historia: Historical Jesus

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The term historical Jesus refers to the life and teachings of Jesus as interpreted through critical historical methods, in contrast to traditional religious interpretations. It considers the historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that Jesus was a historical figure, and the idea that Jesus was a mythical figure has been consistently rejected by the scholarly consensus as a fringe theory. Scholars differ about the beliefs and teachings of Jesus as well as the accuracy of the biblical accounts, with only two events supported by nearly universal scholarly consensus: his baptism and his crucifixion. Reconstructions of the historical Jesu…

Evidence: 76 • authority: 72

The historicity of Jesus is the debate "on the fringes of scholarship" and in popular culture regarding whether Jesus historically existed or was a purely mythological figure. Mainstream New Testament scholarship ignores the non-existence hypothesis and its arguments, as the question of historicity was settled in scholarship in the early 20th century, and the consensus among modern scholars is that Jesus of Nazareth existed in the Herodian Kingdom of Judea (specifically in Galilee) and the subsequent Herodian tetrarchy in the 1st century AD, upon whose life and teachings Christianity was later constructed. However, scholars distinguish between the 'Christ of faith' as presented in the New T…

Evidence: 58 • authority: 72

The quest for the historical Jesus consists of academic efforts to determine what words and actions, if any, may be attributed to Jesus, and to use the findings to provide portraits of the historical Jesus. Since the 18th century, three scholarly quests for the historical Jesus are distinguished, each with distinct characteristics based on the research criteria developed during each phase. These quests differ from earlier approaches because they rely on the historical method to study biblical narratives. While textual analysis of biblical sources had taken place for centuries, the three quests introduced new methods and techniques to establish their validity. The enthusiasm shown during the…

Evidence: 58 • authority: 72

There are numerous sources, beginning in the first century, that have information about Jesus of Nazareth. There is a general consensus that there was a historical Jesus of Nazareth who lived in first-century AD Roman Judea and there are numerous portraits on who he was. The only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. To establish the existence of a person without any assumptions, one source from one author (either a supporter or opponent) is needed; for Jesus there are at least 12 independent sources from five authors from supporters and two independent sources from…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 88

The Black Jesus, the Mestizo Jesus, and the Historical Jesus. This paper identifies a modern racial ideology prevalent not only in U.S. society and culture at large, but also one to which historical Jesus studies is susceptible: the ideology of white invisibility. In fact, so pervasive is this ideology that it can be detected even in the most constructive efforts to diversify contemporary biblical scholarship. My point of departure for this critique is an important essay published in Biblical Interpretation by Jeffrey Siker: “Historicizing a Racialized Jesus: Case Studies in the ‘Black Christ,’ the ‘Mestizo Christ,’ and White Critique” (2007). My aim is to show how the logic of white invisi…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

Jesus (c. 6 to 4 BC – AD 30 or 33), also known as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and by various other names and titles, was a Jewish preacher and religious leader active in the Roman province of Judaea during the 1st century. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion. Most branches of Christianity consider Jesus the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah or Christ. Accounts of Jesus's life are contained in the Gospels, especially the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. Since the Enlightenment, academic research has produced various views on the historical reliability of the Gospels and the extent to which they reflect the historical Jesus,…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 80

Word about Recent Book: II. Historical-Theological Studies: The First Christian: Universal Truth in the Teachings of Jesus