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Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene (8-4 BC – AD 29-36), is the central figure of Christianity, in which context he is known as Jesus Christ (from Greek Ιησούς Χριστός) with "Christ" being a title meaning "Anointed One" or "Messiah". The main sources regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which are generally agreed to have been written decades after his death.

The vast majority of critical Bible scholars and historians hold that Jesus was a Jewish Galilean preacher and healer, who was at odds with the Jewish religious authorities (Sadducees and Pharisees), and who was crucified outside of Jerusalem during the rule of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. However, a small minority of Biblical scholars, academics, and others question the historicity of Jesus, suggesting a lack of extant contemporaneous documents that refer to him, as well as similarities with various mythological figures.

Most Christians affirm the Nicene Creed and believe that Jesus is both the Son of God and God made incarnate, sent to provide reconciliation with God by atoning for the sins of humanity, and that acceptance of Jesus as Saviour saves one from the penalties of sin (John 3:16). Christians generally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, crucified and buried, resurrected on the third day of death, and ascended into Heaven where he resides with God the Father until the Second Coming. Other Christians, however, do not recognize the Nicene Creed as the correct interpretation of scripture. Most Christians also believe that Jesus fulfilled Bible prophecy.

In Islam, Jesus (called Isa) is considered one of God's most beloved and important prophets, a bringer of divine scripture, and also the Messiah. Muslims, however, do not share the Christian belief in the crucifixion or divinity of Jesus. Islam teaches that Jesus is alive in heaven and will return to the earth as Messiah in the company of the Mahdi once it has become full of sin and injustice.

Life and teachings, based upon the Gospels

In addition to their portrayal of Jesus as a preacher and healer, the Gospels make various additional claims about his divinity: that he was the Messiah (Matthew 1:1; 26:64; Mark 1:1; Luke 2:11; John 1:41; 20:31); the son of God (Mark 1:1; John 20:31); that his birth by Mary was virginal (Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:34); that he was referred to as the king of the Jews (Matthew 27:11; Mark 15:2) and that after his crucifixion he rose from the dead (Matthew 28:5-10; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:12-16 John 20:10-17), and then ascended into heaven (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51). Most Christians hold that the Gospels also teach that Jesus is divine and equal to God the Father (John 8:58; John 10:30); however, other groups, citing John 14:28 and interpreting the previous verses differently, hold that the gospels are unclear on the subject.

Chronology

Template:JesusTimeline

The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the Gospel of Matthew (probably written between AD 60 and 85) and the Gospel of Luke (probably written between AD 60 and 100 AD). Template:Smref There is considerable debate about the details of Jesus' birth even among Christian scholars, and few scholars claim to know either the year or the date of his birth or of his death.

Based on the accounts in the gospels of the shepherds' activities, the time of year depicted for Jesus' birth could be spring or summer. However, as early as 354, Roman Christians celebrated it following the December solstice in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Before then, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the feast of Theophany, 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.

In the 248th year of 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 the birth of Christ"), 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 the Lord"). This system made the then current year 532, and almost two centuries later it won acceptance and became the established calendar in Western civilization due to its championing by the Venerable Bede.

However, based on a lunar eclipse that Josephus reports shortly before the death of Herod the Great (who plays a major role in Matthew's account), as well as a more accurate understanding of the succession of Roman Emperors, Jesus' birth would have been some time before the year 4 BC. Having fewer sources and being further removed in time from the authors of the New Testament, establishing a reliable birth date now is particularly difficult.

The exact date of Jesus' death is also unclear. The Gospel of John depicts the crucifixion just before the Passover festival on Friday 14 Nisan, called the Quartodeciman, whereas the synoptic gospels describe the Last Supper, immediately before Jesus' arrest, as the Passover meal on Friday 15 Nisan. 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, allowing for the time of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate and the dates of the Passover in those years, his death can be placed most probably on April 7, 30 or April 3, 33.

Family and early life

According to the Gospels, Jesus was born in Bethlehem 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 (Luke 1:26-28). Catholics call this the Annunciation. Joseph, Mary's betrothed husband, appears only in stories of Jesus' childhood. With Jesus commending Mary into the care of John the Apostle during his crucifixion, it is likely that Joseph had died by the time of Jesus' ministry.

Events in the
Life of Jesus according to the canonical gospels
Early life Annunciation Visitation Joseph's dreams Nativity Virgin birth Annunciation to the Shepherds Adoration of the Shepherds Circumcision Adoration of the Magi Flight into Egypt Massacre of the Innocents Presentation Return to Nazareth Finding in the Temple
Ministry Baptism Temptation Commissioning the Twelve Apostles Sermon on the Mount / Plain Beatitudes Lord's Prayer Miracles Parables Prayer Rejection Transfiguration
Passion Triumphal entry into Jerusalem Temple cleansing Second coming prophecy Anointing Last Supper Farewell Discourse Paraclete promised Agony in the Garden Kiss of Judas Arrest Sanhedrin trial Mocking Herod's court Pilate's court Flagellation Crown of Thorns Via Dolorosa Crucifixion Descent from the Cross Entombment Harrowing of Hell
Resurrection Empty tomb Appearances Noli me tangere Road to Emmaus Great Commission Ascension
In rest of the NT Road to Damascus John's vision
Portals: Christianity Bible
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Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 tell of Jesus' siblings. Mark 6 reports that Jesus was "Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon," and also states that Jesus had sisters. The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus and the Christian historian Eusebius (who wrote in the 4th century but quoted much earlier sources that are now lost) refer to James the Just as Jesus' brother (See Desposyni). However, Jerome argued that they were Jesus' cousins, which the Greek word for "brother" used in the gospels would allow. This was based on the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition that Mary remained a perpetual virgin, thus having no biological children before or after Jesus. Luke's gospel records that Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:36). The Bible, however, does not reveal exactly how Mary and Elizabeth were related.

Jesus' childhood home is represented as Nazareth in Galilee. Aside from a flight to Egypt in infancy to escape Herod's Massacre of the Innocents and a short trip to Tyre and Sidon, all other events in the Gospels are set in ancient Israel. Only one incident between his infancy and his adult life, the Finding in the Temple, is mentioned in the canonical gospels, although New Testament apocrypha fill in the details of this time, some quite extensively.

For most Christians, only the virgin birth and the Incarnation itself are major articles of faith for this period of time before the beginning of Jesus' ministry. The Muslim religion also espouses a virgin birth through Mary.

Ministry

According to Christian belief, just after he was baptized by his kinsman John the Baptist, Jesus began his public ministry. According to Luke, he was about thirty years old at the time. Jesus' most common method of teaching was the parable (a story with metaphorical meaning). Some of his most famous teachings come from the Sermon on the Mount, which contained the Beatitudes and the Golden Rule. His most famous parables include the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.

At the height of his ministry, Jesus attracted huge crowds numbering in the thousands, primarily in the areas of Galilee (modern northern Israel) and Perea (today's western Jordan). Many of these were considered disciples. Yet the focus of his ministry was on his closest followers, the twelve disciples (from the Latin word discipulus meaning "student"), later called the Twelve Apostles, being commissioned by Jesus to continue the work of his ministry on earth (from the Greek word apostolos meaning "to send out".)

According to the Gospels, Jesus also performed various miracles, including healings, exorcisms, walking on water, turning water into wine, and raising several people including Lazarus from the dead. The reality of these miracles was not the subject of dispute in the earliest Jewish sources that mention Jesus. As in the gospels, it was their spiritual source that was questioned: whether they were of God or of Satan.

Jesus frequently put himself in opposition to the Jewish religious authorities, both in the synagogue (largely the domain of the Pharisees) and the Temple (largely the domain of the Sadducees). His teaching castigated the Pharisees primarily for their legalism and hypocrisy, although he also had followers among the religious leaders such as Nicodemus. Jesus was also known as a social reformer.

Jesus introduced and preached the concept of "Christian love". Jesus preached about faith, service and humility, the forgiveness of sin, and attaining everlasting life in "The Kingdom of God." Jesus also preached the imminent end of the current era of history, or even the literal end of the world, and in this sense he was an apocalyptic preacher.

Many interpret the Gospels to suggest that Jesus was opposed to much of traditional Jewish law, advocating more the spirit than the letter of the law. Some contend, for example, that Jesus preached a "higher level" of morality than in Jewish law, since, for instance, he preached to love not only your "neighbor" but your "enemy" as well.

But despite the many unique aspects of Jesus' teaching, recent Christian and Jewish scholarship has moderated the perception of opposition between Jesus and the Jewish teachers of his day by showing his substantial agreement with trends in the Jewish religious thinking of his day.

It is commonly thought that Jesus preached for a period of three years, but this is never mentioned explicitly in any of the four gospels, and some interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year. The generally believed view remains three years however.

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the end of his ministry is usually associated with the Passover Feast (15 Nisan or spring), as stated in the New Testament, which indicates that the waving of palm fronds and other greetings from the crowd were intended to hail him as the Messiah (John 12:13). The Hosanna shout and the waving of palm fronds, ordinarily a part of the feast of Sukkoth (15 Tishri or fall), appear to have been moved by the followers of Jesus to Passover because of their Messianic associations.

Arrest, trial and execution

According to the Gospels, Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival, and created a disturbance at the Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers there. He was subsequently arrested on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the high priest, Joseph Caiaphas for blasphemy, because he claimed to be the messiah (Mark 14: 62) and because, the Jews believed, he had made himself to be God (John 10: 33). He was identified to the guards by one of his apostles, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus by a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane, after which another apostle (identified as Peter in the Gospel of John), used a sword to attack one of the captors, cutting off his ear, which Jesus immediately healed. After his arrest, Jesus' apostles went into hiding.

Jesus was condemned for blasphemy by the Sanhedrin and turned over to the Romans for execution, on the charge of sedition for claiming to be King of the Jews. The usual penalty for sedition was a humiliating death by crucifixion, but the Roman governor Pontius Pilate did not find Jesus to be guilty of any crime. So Pilate first had Jesus flogged, and then, remembering that it was a custom at Passover for the Roman governor to free a prisoner, Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Jesus of Nazareth and an insurrectionist named Jesus Barabbas. The crowd chose to have Barabbas freed and Jesus crucified. Pilate washed his hands to display that he himself was innocent of the injustice of the decision. All four gospels say Pilate then ordered Jesus to be crucified with a charge placed atop the cross (called the titulus crucis) which read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". (The titulus crucis is often written as INRI, the Latin acronym.)

While it was common practice to let a body hang upon the cross for days and decay there, Jesus died relatively quickly and his followers were allowed to take his body down and place it in a tomb.

Resurrection and Ascension

According to the New Testament, Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. This day is celebrated by Christians as Resurrection Sunday during Easter.

No one was a witness to the resurrection. However, the women who had witnessed the entombment and the closure of the tomb with a great stone, found it empty when they arrived on the third day to anoint the body. The synoptic gospel accounts further state that an angel was waiting at the tomb to explain to them that Jesus had been resurrected, though the Gospel according to John makes no mention of this encounter. The sight of the same angel had apparently left the guards unconscious (cf. Matt 28:2-4) that, according to Matthew 27:62-66, the high priests and Pharisees, with Pilate's permission, had posted in front of the tomb to prevent the body from being stolen by Jesus' disciples. Mark 16:9 says that Mary Magdalene was the first to whom Jesus appeared very early that morning. John 20:11-18 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—even by his voice—until he called her by her name.

The Acts of the Apostles tell of several appearances of Jesus to various people in various places over a period of forty days before he ascended into heaven. 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, but Thomas was absent, though he was present when Jesus repeated his visit to them a week later. Thereafter he went to Galilee and showed himself to several of his disciples by the lake and on the mountain; and they were present when he returned to Mount Olivet, between Bethany and Jerusalem, and was lifted up to heaven and a cloud concealed him from their sight.

Most Christians—even those who do not hold to the literal truth of everything in the canonical gospel accounts—accept the New Testament presentation of the Resurrection as a historical account of an actual event central to faith. Belief in the resurrection is one of the most distinctive elements of Christian faith; and defending the historicity of the resurrection is usually a central issue of Christian apologetics. Conservative Christian scholars such as Norman Geisler and William Lane Craig believe that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead and that he was raised in spiritual body. Some liberal Christians do not accept that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, or that he still lives bodily (e.g., John Shelby Spong, Tom Harpur).

Legacy

According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preaching was that of repentance, forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the kingdom of God.

Jesus extensively trained disciples who, after his death, interpreted and spread his teachings. Within a few decades his followers clearly distinguished the religion of Christianity from Judaism. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire under a version known as Nicene Christianity and became the state religion of that empire and of most of Europe for centuries.

Jesus has been drawn, painted, sculpted, and portrayed on stage in many different ways. 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, the most famous being the Shroud of Turin, the Sudarium of Oviedo.

Other legacies include a view of God as more fatherly and less angry but more forgiving, growth of belief in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus and his message have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Jesus has been explained notably by Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, and more recently by C.S. Lewis.

For some, the legacy of Jesus has been a long history of Christian anti-Semitism, although in the wake of the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote inter-faith dialogue 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); conversely, Christians have often found themselves as oppressed minorities outside of Europe and the Americas.

Religious perspectives

Jesus has an important role in two religions, Christianity and Islam. Most other religions, however, do not consider Jesus to have been a supernatural or holy being. Some of these religions, like Buddhism, do not take any official stance on Jesus' life. Most adherants of the religion Jesus himself practiced his whole life, Judaism, reject claims of his divinity and of his being the Mashiach.

Christian views

Generally speaking, most Christians believe that Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity - that he is one of the three divine persons who are God (the other two being God the Father and the Holy Spirit). They believe Jesus is the Son of God, and the Messiah or Christ. Christians have also identified Jesus as "the Word" (or Logos).

The core of the Christian view of the mission of Jesus is summed up by John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

It is believed that since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Book of Genesis, people have been born flawed with the tendency to sin (original sin), and this "separated" humankind from God, making them liable to condemnation to eternal punishment in Hell. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

But, those who hold these Christian beliefs say that Jesus' death by crucifixion was the perfect sacrifice to reconcile humanity with God and save them from their sins. Most Christians also believe that three days, counting the day he died, after Jesus's death, he rose from the grave and forty days after that, he ascended into Heaven, and that his Resurrection grants eternal life in heaven to the faithful.

There are several differing views within Christian groups as to whether or not Jesus was divine (and on other issues). The majority of Christian laypeople, theologians, and clergy hold that the Bible states Jesus to be divine, to claim divinity, and to claim equality with God the Father. Most also believe that Jesus' resurrection is additional proof that he is God. Contrarily, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that the Bible states that Jesus was not equal with God, never claimed to be God, that the resurrection is additional proof that he is not God, and that other passages often used as "proof texts" are ambiguous about such claims. They view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotton Son" (John 3:16), the "firstborn of all creation" (Col 1:15). Most Jehovah's witnesses believe Christ to be Michael the Archangel, who became a human to come down to earth. Other nontrinitarian groups hold similar beliefs.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains that Jesus is the very same as Yahweh of the Old Testament but is distinct from God the Father. (See also Jesus in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

Islamic views

In Islam, Jesus (known as Isa, Arabic: عيسا), is considered one of God's most-beloved and important prophets. Like Christian writings, the Qur'an holds that Jesus was born without a biological father by the will of God and for this reason is consistently termed "Isa ibn Maryam", a matronymic (since he had no biological father). Similarly Islamic belief also holds that he could perform miracles, and that he will one day return to the world to rid it of evil. However, unlike Christians, Muslims do not consider Jesus to have been God or the Son of God, and do not believe that he died on the cross. Instead, the Qur'an states that his death was only an illusion (done by God) to deceive his enemies, and that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven. Muslims believe he will return to the world in the flesh following Imam Mahdi to defeat the Dajjal (an Antichrist-like figure, translated as "Deceiver") once the world has become filled with sin, deception and injustice, and then live out the rest of his natural life.

Muslims also believe that Jesus received a gospel from God (called the Injil) that corresponds to the Christian New Testament, but that it and the Old Testament have both been changed by mankind over time as such that they no longer accurately represent God's original message to mankind. 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 (including alcohol consumption).

The Ahmadiyya Muslims believe that Jesus survived the crucifixion and later travelled to Kashmir, where he lived and died as a prophet under the name of Yuz Asaf.

Judaism's view

Judaism does not consider Jesus to have met the traditional qualifications of the Messiah, seeing him as better fitting the description of the false prophets of which the Hebrew Bible warns in Deuteronomy 13 , sent as a test by God. Judaism maintains that there were no prophets after the prophet Malachi.

Eastern religions

Hindu beliefs in Jesus vary from those who consider him to have been just a normal man, or even purely a fable, to those who believe that he was an avatar of God. A large number of Hindus consider Jesus to have been a wise guru or yogi, some even suggesting that he spent his "lost years" learning various Hindu beliefs in India. The Hindutva historian P.N. Oak has even claimed that Jesus was in fact Krishna, and that Christianity originated as a form of his worship. Many in the Surat Shabd Yoga tradition regard Jesus as a Satguru. Mahatma Gandhi considered Jesus one of his main teachers and inspirations for Nonviolent Resistance.Swami Vivekananda has praised Jesus and cited him as a source of strength and epitome of perfection in several of his eloquent speeches.Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, one of the greatest religious teachers of Hinduism is considered as the reincarnation of Jesus.

Although Buddhism in general attributes no spiritual significance to Jesus, some Buddhists believe that Jesus may have been a Bodhisattva, one who has dedicated his or her future to the happiness of all beings. Some Buddhists also interpret Jesus through Zen Buddhism, sometimes basing their perspective on the Gospel of Thomas.

The Bahá'í Faith considers Jesus to be one of many "Manifestations" (or prophets) of God, with both human and divine stations.

Other views

The Ebionites believed that Jesus was a great prophet and the Messiah, but not divine. They rejected the Epistles of Paul, and asserted that Jesus did not consider the Biblical laws to be abrogated, but instead wanted his followers to abide by them, except for animal sacrifices, for which they believe he proclaimed an end. The Ebionites claimed the leadership of Saint James the Just, often referred to as the brother of Jesus, but no historical connection between James and the sect has been substantiated.

The New Age movement entertains a wide variety of views on Jesus, with some representatives (such as A Course In Miracles) going so far as to trance-channel him. Many recognize him as a "great teacher" (or "Ascended Master") similar to Buddha, and teach that Christhood is something that all may attain. At the same time, many New Age teachings, such as reincarnation, appear to reflect a certain discomfort with traditional Christianity. Numerous New Age subgroups claim Jesus as a supporter, often incorporating contrasts with or protests against the Christian mainstream. Thus, for example, Theosophy and its offshoots have Jesus studying esotericism in the Himalayas or Egypt during his "lost years".

Many Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics, whilst rejecting the concept of God, and therefore of the divinity of Christ, nevertheless respect and admire the humanity of Christ's teachings and have empathy with the moral principles articulated in (for example) the Sermon on the mount.

Cultural Portrayals of Jesus

Main Article: Jesus in Pop culture, Dramatic portrayals of Jesus

Because of the widespread belief of Christianity, Jesus has frequently been depicted in various works of art and pop culture, including both literal and allegorical portrayals.

Historicity

Most modern 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 saw Jesus only in visions, but he claimed that they were divine revelations and hence authoritative (Galatians 1:11-12). The earliest extant texts describing Jesus in any detail were the four New Testament 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 apocryphal texts have also surfaced detailing events in Jesus' life and teachings, though were not included in the Bible due to belief that they were not divinely inspired, in the sense an apostle was not the author, and it was written far too long after His death. Chief among them the Gospel of Thomas, a "sayings gospel" or logia consisting primarily of phrases attributed to Jesus. Other New Testament apocrypha, generally considered less important, include the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Infancy Gospels, the Gospel of Peter, the Unknown Berlin Gospel, the Naassene Fragment, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Egerton Gospel, the Oxyrhynchus Gospels and the Fayyum Fragment. 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, such as the Acts of Pilate.

Earlier texts?

Some texts with even earlier historical or mythological information on Jesus are speculated to have existed prior to the Gospels, though none have been found. Based on the unusual similarities and differences (see synoptic problem) 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) 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.Template:Smref There is little consensus concerning how and when any of these documents were circulated, if they were at all.

The ecumenical council meetings in the 4th century that discussed which works should and should not be included in the canon were largely unconcerned with modern historical sensibilities, utilizing few techniques of objective textual analysis. Instead, their discussions generally tended to center upon theology, rather than upon historicity. However, noted scholars F.F. Bruce, Bruce Metzger and others argue that some historical details were taken into consideration regarding the New Testament canon. It may be surmised that the early church leaders took for granted that historicity was not an issue to be debated, any more than debating the historicity of the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution would be major issues today. Template:SmrefTemplate:SmrefTemplate:Smref In addition, Bible scholar Bruce Metzger wrote regarding the formation of the canonical New Testament:

"Although the fringes of the emerging canon remained unsettled for generations, a high degree of unanimity concerning the greater part of the New Testament was attained among the very diverse and scattered congregations of believers not only throughout the Mediterranean world, but also over an area extending from Britain to Mesopotamia." Template:Smref

Questions of reliability

As a result of the several-decade time gap between the writing of the Gospels and the events they describe, the accuracy of all early texts claiming the existence of Jesus or details of Jesus' life have been disputed by various parties. However, most scholars accept many details of the gospel narratives. The authors of the gospels are traditionally thought to have been witnesses to the events included. After the original oral stories were written down, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. However, several Biblical historians have responded to claims of the unreliability of the gospel accounts by pointing out that historical documentation is often biased and second-hand, and frequently dates from several decades after the events described. Some say that the Gospel accounts are neither objective nor accurate, since they were written or compiled by his followers and seem to exclusively portray a positive, idealized view of Jesus. Those who have a naturalistic view of history, as a general rule, 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's followers after his arrest) would likely not have been included if those accounts were fictional.

External influences on gospel development

Most scholars, such as Michael Grant, reject the pagan myth hypothesis of Christianity's origins. These scholars see no great similarity between the pagan myths and Christianity. Michael Grant stated in his work Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, "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." However, a small minority of scholars believe that the gospel accounts of Jesus have little or no historical basis. At least in part, this is because they see many similarities between stories about Jesus and older myths of pagan godmen such as Mithras, Apollo, Attis, Horus and Osiris-Dionysus, leading to conjectures that the pagan myths were adopted by some authors of early accounts of Jesus to form a syncretism with Christianity. Some Christian authors, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, believed that such myths were created by ancient pagans with vague and imprecise foreknowledge of the Gospels. While these connections are disputed by many, it is nevertheless true that many elements of Jesus' story as told in the Gospels have parallels in pagan mythology, where miracles such as virgin birth were well-known.

Scholars such as A. N. Sherwin-White, FF Bruce, John Wenham, Gary Habermas and others argue for a high degree of historical reliability of the key New Testament events or the New Testament as a whole (see: Resurrection of Jesus and Christian apologetics for details). Template:SmrefTemplate:SmrefTemplate:Smref Prominent scholar John A.T. Robinson argued in the 1950s to 1980s for early dates of creation for the entire New Testament and ascribed many of the key New Testament texts to their traditional authors.

Historical reconstructions of Jesus's life

Most scholars agree the Gospels were written after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. According to most critical historians, Jesus probably lived in Galilee for most of his life and he probably spoke Aramaic and Hebrew. Many have sought to reconstruct Jesus's life in terms of contemporaneous political, cultural, and religious currents in Israel, including differences between the Galilee and Judea; between different sects such the Essenes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and in terms of conflicts among Jews in the context of Roman occupation. See Cultural and historical background of Jesus and Aramaic of Jesus for more about Israel in Jesus' day and what effect this may of had on his life.

Examining the New Testament account of Jesus in light of historical knowledge about the time when Jesus was purported to live, as well as historical knowledge about the time during which the New Testament was written, has led several scholars to reinterpret many elements of the New Testament accounts. Of special interest has been the names and titles ascribed to Jesus. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name rendered Joshua in English. It literally means "God saves". Before the J written glyph was invented (16th century), Jesus was written as Iesus in English, as seen in the 1611 KJV Bible. 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 (e.g. Lord, Son of Man, and Son of God) had meanings in the first century quite different from those meanings ascribed today: see Names and titles of Jesus. The Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution brought skepticism regarding the historical accuracy of these texts. Although some critical scholars, including archeologists, continue to use them as points of reference in the study of ancient Near Eastern history , some have come to view the texts as cultural and literary documents, generally regarding them as part of the genre of literature called hagiography, a sacred account of a holy person regarded as representing a moral and divine ideal (Hagiography has as its principal aim the glorification of the religion itself and of the example set by the perfect holy person represented as its central focus).

Notes

1. Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range inlcude John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew. New York: Doubleday, 1991-, vol. 1:214; E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus. New York: Penguin Books, 1993, pp. 10-11, and Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," Christian History 17 (1998) No. 3:12-20.
2. Michael Grant(author), Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels New York: Scribner's, 1977, p. 200, Shaye J.D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Philadelphia:Wesminster Press, 1987, p. 78, 93, 105, 108; John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991, p. xi-xiii; Paula Fredriksen,Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, p. 6-7, 105-110, 232-234, 266; John P. Meier, vol. 1:68, 199, 278, 386, 2:726; E.P. Sanders, pp. 12-13; Geza Vermes; D. A. Carson; Paul L. Maier, In the Fullness of Time Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1991, pp. 1, 99, 121, 171; N. T. Wright; Ben Witherington III, pp. 12-20.
4. Bruno Bauer, Michael Martin, John Mackinnon Robertson, G. A. Wells. The Jesus Legend, Chicago: Open Court, 1996, p xii.
5. Johnson, Paul: A History of the Jews (1987), p.144
6. The Gospels of the Bible, BibleGateway.com.
7. Daniel Gaztambide (2005), "So Sayeth The Lord... According to Who?".
8. Stephen Voorwinde, "The formation of the New Testament", Patornet. Accessed October 25, 2005.
9. F. F. Bruce, New Testament Documents: Are they reliable?, "Chapter 3: The Canon of the New Testament" (June, 1982), ISBN 087784691X, Inter-Varsity Press.
10. Coey Keating (December 11, 2005), "Criteria for development of the New Testament canon in the first four centuries of the Christian Church", Fuller Theological Seminary.
11. Bruce Metzger (1987), The New Testament Canon, page 254.
12. Josh McDowell (1992), "Evidence for the Resurrection".
13. F.F. Bruce (1959), "THE NEW TESTAMENT DOCUMENTS Are they Reliable?".
14. Gary Habermas (2001), "Why I Believe The New Testament Is Historically Reliable".

See also

References

• Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament, Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1997. ISBN 0-385-24767-2
• Cohen, Shaye J.D., From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Westminster John Knox Press, 1988. ISBN 0-664-25017-3
• Cohen, Shaye J.D. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties, University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0-520-22693-3
• Crossan, John Dominic, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. ISBN 0060616296
• Ehrman, Bart The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0195154622
• Fredriksen, Paula Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity, Vintage, 2000. ISBN 0679767460
• Fredriksen, Paula, From Jesus to Christ, Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-300-04864-5
• Robinson, John A. T. Redating the New Testament, Wipf & Stock, 2001 (original 1977). ISBN 1-579-10527-0
• Sanders, E.P. The Historical Figure of Jesus, Penguin, 1996. ISBN 0140144994
• Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism, Fortress Press, 1987. ISBN 0800620615
• Vermes, Geza Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels, Augsburg Fortress Pub, 1981. ISBN 0800614437
• Vermes, Geza, The Religion of Jesus the Jew, Augsburg Fortress Pub, 1993. ISBN 0800627970
• Vermes, Geza, Jesus in his Jewish context, Augsburg Fortress Pub, 2003. ISBN 0800636236

External links

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• 1st century BC births
• Jesus