For others, Christianity has often been linked to European
colonialism (see
British Empire,
Portuguese Empire,
Spanish Empire,
French colonial empire,
Dutch colonial empire).
[131] Conversely, some have argued that through
Bartolomé de las Casas defense of the indigenous inhabitants of Spain's New World empire, one of the legacies of Jesus has been the notion of universal human rights.
See also
Notes
1. Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range include D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris. ''An Introduction to the New Testament.'' Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992, 54, 56; Michael Grant, ''Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels'', Scribner's, 1977, p. 71; John P. Meier, ''A Marginal Jew'', Doubleday, 1991–, vol. 1:214; E. P. Sanders, ''The Historical Figure of Jesus'', Penguin Books, 1993, pp. 10–11, and Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," ''Christian History'' 17 (1998) No. 3:12–20.
2. Raymond E. Brown, ''The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave'' (New York: Doubleday, Anchor Bible Reference Library 1994), p. 964; D. A. Carson, et al., p. 50–56; Shaye J.D. Cohen, ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah'', Westminster Press, 1987, p. 78, 93, 105, 108; John Dominic Crossan, ''The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant'', HarperCollins, 1991, p. xi – xiii; Michael Grant, p. 34–35, 78, 166, 200; Paula Fredriksen, ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'', Alfred B. Knopf, 1999, p. 6–7, 105–110, 232–234, 266; John P. Meier, vol. 1:68, 146, 199, 278, 386, 2:726; E.P. Sanders, pp. 12–13; Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1973), p. 37.; Paul L. Maier, ''In the Fullness of Time'', Kregel, 1991, pp. 1, 99, 121, 171; N. T. Wright, ''The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions'', HarperCollins, 1998, pp. 32, 83, 100–102, 222; Ben Witherington III, pp. 12–20.
3. Though many historians may have certain reservations about the use of the Gospels for writing history, "even the most hesitant, however, will concede that we are probably on safe historical footing" concerning certain basic facts about the life of Jesus; Jo Ann H. Moran Cruz and Richard Gerberding, ''Medieval Worlds: An Introduction to European History'' Houghton Mifflin Company 2004, pp. 44–45.
4. "The nonhistoricity thesis has always been controversial, and it has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines and religious creeds. ... Biblical scholars and classical historians now regard it as effectively refuted." — Robert E. Van Voorst, ''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 16.
5. Thomas L. Thompson ''The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David '' (Jonathan Cape, Publisher, 2006); Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy. ''The Jesus Mysteries: Was the 'Original Jesus' a Pagan God?'' London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999, pp. 133, 158; Michael Martin, ''The Case Against Christianity'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), 36–72; John Mackinnon Robertson; G.A. Wells. ''The Jesus Legend'', Chicago: Open Court, 1996, p xii.
6. Darrell L. Bock, ''Jesus According to Scripture'', pp. 29–30, gives a ''c.'' 60–70 date; L. Michael White, ''From Jesus to Christianity'', p. 244, gives ''c.'' 80–90.
7. Bock, ''ibid.'', p. 38, gives ''c.'' 62–70; White, ''ibid.'', p. 252, gives ''c.'' 90–100.
8. Erwin Fahlbusch and Geoffrey William Bromiley, ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity.'' Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill, 1999–2003, 1:454–55
9. Porterm J. R. ''Jesus Christ: The Jesus of History, the Christ of Faith.'' Oxford University Press, 1999. Pg. 70 ISBN 0–19–521429–3
10. Josephus, Antiquities 17.342–4
11. See Leon Morris, ''The Gospel According to John, Revised'', pp. 284–295, for a discussion of several alternate theories with references.
12. Meier, p.1:402
13. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX. Anchor Bible. Garden City: Doubleday, 1981, pp. 499–500; I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke (The New International Greek Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978, p. 158;
14. Easton, Matthew Gallego, "Joseph (the foster father of Jesus Christ)", Christiananswers.net Retrieved April 14, 2007
15. , , and
16. ''For Egypt'': ; ''For Tyre and sometimes Sidon'': and
17. , , .
18. "The Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible NIV," published December 1999, B.B. Kirkbride Bible Co., Inc.; William Adler & Paul Tuffin, "The Chronography of George Synkellos: A Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation," Oxford University Press (2002), p. 466
19. In ''John'', Jesus' ministry takes place in and around Jerusalem.
20. ''Sermon on the Mount'': ; ''Prodigal Son'': ; ''Parable of the Sower'': ; ''Agape'': .
21. , ,
22. The crowd was quoting ; found in .
23. John puts the cleansing of the temple at the start of Jesus' ministry.
24. The apostle is identified as Simon Peter in ; the healing of the ear is found in .
25. ; .
26. ; .
27. ; ; ; ; ;
28. ''Ministering to Israel'': ; ''ascension'': ; ; ''Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus'': , ; ; ''Second coming'':
29. See, for an example of the latter, Pope Benedict XVI, ''Jesus of Nazareth''. Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-52341-7
30. "The nonhistoricity thesis has always been controversial, and it has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines and religious creeds. ... Biblical scholars and classical historians now regard it as effectively refuted." - Robert E. Van Voorst, ''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 16.
31. Harrison, John B. and Richard E. Sullivan. A short history of Western civilization. New York: Knopf. 1975.
32. Meier (1991), pp.43–4
33. For a comparison of the Jesus movement to the Zealots, see S. G. F. Brandon, ''Jesus and the Zealots: a study of the political factor in primitive Christianity,'' Manchester University Press (1967) ISBN 0–684–31010–4
34. For a general comparison of Jesus' teachings to other schools of first century Judaism, see John P. Meier, ''Companions and Competitors (A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume 3)'' Anchor Bible, 2001. ISBN 0–385–46993–4.
35. .
36. Based on a comparison of the Gospels with the Talmud and other Jewish literature. Maccoby, Hyam ''Jesus the Pharisee,'' Scm Press, 2003. ISBN 0–334–02914–7; Falk, Harvey ''Jesus the Pharisee: A New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus,'' Wipf & Stock Publishers (2003). ISBN 1–59244–313–3.
37. Neusner, Jacob ''A Rabbi Talks With Jesus,'' McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000. ISBN 0–7735–2046–5. Rabbi Neusner contends that Jesus' teachings were closer to the House of Shammai than the House of Hillel.
38. Based on a comparison of the Gospels with the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially the Teacher of Righteousness and Pierced Messiah. Eisenman, Robert ''James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls,'' Penguin (Non-Classics), 1998. ISBN 0–14–025773-X; Stegemann, Hartmut ''The Library of Qumran: On the Essenes, Qumran, John the Baptist, and Jesus.'' Grand Rapids MI, 1998. See also Broshi, Magen, "What Jesus Learned from the Essenes," ''Biblical Archaeology Review,'' 30:1, pg. 32–37, 64. Magen notes similarities between Jesus' teachings on the virtue of poverty and divorce, and Essene teachings as related in Josephus' ''The Jewish Wars'' and in the Damascus Document of the Dead Sea Scrolls, respectively.
39. The Gospel accounts show both John the Baptist and Jesus teaching repentance and the coming Kingdom of God.
40. See Schwietzer, Albert ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede,'' pp. 370–371, 402. Scribner (1968), ISBN 0–02–089240–3; Ehrman, Bart ''Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium,'' Oxford University Press USA, 1999. ISBN 0–19–512474-X. Crossan, however, makes a distinction between John's apocalyptic ministry and Jesus' ethical ministry. See Crossan, John Dominic, ''The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus,'' pp. 305–344. Harper Collins, 1998. ISBN 0–06–061659–8.
41. This includes the belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Brown, Michael L. ''Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: Messianic Prophecy Objections'' Baker Books, 2003. ISBN 0–8010–6423–6. Brown shows how the Christian concept of Messiah relates to ideas current in late Second Temple period Judaism. See also Klausner, Joseph, ''The Messianic Idea in Israel: From its Beginning to the Completion of the Mishnah,'' Macmillan 1955; Patai, Raphael, ''Messiah Texts,'' Wayne State University Press, 1989. ISBN 0–8143–1850–9; Crossan, John Dominic, ''The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus,'' pg. 461. Harper Collins, 1998. ISBN 0–06–061659–8. Patai and Klausner state that one interpretation of the prophecies reveal either two Messiahs, Messiah ben Yosef (the dying Messiah) and Messiah ben David (the Davidic King), or one Messiah who comes twice. Crossan cites the Essene teachings about the twin Messiahs. Compare to the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming.
42. "Origin of the Name of Jesus Christ". ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved April 14, 2007.''
43. Durant, Will. ''Caesar and Christ''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. p. 558; John P. Meier, ''A Marginal Jew''. New York: Doubleday, 1991 vol. 1:205–7;
44. Vermes, "Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels"
45. Crossan, John Dominic, God and Empire, 2007, p. 28
46. Bettenson, Henry and Maun 
.jpg)
العربية
ä¸å›½
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिनà¥à¤¦à¥€
Italiano
日本語
Português
РуÑÑкий
Español