The question of the historicity of Jesus is part of the study of the
historical Jesus as undertaken in the
quest for the historical Jesus and the
scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus.
Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that Jesus was a historical figure,
although interpretations of a number of the events mentioned in the
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
s (most notably his
miracles and
resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
) vary and are a subject of debate. Standard historical criteria have aided in evaluating the historicity of the gospel narratives,
and only two key events are subject to "almost universal assent", namely that
Jesus was baptized by
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
and
crucified by order of the Roman Prefect
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
.
Historical existence
The
quest for the historical Jesus and the
scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus are based primarily on
critical
Critical or Critically may refer to:
*Critical, or critical but stable, medical states
**Critical, or intensive care medicine
*Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences.
*Critical Software, a company specializing in ...
analysis of the gospel texts and applying the standard criteria of
historical-critical investigation,
and
methodologies for analyzing the reliability of
primary sources and other
historical evidence
Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write history, histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be ...
.
Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that a historical human Jesus existed.
Bart Ehrman
Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including t ...
(a secular agnostic) wrote: "He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees, based on certain and clear evidence." B. Ehrman, 2011 ''Forged : writing in the name of God'' . p. 256-257[''Jesus Now and Then'' by Richard A. Burridge and Graham Gould (1 April 2004) p. 34] Historian
Michael Grant asserts that if conventional standards of historical textual criticism are applied to the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
, "we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned."
[Michael Grant (1977), ''Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels'']
Christ myth theory
The
Christ myth theory
The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively ...
, which developed within the scholarly research on the historical Jesus, is the view that "the story of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
is a piece of
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively, in terms given by
Bart Ehrman
Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including t ...
paraphrasing
Earl Doherty
Earl J. Doherty (born 1941) is a Canadian author of ''The Jesus Puzzle'' (1999), ''Challenging the Verdict'' (2001), and ''Jesus: Neither God Nor Man'' (2009). Doherty argues for a version of the Christ myth theory
The Christ myth theory, a ...
, "the historical Jesus did not exist. Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the
founding of Christianity."
Virtually all scholars of antiquity see the theories of his non-existence as effectively refuted,
James D. G. Dunn
James Douglas Grant Dunn (21 October 1939 – 26 June 2020), also known as Jimmy Dunn, was a British New Testament scholar, who was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durha ...
(1974) ''Paul's understanding of the death of Jesus'' in ''Reconciliation and Hope. New Testament Essays on Atonement and Eschatology Presented to L.L. Morris on his 60th Birthday.'' Robert Banks, ed., Carlisle: The Paternoster Press, pp. 125–141, Citing G. A. Wells (''The Jesus of the Early Christians'' (1971)): "Perhaps we should also mention that at the other end of the spectrum Paul’s apparent lack of knowledge of the historical Jesus has been made the major plank in an attempt to revive the nevertheless thoroughly dead thesis that the Jesus of the Gospels was a mythical figure." An almost identical quotation is included in Dunn, James DG (1998) ''The Christ and the Spirit: Collected Essays of James D.G. Dunn, Volume 1'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., p. 191, and Sykes, S. (1991) ''Sacrifice and redemption: Durham essays in theology.'' Cambridge ngland Cambridge University Press. pp. 35–36. and in modern scholarship, the Christ myth theory is a fringe theory
A fringe theory is an idea or a viewpoint which differs from the accepted scholarship of the time within its field. Fringe theories include the models and proposals of fringe science, as well as similar ideas in other areas of scholarship, such a ...
and finds virtually no support from scholars.
Sources
The New Testament represents sources that have become canonical for Christianity, and there are many apocryphal texts that are examples of the wide variety of writings in the first centuries AD that are related to Jesus.
New Testament sources
Synoptic Gospels
The Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and of the religious movement he founded.[Vermes, Geza. The authentic gospel of Jesus. London, Penguin Books. 2004.] The Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
, the Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...
, and the Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
recount the life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
, ministry
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian ...
, crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
and resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
of a Jew named Jesus who spoke Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
. There are different hypotheses regarding the origin of the texts because the gospels of the New Testament were written in Greek for Greek-speaking communities, and were later translated into Syriac, Latin, and Coptic. Scholars argue that the surviving Gospels show usage of earlier independent written and oral sources that extended back to the time of Jesus death, but did not survive. Historians often study the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles when studying the reliability of the gospels, as the Book of Acts
The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...
was seemingly written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke.
Pauline epistles
The seven Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extan ...
considered by scholarly consensus to be genuine
Genuine may refer to:
Companies
*Genuine Parts Company, a Fortune 1000 company that was founded in 1928
*Genuine Scooters, a Chicago-based scooter manufacturer
*Genuine Games, a video game company founded in early 2002
Music
* ''Genuine'' (S ...
are dated to between AD 50 and 60 (i.e., approximately twenty to thirty years after the generally accepted time period for the death of Jesus) and are the earliest surviving Christian texts that may include information about Jesus.[Edward Adams in ''The Cambridge Companion to Jesus'' by Markus N. A. Bockmuehl (2001) pp. 94–96.] Although Paul the Apostle
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
provides relatively little biographical information about Jesus and states that he never knew Jesus personally, he does make it clear that he considers Jesus to have been a real person and a Jew.[''Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making'' by James D. G. Dunn (2003) p. 143][''Jesus Christ in History and Scripture'' by Edgar V. McKnight (1999) p. 38][''Jesus according to Paul'' by Victor Paul Furnish (1994) pp. 19–20] Moreover, he interacted with eyewitnesses of Jesus since he wrote about meeting and knowing James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, the brother of Jesus and Jesus's apostles Peter and John.
Non-Christian sources
Josephus and Tacitus
Non-Christian sources used to study and establish the historicity of Jesus include the first century Jewish historian Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
and Roman historian Roman historiography stretches back to at least the 3rd century BC and was indebted to earlier Greek historiography. The Romans relied on previous models in the Greek tradition such as the works of Herodotus (c. 484 – 425 BC) and Thucydides (c. ...
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
. These sources are compared to Christian sources, such as the Pauline letters and synoptic gospels
The gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark, and Gospel of Luke, Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical ...
, and are usually independent of each other; that is, the Jewish sources do not draw upon the Roman sources. Similarities and differences between these sources are used in the authentication process.[''The Cambridge Companion to Jesus'' by Markus N. A. Bockmuehl (2001) pp. 121–125][''Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey'' by Craig L. Blomberg (2009) pp. 431–436]
In Books 18 and 20'' of Antiquities of the Jews
''Antiquities of the Jews'' ( la, Antiquitates Iudaicae; el, Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the re ...
'', written around AD 93 to 94, Josephus twice refers to the biblical Jesus. The general scholarly view holds that the longer passage, known as the Testimonium Flavianum, most likely consists of an authentic nucleus that was subjected to later Christian interpolation
In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points.
In engineering and science, one often has a n ...
or forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
. On the other hand, Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman states that "few have doubted the genuineness" of the reference found in Antiquities 20, 9, 1 to "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James".[''The new complete works of Josephus'' by Flavius Josephus, William Whiston, Paul L. Maier pp. 662–663]
Tacitus, in his '' Annals'' (written AD 115), book 15, chapter 44, describes Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
's scapegoating of the Christians following the Fire of Rome
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are pr ...
. He writes that the founder of the sect was named Christus (the Christian title for Jesus); that he was executed under Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
; and that the movement, initially checked, broke out again in Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...
and even in Rome itself. The scholarly consensus is that Tacitus' reference to the execution of Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
by Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
is both authentic and of historical value as an independent Roman source.[''Mercer dictionary of the Bible'' by Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard (2001) page 343][''Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation'' by Helen K. Bond (2004) page xi]
Mishnah
The Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
( 200) may refer to Jesus as it reflects the early Jewish traditions of portraying Jesus as a sorcerer or magician.[In ''Jesus: The Complete Guide'' edited by J. L. Houlden (8 Feb 2006) pp. 693–694][''Jesus in the Talmud'' by Peter Schäfer (24 Aug 2009) pp. 9, 141][''Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey'' by Craig L. Blomberg (1 Aug 2009) p. 280] Other references to Jesus and his execution exist in the Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
, but they aim to discredit his actions, not deny his existence.[''Jesus and the Politics of his Day'' by E. Bammel and C. F. D. Moule (1985) p. 393][Kostenberger, Andreas J.; Kellum, L. Scott; Quarles, Charles L. (2009). ''The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament'' . pp. 107–109]
Historical-critical research
Quest for the historical Jesus
Since the 18th century, three separate scholarly quests for the historical Jesus have taken place, each with distinct characteristics and based on different research criteria, which were often developed during that phase.[Ben Witherington, ''The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth'' (8 May 1997) pp. 9–13][''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell (1 Jan 1999) pp. 19–23] Various criteria of authenticity are developed and employed to distinguish early oral elements from later literary elements in the Gospel stories, regarding those early elements as original elements of Jesus' teachings and biography.
Currently modern scholarly research on the historical Jesus focuses on what is historically probable, or plausible about Jesus. Since the late 2000s, concerns have been growing about the usefulness of these criteria.
Historical Jesus
There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the historicity of specific episodes described in the biblical accounts of Jesus, the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings.
Baptism and crucifixion
The only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
and was crucified by order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.
According to New Testament scholar James Dunn, nearly all modern scholars consider the baptism of Jesus and his crucifixion to be historically certain. He states that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent" and "rank so high on the 'almost impossible to doubt or deny' scale of historical 'facts' they are obvious starting points for an attempt to clarify the what and why of Jesus' mission." John P. Meier
John Paul Meier (August 8, 1942 – October 18, 2022) was an American biblical scholar and Roman Catholic priest. He was author of the series ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'' (5 v.), six other books, and more than 70 articles ...
views the crucifixion of Jesus as historical fact and states that based on the ''criterion of embarrassment
The criterion of embarrassment is a type of historical analysis in which a historical account is deemed likely to be true under the inference that that the author would have no reason to invent a historical account which might embarrass them. Cer ...
'' Christians would not have invented the painful death of their leader.[John P. Meier "How do we decide what comes from Jesus" in ''The Historical Jesus in Recent Research'' by James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight 2006 pp. 126–128]
The criterion of embarrassment is also used to argue in favor of the historicity of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
as it is a story which the early Christian Church would have never wanted to invent.[''Who Is Jesus?'' by John Dominic Crossan, Richard G. Watts 1999 pp. 31–32][''Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's Account of His Life and Teaching'' by Maurice Casey 2010 p. 35] Based on this criterion, given that John baptised for the remission of sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
s, and Jesus was viewed as without sin, the invention of this story would have served no purpose, and would have been an embarrassment given that it positioned John above Jesus.[''Jesus as a figure in history: how modern historians view the man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell 1998 p. 47]
Amy-Jill Levine
{{Infobox academic
, name = Amy-Jill Levine
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, birth_name =
, birth_date = {{birth year and age, 1956
, birth_place =
, death_date =
, death_place =
, nationality = American
, other_names = A. J. ...
has summarized the situation by stating that "there is a consensus of sorts on the basic outline of Jesus' life" in that most scholars agree that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, and over a period of one to three years debated Jewish authorities on the subject of God, gathered followers, and was crucified by Roman prefect
''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) but ...
Pontius Pilate who officiated 26–36 AD.
General biographical elements
There is much in dispute as to his previous life, childhood, family and place of residence, of which the canonical gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
are almost completely silent.
Scholars attribute varying levels of certainty to other episodes. E. P. Sanders
Ed Parish Sanders (April 18, 1937 – November 21, 2022) was an American New Testament scholar and a principal proponent of the "New Perspective on Paul". He was a major scholar in the scholarship on the historical Jesus and contributed to the v ...
proposed eight "indisputable facts" about Jesus's life as a framework for biographical discussion:[''Authenticating the Activities of Jesus'' by Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans 2002 pp. 3–7]
* Jesus was a Galilean preacher.
* His activities took place in Galilee and Judea.
* He was baptized by John the Baptist.
* He called disciples.
* He had a controversy at the Temple.
* Jesus was crucified by the Romans near Jerusalem.[
* After his death his disciples continued.
* Some of his disciples were persecuted.][
Scholarly agreement on this extended list is not universal.][''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell (1 Nov 1998) p. 117] Elements whose historical authenticity are disputed include the two accounts of the nativity of Jesus
The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of Matthew, Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea (Roman ...
; the miracles, such as turning water into wine
The transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana (also called the marriage at Cana, wedding feast at Cana or marriage feast at Cana) is the first miracle of Jesus, miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John.
In the Gospel acc ...
, feeding the multitude, walking on water, and various cures, exorcisms, and resurrections; his own resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
; and certain details about his crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
.[Stagg, Evelyn and Frank. ''Woman in the World of Jesus.'' Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978 ][ Funk, Robert W. and the ]Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 critical biblical scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 2004) ...
. ''The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus.'' HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. "Empty Tomb, Appearances & Ascension" pp. 449–495.
Portraits of the historical Jesus
The portraits of Jesus constructed in the quests have often differed from each other, and from the image portrayed in the gospel accounts.[ There are overlapping attributes among the portraits, and while pairs of scholars may agree on some attributes, those same scholars may differ on other attributes, and there is no single portrait of the historical Jesus that satisfies most scholars.][ The mainstream profiles in the third quest may be grouped together based on their primary theme as ''apocalyptic prophet''; ''charismatic healer''; ''Cynic philosopher''; ''Jewish Messiah''; and ''prophet of social change'';][''The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament'' by Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 pp. 124–125][''The Cambridge History of Christianity'', Volume 1 by Margaret M. Mitchell and Frances M. Young (20 February 2006) p. 23] but there is little scholarly agreement on a single portrait, or the methods needed to construct it.[''Images of Christ'' (Academic Paperback) by Stanley E. Porter, Michael A. Hayes and David Tombs (19 December 2004) T&T Clark p. 74][''The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth'' by Ben Witherington (8 May 1997) p. 197] There are, however, overlapping attributes among the portraits, and scholars who differ on some attributes may agree on others.[''Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth'' by Michael James McClymond (22 March 2004) pp. 16–22]
See also
* Census of Quirinius
* Chronology of Jesus
* Historical background of the New Testament
Most scholars who study the historical Jesus and early Christianity believe that the canonical gospels and the life of Jesus must be viewed within their historical and cultural context, rather than purely in terms of Christian orthodoxy. They loo ...
* Historicity of Muhammad
The historicity of Muhammad refers to the study of Muhammad as a historical figure and critical examination of sources upon which traditional accounts are based.
The earliest Muslim source of information for the life of Muhammad, the Quran, giv ...
* Historicity of the Bible
* Jesus and history (disambiguation) Jesus and history may refer to:
* Jesus
* Historicity of Jesus, the existence of Jesus as a historical figure
* Historical Jesus, the reconstruction of portraits of Jesus' life and teachings using historical methods
* Chronology of Jesus, the chron ...
* Jesus in comparative mythology
* Jesus in the Talmud
* Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 critical biblical scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 2004) ...
* Josephus on Jesus
* Mara bar Serapion on Jesus
* New Testament places associated with Jesus
* Psilanthropism
* Suetonius on Christians
The Roman historian Suetonius (c. AD 69 – c. AD 122) mentions early Christians and may refer to Jesus Christ in his work ''Lives of the Twelve Caesars''.Suetonius, Catharine Edwards. ''Lives of the Caesars'' (2001) pp. 184, 203John Dominic ...
* Tacitus on Christ
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
* Daniel Boyarin (2004). ''Border Lines. The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity''. University of Pennsylvania Press.
*
*
*
* Doherty, Earl (1999). ''The Jesus Puzzle. Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? : Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus''.
* Drews, Arthur & Burns, C. Deslisle (1998). ''The Christ Myth'' (Westminster College–Oxford Classics in the Study of Religion).
*
*
*
*
* France, R.T. (2001). ''The Evidence for Jesus''. Hodder & Stoughton.
* George, Augustin & Grelot, Pierre (Eds.) (1992). ''Introducción Crítica al Nuevo Testamento''. Herder.
* Gowler, David B. (2007). ''What Are They Saying About the Historical Jesus?''. Paulist Press.
* Grant, Michael, ''Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels'', Scribner, 1995.
*
*
*
* Meier, John P., '' A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'', Anchor Bible Reference Library, Doubleday
: (1991), v. 1, ''The Roots of the Problem and the Person'',
: (1994), v. 2, ''Mentor, Message, and Miracles'',
: (2001), v. 3, ''Companions and Competitors'',
: (2009), v. 4, ''Law and Love'',
* Mendenhall, George E. (2001). ''Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context''.
* Messori, Vittorio (1977). ''Jesus hypotheses''. St Paul Publications.
* New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version. (1991) New York, Oxford University Press.
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* Wells, George A. (1988). ''The Historical Evidence for Jesus''. Prometheus Books.
* Wells, George A. (1998). ''The Jesus Myth''.
* Wells, George A. (2004). ''Can We Trust the New Testament?: Thoughts on the Reliability of Early Christian Testimony''.
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* Wilson, Ian (2000). ''Jesus: The Evidence'' (1st ed.). Regnery Publishing.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Historicity of Jesus
Christ myth theory
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
Historical controversies
Historicity of the Bible