Jesus

Jesus ( c. 4 BC – c. AD 30 ) is the central figure in Christianity , in which context he is known as Jesus Christ (from the Greek ΙησούςΧριστός; transliteration: "Iesous Christos"). He is also called Jesus ofNazareth.

Introduction

According to the New Testament , Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God , who served a ministry in Galilee and Judaea , and was ultimately crucified in Jerusalem by order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate before rising from the dead on the third day. Jesus originated Christianity's centralethics, spirituality, and codes of conduct, which are presented in the Gospels . Histeachings were spread by a small group of disciples known as apostles , the mostprominent of whom was Paul of Tarsus . Paul acted as a missionary , especially to the Gentiles (non-Jews), while his Epistles form about half ot the New Testament. Due to thisbody of work and his undoubted influence on the deveopment of Christianity, many modern scholars have considered him thesecondary founder of Christianity, modifying Jesus' teachings and adding important new doctrines. However, this view remainscontroversial--conservative Christian scholars say that no teachings were modified; rather, Paul elaborated in complete harmonywith Jesus.

There are many, widely differing, opinions of Jesus' life:

• Most Christians believe Jesus was God incarnate (a man who was also God), who came to earth to save humanity from sin and death through his own blood sacrifice, and who returned from the dead to rejoin his Father in heaven .

• Some Christian groups, generally considered to be outside mainstream Christian thought, including Jehovah's Witnesses , Unitarians , and Christian Scientists , believeJesus was a divine man born of God but not God incarnate .

• Many historians and critical Bible scholars accept the existence of the biblicalJesus, but reject his divinity, miracles, and any other supernatural elements in accounts of his life. They believe he was a Jewish apocalyptic teacher and healer who was crucified,and was subsequently the inspiration for Christianity whose adherents proclaimed him to be the sole incarnation of God.

• Some skeptics , noting (among other things) the lack of contemporaneous accounts,believe Jesus was not a real person, but a fictional invention of Christians, based on morality stories and fables.

• Other skeptics believe Jesus was nothing more than a Jewish troublemaker who was put to death by the Romans at the behest of the Jewish establishment. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that Jesus did notdie on the cross, with a variety of theories being suggested (see below).

• There are also many different accounts and perspectives of Jesus within a variety of different religions (See later inthis article).

Date of birth and death

Main Article: Chronology of Jesus' birth and death

The most detailed historical information about Jesus' birth and death is contained in the Gospels, but they were written tospread belief that Jesus was the Christ rather than to teach history. As a result, there is considerable debate about the exactdate of birth and death of Jesus.

Dionysius Exiguus attempted to pinpoint the year of Jesusbirth, which resulted in our current calendar system. According to hiscalculations, Jesus was born in December of the year 1 BC . However, based on a lunar eclipse that Josephus reports shortly before the death of Herod the Great , the birth of Christ must be some time before 4 BC ,probably 5 or 6 BC . Allowing for the time of the procuratorship of PontiusPilate and the dates of the Passover in those years, his death can be placedmost probably in AD 30 or AD 33 .

Jesus' life and teaching according to the New Testament

Childhood and family background

Jesus was born in Bethlehem , while Nazareth in Galilee was his childhood home.

Jesus' mother was Mary . Two of the Gospels( Matthew and Luke , but not Mark or John ), say that Jesus' father was God ,whose spirit miraculously caused Mary to conceive, giving rise to a virginbirth , meaning that Joseph was Jesus' foster father.The other two Gospels, Mark and John, make no mention of Joseph at all, but in their first chapters refer to Jesus as the son ofGod. Nothing is certain about Jesus' childhood or young adulthood. Certain events are mentioned in the various Gospels, but thereis no common agreement.

The Gospel of Mark reports that Jesus had brothers, that he was"Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon," and also suggests that Jesus had sisters. The Jewishhistorian Josephus and the Christian historian Eusebius (who wrote in the 4th century but quoted much earlier sources now unavailable to us)refer to James the Just as Jesus' brother (See Desposyni ). Some churches reject this interpretation, saying that they were Jesus'cousins, which the Greek word for "brother" used in the Gospels would allow. The Gnostic Acts of Thomas identifies the Apostle Thomas as Jesus' twin brother. Other churches suggest that these were step brothers, childrenof Joseph and a previous wife who died before Mary was betrothed to him. This tradition probably originates with the Protevangelion of James , traditionally ascribed to Jamesthe Just and certainly dated sometime in the late 1st to middle of the 2nd century.

Some have interpreted Gnostic texts like the Gospel of Philip to suggest that MaryMagdalene was the wife of Jesus. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions do not record any wife of Jesus; theRoman Catholic hagiography of Mary Magdalene says that she traveled to France and lived the life of an ascetic. The EasternOrthodox synaxarion says that she continued preaching the Gospel in various places, eventually settling in Ephesus to work with John the Evangelist .

Early life

The Evangelists do not describe much of Jesus' life between birth and the beginning of his ministry, except that as a youngteen he instructed the scholars in the temple. The apocryphal InfancyGospels describe the child Jesus performing miraculous works. The 19th-century Russian scholar Nicolai Notovich suggested, basedon a document he claimed to see in a Ladakh monastery in the Kashmir region, thatJesus traveled the world, including India , as an adolescent and youth, and was exposed toreligious traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism . While the monastery Jesus is alleged to have studied at by Notovich in India was not built until the16th century, and there is no independent evidence confirming that particular story, there are still persisting minorities insome circles who say that references to a man named something like Issa place Jesus even in the holy Hindu city of Kashi . However, the evidence profferedhere, too, has been deemed by most unreliable. These theories are not considered orthodox by any major Christian church.

Works and miracles

Jesus began his public ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing some time after he was baptized by John the Baptist . There is no firmevidence for how long it lasted, but the Gospel of John mentions three separate Passovers during Jesus' ministry, which has led to the tradition that it was for approximately three years. Thedetailed nature of Jesus' spiritual teaching cannot be fully agreed upon because accounts are fragmentary and because he madeextensive use of paradox , metaphor and parable , leaving it unclear how literally he wished to be taken and precisely what hemeant.

According to the Bible, Jesus performed various miracles inthe course of his ministry. These ranged from cures to exorcisms , with severalothers that show a dominion over nature. Scholars are divided about how to interpret the miracle stories associated with Jesus,though they generally do not view them as having supernatural origin.

Jesus also preached the imminent end of the current era of history, in some sense a literal end of the world as people of histime knew it; in this sense he was an apocalyptic preacher bringing a messageabout the imminent end of the world the Jews knew.

Jesus opposed stringent interpretations of Jewish law , and preached a moreflexible understanding of the law. His teachings show an inclination to following a teleological approach, in which the spirit ofthe law is more important than the letter of the law, and the Gospels record him as having many disagreements with thePharisees.

The Gospels record no sign of Jesus having much disagreement with Sadducee views, though they were the dominant authority at that time, and their interpretations of the law were in most cases muchstricter than those of the Pharisees. Nevertheless, according to the Gospels, it was the priests – aligned with theSadducees – who ultimately arrested Jesus. A few modern scholars thus believe that Jesus may have been a liberal Phariseein some respects, or an Essene (a sect with whom he shared many views). In this viewJesus was later cast as an enemy of the Pharisees because by the time Christians transcribed the Gospels, the Pharisees hadbecome the dominant sect of Judaism. This view receives some support in the Acts of the Apostles , where Jesus' apostles were generallyattacked by Sadducees but were sometimes protected by Pharisees with more liberal interpretations of Jewish law.

Jesus increasingly gained followers as his fame grew, though within his lifetime Jesus' core following remained no more than asmall religious sect. Jesus had by the time of his death taught a number of his disciples or apostles to preach his teachings andperform faith healing to both Jews and Gentiles alike.

In his role as a social reformer Jesus threatened the status quo. He was unpopular with many Jewish religious authorities.According to the Gospels, this was because he criticised them, and, moreover, because some of Jesus' followers held thecontroversial and inflammatory view that he was "The Messiah", and worshiped him as God. It is not clear from strictanalysis of the original Gospel texts that Jesus made this claim about himself, but he did not deny it. The Gospels record Jesusreferring to himself both as "Son of Man" and as "Son of God", and of accepting his disciples' worship withoutrebuking them. Still, it is not wholly clear to scholars that when Jesus spoke of being "Son of God" he meant this to betaken literally as Christians believe, rather than metaphorically in the sense that we are all children of God. Scholarscurrently suggest that whether Jesus claimed to be a political rebel or not, Jewish authorities would very likely have fearedthat his activities would provoke a riot in Jerusalem – something Roman authorities absolutely forbade.

Final days

Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival. He wasinvolved in a public disturbance at the Temple in Jerusalemwhen he overturned the tables of the moneychangers there. At some point later, he was betrayed to the Jewish religiousauthorities of the city – either the full council ( Sanhedrin ) or perhapsjust the High Priest – by one of his apostles, Judas Iscariot .The High Priest of the city was appointed by the government in Rome and the current holderof the post was Joseph Caiphas . The Romans ruled the city through theHigh Priest and Sanhedrin, so often the Jewish authorities of the city had to arrest people in order to obey Roman orders tomaintain the peace. Jesus' disciples went into hiding after he was arrested.

Jesus was crucified by the Romans on the orders of Pontius Pilate ,the Roman Governor of Judea in Jerusalem. The Gospels state that he did this at the behest of the Jewish religious leaders, butit may have been simply that Pilate considered Jesus' ability to incite public disturbance as a potential Messiah to be a threatto Roman order. Pilate was known as a harsh ruler who ordered many executions for lesser reasons during his reign (then again,he'd been in trouble twice with his Roman superiors for being too harsh in his rule). Furthermore, the plaque placed on the crosswas used by the Romans to detail the crime of the crucified individual. In the case of Jesus the plaque reads "Iesvs NazarenvsRex Ivdaeorvm" (INRI)—"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews", indicating that Jesus was crucified for the crime of rebelling against the authority of Rome by being declared the "King of the Jews". In theAramaic it would have had the letters of the tetragrammon or YHWH , Yeshua HaNazarei v Melech HaYehudim: Jesus the Nazarei, Kingof the Jews.

All the Gospel accounts agree that Joseph of Arimathea ,variously a secret disciple or sympathiser to Jesus, and possible member of the Sanhedrin, arranged with Pilate for the body tobe taken down and entombed. According to most accounts Jesus' mother, Mary, and other women, notably a female follower of Jesus, Mary Magdalene , were present during this process.

The resurrection

Main article: Resurrection of Jesus

According to the Christian Gospels, Jesus' disciples encountered him again on the third day after his death, raised to life.No one was a witness of the actual resurrection event, though all four Gospels report that women who went to anoint the bodyfound the tomb empty. After the resurrection, the Gospels give conflicting accounts of Jesus meeting various people in variousplaces over a period of forty days before "ascending into heaven". This belief is the basis of Christianity, and so has beenfrequently challenged. The Qur'an, for example, says "yet they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness ofthat was shown to them" (Qur'an 4:156).

Various problems with the Gospel narrative have been pointed out by critics. For example, the resurrection narrative in Mark (the oldest Gospel) seems to be a late addition (see Mark 16 ). Also, various details in the resurrection narratives are difficult to reconcilefrom Gospel to Gospel. Finally, the Gospels indicate that the disciples were unable to recognize Jesus at first after theresurrection.

There have also been a number of modern theories seeking to disprove the resurrection. These include arguing that thedisciples stole the body from the tomb and reported that he had risen. Alternatively, Jesus somehow escaped death and continuedhis life by marrying or travelling to various parts of the world. However, these theories often lack empirical evidence, and arewidely considered to be only speculation.

Christian perspectives on Jesus

Main articles: Jesus as Christ andMessiah and Messiah

Christianity is centered on the belief that Jesus is the saviour of humanity. According to Christians, Jesus was born inBethlehem to Mary. He preached the new covenant across Judea, which angered thePharisaic Jews and disturbed the Romans as he was seen as a threat to public order. One of his twelve apostles, Judas, betrayedhim; and later committed suicide in remorse. Jesus was crucified by the Romans.However, he rose from the dead three dayslater.

The names and titles of Jesus

Main article: Names and titles ofJesus

Besides Jesus' personal name, many other titles have been either by him or to describe him, many of which emphasise differentaspects of theological understanding of Jesus.

Personal name

Jesus is derived from the Latin Iesus, which in turn comes from the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs).The earliest use of Iēsoûs is found in the Septuagint , where itis used to transliterate the Hebrew name Yehoshua (יהושע - known in English as Joshua ), and also Yeshua (ישוע); the latter is used in the Hebrew Bible either as short form or an Aramaic equivalent of Yeshoshua. The originalAramaic form of Jesus' name is not reported by ancient sources, though modern scholars have suggestedישׁוע / Yēšûaʿ. Yeshoshua means the Lord is salvation (literally Yahweh saves), while Yeshua means salvation.

Christ

Christ is not a name but a title, and comes, via Latin ,from the Greek Christos(Χριστός Khristós), which means " anointed " (to anoint is to rub with perfumed oil). The Greek form is a literal translation ofMessiah from Hebrew mashiyakh (משיח) or Aramaic m'shikha(משיחא), a word which occurs often in the OldTestament and typically signifies "high priest" or " king " – a man, chosenby God or descended from a man chosen by God, to serve as a religious, civil, and/or military authority. To Muslims, Jesus isknown as the prophet Isa al Masih (عيسىالمسيح ), the equivalent of Jesus the Messiah.

Other titles

In the Gospels, Jesus has many titles besides " Messiah ", including Prophet , Lord , Son of man , and Son of God . Together Christians understandthese titles as attesting to Jesus' divinity. Some historians argue that when used in other Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the time,these titles have other meanings, and therefore may have other meanings when used in the Gospels as well. These are furtherdiscussed in the Names and titles of Jesus article.

The historicity of Jesus

See: Historicity of Jesus , Sources about Jesus

Debates concerning Jesus as a historical figure center on two issues: the role of God in natural and human history, and theveracity of the New Testament as a historical source.

The question of God's role in natural and human history involves not only assumptions about God, but about how humans acquireknowledge. This subject is discussed in the disciplines of epistemology and metaphysics .

The 19th century was particularly marked by a movement toward higher criticism , where previously universally accepted tenets were closelyinspected to determine their veracity. One of the major centers of this study with respect to the Bible and the life of Jesus was Eberhard Karls university in Tübingen , Germany . Some scholars in thisgroup reached the conclusion that there was no historical Jesus at all.

As might be expected, opinions about the historicity of Jesus run the gamut from "myth" ( Earl Doherty ) to "mythologized" ( Rudolf Bultmann )to "basically historical, with additions" ( Will Durant ) to "fully historical"(most conservative Christians ).

"Consensus" on such an issue is particularly hard to measure and even harder to reach, given that the subject touches ondeeply held religious (or areligious) beliefs. However, the majority of scholars (with the caveat of the previouslymentioned Tübingen school and their modern followers) admit that a person named Jesus did exist in the first century. Beyondthat, little has been absolutely agreed upon. Today, every aspect of Jesus' life -- cures, other miracles, parables, teachings,actions -- has been minutely examined by large numbers of scholars, with equally wide-ranging results. Consequently, consensusseems very unlikely in the near future.

Cultural and historical background

Main Article: Cultural and historical background of Jesus

To understand Jesus properly it is generally agreed (by scholars and Christians alike) that it is necessary to understand theworld in which he lived. This was a volatile period marked by cultural and political dilemmas. Culturally, Jews had to grapplewith the values of Hellenism and Hellenistic philosophy. Moreover, as many Jewslived in the Diaspora , and Judea itself was populated by manyGentiles, Jews had to confront a paradox in their own tradition: their Torah applied onlyto them, but revealed universal truths. This situation led to new interpretations of the Torah, influenced by Hellenic thoughtand in response to Gentile interest in Judaism.

All of Palestine belonged to the Roman empire at the time of Jesus' birth, but it was indirectly ruled by King Herod the Great . After Herod's death in 4 BC , Judea and Samaria were combined into the Romanprovince of Palestina, ruled by a procurator . Galilee, where Jesus grew upremained under the jurisdiction of Herod's son, Herod Antipas , who heldthe title of tetrarch.

Within Judaism, there were several parties, primarily the Sadducees and the Pharisees . The Sadducees were closely connected with the priesthood and thetemple, and tended to cooperate with the Roman authorities. The Pharisees were the leaders of the synagogues and teachers of the people. They resented Roman occupation, but at Jesus' time were notparticularly political.

The Essenes were another religious group closely connected with the priesthood.However, they lived in isolation in small communities. Many scholars think that Jesus and/or John the Baptist had contact with such a community. It is debated whether the Zealots , who later rebelled against the Romans, leading to the destruction of the temple,were an active party at the time of Jesus.

Many Jews hoped that the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king (or Messiah ,see above) of the line of David – the last legitimate Jewish regime. However, Jews were divided over how this might occur.Most Jews believed that their history was governed by God, meaning that even the conquest of Judea by the Romans was a divineact. Therefore the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king only through divine intervention; thus, the majority of Jewsaccepted Roman rule. Others believed that the kingdom should be restored immediately, through violent human action.

Alleged relics of Jesus

Main article: Alleged relics ofJesus Christ

There are many items that are purported to be authentic relics of the Gospel account.The most famous alleged relic of Jesus is the Shroud of Turin , whichis claimed to be the burial shroud used to wrap the body of Jesus. Other such itemsinclude:

• Pieces of the True Cross
• Iron Crown of Lombardy , purportedly made from nails used during the crucifixion
• The Holy Prepuce or foreskin of Jesus, removed during his circumcision
• The Spear of Destiny or Spear of Longinus
• The Crown of Thorns which was placed upon the head of Jesus athis crucifixion by Pontius Pilate
• The Holy Grail which is said to have been used by Jesus during the Last Supper
• A veil used by Jesus to wipe sweat from his brow as he carried the cross, known as Veronica's Veil
• The Seamless robe of Jesus , which is kept at thecathedral of Trier

Many modern Christians, however, do not accept any of these as true relics. Indeed, this skepticism has been around forcenturies, with Erasmus joking that so much wood formed parts of the True Cross, thatJesus must have been crucified on a whole forest.

Other religions' perspectives on Jesus

Main article: Non-Christian perspectives on Jesus

There has been a wide range of reactions to Jesus from adherents of other faiths, from ignoring him completely to seeing himas an important figure, while rejecting the exclusive claims of Christianity.

Jewish perspectives on Jesus

Main article: Jewish view of Jesus Supplementary articles: Judaism and Christianity and Jewish Messiah

Judaism has deemed Jesus a false messiah, and religious Jews are still awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. Christianityoriginated as a sect of Judaism, but developed into its own religion; there are thus many similarities dating to the time oforigin, but also many radical and fundamental differences dating to the period in which the two were in competition and thenantagonism. Today, following the work of critical historians, many Jews minimize Jesus' role as miracle worker, but a smallnumber consider him a great teacher.

Islamic perspectives on Jesus

Main article: Isa

Muslims believe that Jesus, or Isa in Arabic, was one of the prophets ofIsrael and the Messiah. However, they do not consider him to be the son of God, and consider any belief that he is divine to be aheresy irreconcilable with monotheism. The Qur'an also says that Jesus was a 'word'from God, but it is unclear what this means given that he is not considered to be divine.

Also, Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crucified; the Qur'an narrates that God removed Jesus, and replaced him on thecross. This account has some similarities to the early Christian belief of docetism, which held that only an image (Greek'dokesis') of Jesus was crucified.

According to Ahmadi Muslims, Jesus survived the crucifixion, migrated toKashmir, and lived a long life there under the name Yuza Asif . They believe aparticular tomb in Kashmir is the tomb of Jesus.

Other religious perspectives

Jesus is considered as a manifestation of God by the Baha'is . Mandaeanists see Jesus as something of a false prophet as compared to John theBaptist. Jesus was seen as the savior and bringer of gnosis by various Gnostic sects, such as the extinct Manichaeism . In modern times many New Agers have reinterpretedJesus as a misunderstood guru preaching enlightenment .

Sizable minorities of Buddhists and Hindus have beliefs about Jesus; some of these Buddhists have seen Jesus as manifestation of Maitreya , while some Hindus have considered Jesus to be a yogi , guru or even avatar .

Latter-day Saints and other adherents of Mormonism believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God and part of the Godhead like other Christians, but they also believe that Jesus personally visited The Americas shortly after His resurrection or ascension . The account is found in the Book of Mormon .(see Mormonism and Christianity ).

Followers of Urantia consider Jesus to be divine, but also believe that Joseph wasJesus' genetic father. The Urantia Book gives a different picture of the life of Jesus from that found in the Gospel accounts, and restates many of his teachings.

Dramatic portrayals of Jesus

Main article: Dramatic portrayals of Jesus Christ

Jesus has been featured in many films and media, sometimes as a serious portrayal, and other times as satire . Many of these portrayals have attracted controversy, whether they were intended to be based on theBiblical accounts (such as Mel Gibson 's The Passion of the Christ .) or intentionally addedextra material (such as The LastTemptation of Christ ). Another recurring theme is the up-dating of aspects of the life of Jesus, or imagining his SecondComing (for example, The Seventh Sign ).

In many portrayals Jesus himself is a minor character, used to develop the overall themes. For example, in Ben Hur Jesus only appears in a few scenes, and there is always partially obscured.

Further reading

• The New Testament of the Bible , especially the Gospels .
• The Words : website that organises Jesus' sayings by topic
• Albright, William F. Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: An Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths, ISBN 0931464013
• Ehrman, Bart Jesus: apocalyptic prophet of the new millennium, ISBN 019512474X
• Ehrman, Bart The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, ISBN: 0195154622
• Fredriksen, Paula Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity ISBN 0679767460
• Fredriksen, Paula From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ ISBN 0300084579 , ISBN 0300040180
• Mendenhall, George E. The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition, The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1973. ISBN 0-8018-1654-8 . Astudy of the earliest traditions of Israel from linguistic and archaeological evidence which also treats the teachings andfollowers of Jesus in that context.
• Mendenhall, George E. Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context, Westminster JohnKnox Press, 2001. ISBN 0-664-22313-3 .Another, less technical, study of the earliest traditions of Israel from linguistic and archaeological evidence which also treatsthe teachings and followers of Jesus in that context.
• Pelikan, Jaroslav Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture, Yale University Press , 1985, hardcover, 270 pages, ISBN 0300034962 ; trade paperback,HarperCollins reprint, 304 pages, ISBN0060970804 ; trade paperback, Yale University Press, 1999, 320 pages, ISBN 0300079877
• Sanders, E.P. The historical figure of Jesus, Penguin, 1996, ISBN 0140144994 . An up to date popular butthoroughly scholarly book.
• Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism, Fortress Press, 1987, ISBN 0800620615 . More specialistic than theprevious book, still not inaccessible though.
• Theissen, Gerd & Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide, Fortress Press, 2003, ISBN 0800631226 . An amazing book, tough butrewarding, exceptionally detailed.
• Theissen, Gerd The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form. Fortress Press.
• Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity
• Vermes, Geza Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels ISBN 0800614437
• Vermes, Geza, The Religion of Jesus the Jew ISBN 0800627970
• Vermes, Geza, Jesus in his Jewish context ISBN 0800636236
• Yogananda, Paramahansa: The Second Coming of Christ, ISBN 0876125550
• In Quest of the Hero:(Mythos Series)- Otto Rank, Lord Fitzroy Richard Somerset Raglan and Alan Dundes, PrincetonUniversity Press, 1990, ISBN0691020620
• On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History- Thomas Carlyle
• The Superhuman life of Gesar of Ling-Alexandra David-Neel (A divine hero still in oral tradition)
• The Jewish historian Josephus wrote about Jesus in Antiquities, Book 18,chapter 3, paragraph 3. http://www.josephus-1.com/
• Bloodline of the Holy Grail by Laurence Gardner. A popular book, but with a hypothesis that would not be accepted bymainstream scholars.
• Jesus and the Victory of God N.T.Wright, SPCK (London), 1996 ISBN 0281047170 . Second in a projected massivefive or six volume series on Christian origins, dealing with the life and death of Christ from a very open Evangelicalperspective. The author is now Bishop of Durham (Church of England).
• Michael H. Hart , The100 , Carol Publishing Group, July 1992, paperback, 576 pages, ISBN 0806513500

See also

• List of songswhich refer to Jesus Christ
• Miracles of Jesus
• Jesus H. Christ

External links

• The JewishRoman World of Jesus
• From Jesus to Christ
• IntoHis Own: Perspective on the World of Jesus
• A Portrait of Jesus: FromGalilean Jew to the Face of God
• University of Birmingham:The Historical Jesus
• 864 pictures
• Jesus Christ (Christology) Essays on the Deity of Jesus,Jesus' Offices of Prophet, Priest & King & The Historic Jesus.
• A Jewish response to Christian missionaries
• The Alpha Course
• Christ Notes
• Jesus Christ Catholic Encyclopedia article
• EWTN's Jesus Christ webpage
• TheJesus Puzzle
• Skeptic's Guide to Jesus
• The Creation of Christ The theory that Jesus was a myth based onJulius Caesar.
• The theory that the story of Jesus is based on the older Hindu story ofKrishna
• Article about thenaming of Jesus
• another article about the naming of Jesus
• Jesus' birth (Jehovah's Witnesses official site)
• Latter-day Saint (Mormon) beliefs about Jesus
• UnitarianUniversalist Views of Jesus : prophet;dissident; one of many Christs
• Historical context of Jesus' time
• Jewish sects during Jesus' time
• Christ and the Other Religions
• The theoryand evidence of Jesus having lived in Ladakh, in the Himalaya from 12 to 29 years
• The Original Teaching of Jesus Christ Online book purporting toreconstruct the original teachings of Jesus.