Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Jesus , or Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus
Christ or Christ Jesus #Names and titles|*, and
Jesus the Nazarene, is Christianity's central
figure, both its Messiah and God. He is also
regarded as a major prophet in Islam and the
Bahá'í Faith, and is widely considered one of
the world's most influential figures. The primary
sources about Jesus are the Gospel#Canonical
Gospels|four canonical Gospel accounts, which
depict him as a Judaism|Jewish preacher and healer
— often at odds with Jewish authorities
— who was crucifixion|crucified in Jerusalem
during the rule of the Roman Empire|Roman prefect
Pontius Pilate. 

In addition to the four Gospels, a dozen or so
non-Biblical canon|canonical texts also exist,
among which the Gospel of Thomas is believed by
some textual critics to predate the Gospels of the
traditional canon.

The canonical Gospel accounts focus primarily on
Jesus' last one to three years, especially the
last week before his crucifixion, which, based on
some historical data mentioned, would have been
anywhere from the years 27 to 36 in the Year of
Our Lord. A faulty 6th century attempt to
calculate the year of his birth (which according
to recent estimates could have been from 8 BC|8
BC/BCE to 4 BC|4 BC/BCE) became the basis for the
Anno Domini system of reckoning years (and also
the more recent, chronologically-equivalent Common
Era system).

Most Christians believe Jesus to be the second
person in the Trinity|Holy Trinity, and also the
Messiah (Greek: Christos) prophet|prophesied in
the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible). Most also
believe that Jesus, having died on the cross,
resurrection|rose from the dead, and that through
him they can be salvation|saved. Islam|Muslims
believe that he was one of God's most important
Prophets in Islam|prophets and also the Messiah#In
Islam|Messiah, though they attach a different
meaning to this than Christians, as they do not
share a belief in the divinity of Jesus.

The historicity, teachings and nature of Jesus are
subject to debate. The earliest New Testament
texts which refer to him, Paul of Tarsus|Paul's
letters, are usually dated from the mid-1st
century|first century. Paul himself had seen Jesus
only in visions; but he claimed they were divine
revelations and hence authoritative.  Most modern
scholars hold that the works describing Jesus
(primarily the Gospel accounts) were initially
communicated by oral tradition and were not
finally committed to writing until several decades
after the Crucifixion. It is therefore believed
that these texts may not have retained the same
level of historical accuracy as they might have,
had they been direct first-hand accounts actually
written during or soon after the life of Jesus.
The exact level of the historical accuracy
contained in these texts is debated, however most
scholars agree that the actual existence of a
historical Jesus is probable.

==Historicity==
main2|Historicity of Jesus|Jesus and textual
evidence

The four Biblical_canon#New_Testament|canonical
Gospel accounts are the primary sources about
Jesus received by the Church and the Christian
faith. Some critics speculate that the Synoptic
Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) used as sources a
Q document, Logia, M-Source, and Oral tradition,
and that the Gospel of John used a Signs Gospel
though none of these are currently extant.
Conservative Christian scholars such as Gary
Habermas, Gleason Archer, FF Bruce, Norman
Geisler, and 
Edwin M. Yamauchi largely reject the critics
claims.  Also considered as important by some
scholars, though arguably not as authoritative
sources for the Christian faith, are several New
Testament apocrypha|apocryphal gospels such as the
Authentic Matthew, the Gospel of Mary, 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, the Fayyum Fragment and some others
compiled in The Complete Gospels. The dating of
the Gospel of Thomas is believed by many scholars
to possibly predate the canonical Gospels, and
therefore this non-canonical Gospel cannot with
certainty be called apocryphal, or to have been
written after, the canonical Gospels. Thomas is
included with the canonicals in the Five Gospels
of the Jesus Seminar.

Several historians have observed that historical
documentation is often partial and second hand,
and must be interpreted with care.  Thus, many
have suggested that one treat the existence of
Jesus and the accuracy of the New Testament as
distinct questions.  For example, F.F. Bruce,
Rylands professor of biblical criticism and
exegesis at the University of Manchester, has
said: "Some writers may toy with the fancy of a
'Christ-myth,' but they do not do so on the ground
of historical evidence. The historicity of Christ
is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the
historicity of Julius Caesar." In The Historical
Figure of Jesus, E.P. Sanders explains that
historians often have to contend with
documentation of differing quantity and quality. 
In many cases (Sanders provides the examples of
Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill) historians
are fortunate to have access to a good deal of
documentation, although much of it has to be
interpreted critically.   In some cases, and
Sanders presents Alexander the Great as
paradigmatic, the available sources tell us much
about his deeds, but nothing about his thoughts.
Sanders considers the quest for the "historical
Jesus" to be much closer to that of Alexander than
to Jefferson or Churchill. Nevertheless, he
concludes, "the sources for Jesus are better,
however, than those that deal with Alexander" and
"the superiority of evidence for Jesus is seen
when we ask what he thought" (1993:3). Paul
Barnett has also pointed out that "scholars of
ancient history have always recognised the
'subjectivity' factor in their available sources"
and that "they have so few sources available
compared to their modern counterparts that they
will gladly seize whatever scraps of information
that are at hand". He notes that modern history
and ancient history are two separate disciplines,
with differing methods of analysis and
interpretation. ref|BarnettAncientHistory.

Consequently, scholars like Sanders, Geza Vermes,
Paula Fredriksen, John Dominic Crossan and John
Meier, argue that although many readers are
accustomed to thinking of Jesus solely as a
theological figure, whose existence is a matter of
theological debate, the source documents (see
Two-Source Hypothesis, and Gospel of Mark), on
which several modern source hypotheses argue the
four canonical Gospel accounts are based, were
written within living memory of Jesus's lifetime
and therefore provide a basis for the study of the
"historical" Jesus. Actually, Mark was written at
a time well after that of "Jesus", and draws
substantially upon the ideas of Paul. Jesus is
considered by some historians to be only one of
long a line of messianic Jewish figures, though
clearly the most successful in giving momentum to
a lasting movement, but ultimately not succeeding
in becoming the Messiah of the Jews. Scholars draw
on the canonical Gospel accounts, but also on
other historical sources and archaeological
evidence to reconstruct as best as possible the
life of Jesus in his historical and cultural
context. Nevertheless, these scholars reject
supernatural elements in the Gospels and other
early texts about Jesus. 



Even among those who do believe in his existence
there are divisions over the extent of historicity
of the canonical Gospel accounts. Some say that
the Gospel accounts are neither objective nor
accurate, since they were written or compiled by
his followers. Those who have a naturalistic view
of history do not believe in divine intervention
or miracles without any evidence for them, such as
the resurrection of Jesus mentioned by the
Gospels.

There are many similarities between stories about
Jesus and myths of Pagan Godmen such as Mithras,
Apollo, Attis and Osiris Dionysus, leading to
conjectures that the pagan myths were adopted by
some authors of early accounts of Jesus. Devout
Christian thinkers, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R.
R. Tolkien, believed that such myths were created
by ancient pagans with vague and imprecise
knowledge of Gospel truth. However, not all agree.
For example, the contributors to the Proceedings
of the First International Congress of Mithraic
Studies maintained that the only area which has
any historical detail with regard to the influence
of Mithraism on Christianity was in the area of
art.

It is commonly thought that Jesus preached for a
period of three years, yet this is never mentioned
explicitly in any of the Gospels. However, many
interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest
only one year; and to achieve consistency with the
Gospel of John, one theory suggests that the last
Gospel describes a timeline which depicts a
ministry time period of approximately one year.

==Religious perspectives==
Jesus
main|Religious perspectives on Jesus

===Christianity=== 
The vast majority of Christian denominations
(generally including Catholicism, Orthodox
Christianity, and most forms of Protestantism, but
not Restorationism) derive their beliefs from the
agreement reached at the First Council of Nicaea
in 325, known as the Nicene Creed, in the form of
the Creed of Constantinople (381). In addition to
the belief in "one God, the Father, Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth ..." and in "the Holy
Spirit, the Lord and life-giver, Who proceeds from
the Father ...", this Creed confesses the belief
in "one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son
of God, begotten from the Father before all ages,
light from light, true God from true God, begotten
not made, of one substance with the Father,
through Whom all things came into existence, Who
because of us men and because of our salvation
came down from the heavens, and was incarnate from
the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became
man, and was crucified for us under Pontius
Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose
again on the third day according to the Scriptures
(see Bible prophecy) and ascended to heaven, and
sits on the right hand of the Father, and will
come again with glory to judge living and dead, of
Whose kingdom there will be no end" (for both the
Greek text and the above quoted English
translation, cf. J. Stevenson, Creeds, Councils
and Controversies, (London 1989); note that the
above quotation follows Stevenson in italicising
those phrases that do not occur in the Creed of
Nicaea).



Protestant Christians, such as Lutherans,
Baptists, etc. generally believe that faith in
Jesus is the only way to receive salvation and to
enter into heaven, and that salvation is a gift
given by the grace of God. Although most members
of the various Christian denominations believe
that faith in Jesus is necessary (based upon John
3:16), good works are certainly expected.  Jesus says (John 13:15) that his life
was given as an example or role model for
followers. In contrast, Roman Catholics believe that
even non-Christians can receive the grace needed
for salvation if they live a just life.
ref|Catechism

As reflected in the different Christian
denominations, Christianity has undergone several
schisms in its understanding of Jesus. The vast
majority of Christians believe that Jesus is God
according to the nature, as the only begotten Son
of God the Second Person of the Trinity|Divine
Trinity, who was incarnation|Incarnate from the
Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, that is to say,
who took on a human body and became also man
according to the nature, and who came to earth to
salvation|save mankind from sin and death through
the shedding of his own blood in sacrifice and his
rising from the dead on the third day and who
later ascended into Heaven. 

Some groups identifying themselves as Christian,
such as Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian
Science|Christian Scientists, believe Jesus was
divinely inspired but not God incarnate. Others,
such as Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints), believe in a Godhead
(Mormonism)|Trinity, but maintain that God the
Father begot Jesus as God the Son, and that Jesus
created the Earth under the direction of God the
Father. Mormons also have additional sacred texts
- the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and
Pearl of Great Price - that testify that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God. Chronologically, their
book of scripture continues on past the period of
the New Testament; and thus provides additional
Christian history. Swedenborgianism|Swedenborgians
(members of the New Church) believe that Jesus is
God incarnate, but not a separate person from the
Father; the Father is in the Son like the soul in
the body.

There are differing views within Christian groups
as to whether or not Jesus ever claimed divinity.
The majority of lay Christians, theologians and
clergy hold that the Bible shows Jesus both as
divine, and claiming divinity.

Christianity
The Docetism|Docetics, an early Christian sect,
believed (as Muslims do today) that Jesus never
died and the Crucifixion was a type of illusion
done by God.

The Gnostics believed in the secret wisdom that
they say Paul received during his road to Damascus
experience (Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 2
Corinthians 12:2-4; Acts 9).

The Marcionites believed Paul and Jesus rejected
the Law of Moses and revealed a greater Supreme
God than the creator god of the Old Testament.

The Montanists believed in the Paraclete promised
in John 14:16.

The Ebionites believed in Jesus as a great prophet
who had commanded the end of animal sacrifices and
the end of the eating of animal flesh. Other than
that, they were observant Jews and did not believe
in Jesus as God. They followed Jacob ("James" in
the English New Testament), the brother of Jesus,
and insisted that Paul's teachings were without
authority and totally alien to what Jesus taught.

The Arians believed that the Father was the only
true God based on John 17:3.

===Unitarians===
Unitarianism developed out of theological
arguments about whether or not Jesus is God.
Trinitarians coined the term 'unitarian' to
describe the arguments of those who believed God,
as one being, is a single person and not three.
This historical argument gave birth to the
Unitarian denomination and later the Unitarian
Universalist Association. Today few Unitarian
Universalists define their religion solely based
on this theological characterization. Most
Universalists believe in universal reconciliation
— that eventually everyone will be saved.

Some Unitarians consider themselves Christian
because they are followers of the teachings of
Jesus, while others do not self-identify as
Christian. Unitarian Universalists who consider
themselves Christian can be found in such groups
as the Unitarian Universalist Christian
Fellowship, congregations of the Unitarian
Universalist Association, and the American
Unitarian Conference.

===Hinduism===
Hinduism is divided on the issue of
Jesus—some hold that it is unlikely he
existed, or that he was just a man, others say he
was a great guru or yogi, still others equate
Jesus with an avatar. A great deal of earlier
inclusion of Jesus within the Hindu pantheon is
connected to the emergence of the Saint Thomas
Christians. The International Society for Krishna
Consciousness|Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism
believes that Jesus is the son of Krishna (who
they believe is God the Father that Jesus spoke
of), and they accept many of his teachings.

===Islam===
Mainstream muslims believe that:
*Jesus (Isa in the Qur'an) was one of God's many
human prophets who were chosen to teach Islam to
mankind at different stages; the final and
completed stage being taught by God's final
prophet, Muhammad. 
*Jesus was one of God's highest ranked and most
beloved prophets sent for the guidance of the
Children of Israel and who was born miraculously
without any human biological father by the will of
God. 
*There is no God except the one true God. God does
not have a son. Thus, as with all prophets, Jesus
was a human being, not a god.
*As with all prophets, Jesus was able to perform
miracles, but only by the will of God.
*Jesus renounced all worldly possessions and lived
a life of strict nonviolence, abstaining from
eating animal flesh and from drinking alcohol.
*Jesus was neither killed nor crucified; but God
made it appear so to his enemies.  
*Jesus is alive in heaven and will return to the
world in the flesh as or with Imam Mahdi to defeat
dajjal once the world has become filled with
injustice.
Some Muslims accept the Gospel of Barnabas as the
most accurate testament of Jesus. Almost all
non-Muslim scholars regard this text as a medieval
production, and thus not an authentic text.

===Ahmadiyya Muslim Movement===
Another research work accumulated by Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad (1835-1908), the founder of the Ahmadiyya
Muslim Movement in Islam in his book
http://www.alislam.org/books/jesus-in-india/index.
html Jesus in India (April 1896) advocates the
idea of Jesus’ state of swoon, very similar to
Jonah's state of swoon in the belly of a fish
Matthew 12:40. The thesis expounds the Biblical,
Quranic and Budhistic scriptures that Jesus did
not die on the cross appearing to Mary, his
apostles and others with the same human body
without resurrection represented by his human
wounds and his clandestine rendezvous for about
forty days in the Jerusalem surroundings. The
essay goes on establishing the historical medicine
books showing that Jesus was taken down alive from
the cross with certain medicines applied to his
wounds prevalent as Marham-e-Issa. This research
work analyzes the proofs from the books, documents
of history showing his travel to Nasibain,
Afghanistan and then to India Kashmir (See Yuz
Asaf) in search of the
http://www.moshiach.com/features/tribes/default.ph
p lost tribes of Israel since 700BC.
Ahmadiyya Muslims also believe that references to
the Second Coming of Jesus in religious scriptures
are allegorical and refer to the arrival of Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad.

===Judaism===
Judaism sees Jesus as a false messiah, and also
rejects the Muslim belief that Jesus was a
prophet. Religious Jews are still awaiting the
coming of the Messiah (a notable exception
concerns many members of the Chabad Lubavitch
sect, who view their last rebbe as being the
Messiah). As for the historical personality of
Jesus, Judaism has fewer objections to quotes
attributed to him than they do with subsequent
confessions by early Christian adherents, Paul in
particular. Some Jewish scholars believe that
Jesus is mentioned as Yeshu in the Jewish Talmud,
although other scholars dispute this. Joseph
Klausner, a prominent Israeli scholar, was
vigorous in asserting the Judaism of Jesus.

Jewish movements (both religious and secular) view
Messianic Judaism as a Christian and not a Jewish
movement.

===Other perspectives=== 


Atheism|Atheists, by definition, do not believe in
a divinity—and thus not in any divinity of
Jesus. Some doubt he lived, some regard him as an
important moral teacher, and some as a historical
preacher like any other.

The Bahá'í Faith considers Jesus to be a
manifestation (prophet) of God, while not being
God incarnate. Some Buddhists believe Jesus may
have been a Bodhisattva, one who gives up his own
Nirvana to help others reach theirs. Many in the
Surat shabd yoga|Surat Shabda Yoga tradition
regard Jesus as a Satguru|Sat Guru.

Mandaeanism regards Jesus as a deceiving prophet
of the false Jewish god Adunay, and an opponent of
the good prophet John the Baptist (whom they
nonetheless believe to have baptised him).

The New Age movement has reinterpreted the life
and teaching of Jesus in a large variety of ways
(e.g, see A Course in Miracles). He has also been
claimed as an Ascended Master by Theosophical
Society|Theosophy and some of its offshoots;
related speculations have him studying mysticism
in the Himalaya or hermeticism in Egypt in the
period between his childhood and his public
career.

A Zen Buddhist interpretation of Jesus, based on
the Gospel of Thomas, is also possible.

The Multidinarian Doctrine teaches that Jesus is
not one of three Persons in God (as taught by
Trinitarian Doctrine), but one of a hundred
trillion Persons in God. 

The discipline of Christology discusses who Jesus
was or was not from a philosophical and
theological perspective. The Christological
argument attempts to prove the existence of God
based on the existence of Jesus and his claims
about himself as presented in the Gospels.

The question of the divinity of Jesus was
discussed and decided on by Ecumenical
council|Ecumenical Councils, starting with the
First Council of Nicaea and others of Constantine
I of the Roman Empire|Constantine I's attempts at
producing unity, enforcement of the resulting
decision thus suggesting an air of politicisation
to the religious issue. It is not the case that
all scholars reject Jesus' divinity, yet some may
choose to describe the social and cultural
implications of claiming divinity in the 1st
century. As such, scholars are interested in
providing an historical context to the beliefs and
tenets of Jesus' apparent Kingdom of God movement.
As a consequence, some secular scholars believe he
was simply a Jewish apocalyptic teacher and faith
healer who was crucified, and was subsequently the
inspiration for Christianity.

==Date of birth and death==
main|Chronology of Jesus' birth and death


Brief timeline of Jesus

of important years from  
empirical sources. 

{| border="0" cellpadding="3"
style="background-color: inherit"
|-
|c. 6 BC|6 BC/BCE
|Suggested birth. 
(Earliest)
|-
|c. 4 BC|4 BC/BCE
|Herod's death.
|-
|c. 6|AD 6/6 CE 
|Quirinius census. 
 Suggested
birth.
(Latest)
|-
|c. 26/27
|Pilate appointed Judea 
governor.
|-
|c. 27
|Suggested death 
(Earliest)
|-
|c. 36
|Suggested death.
(Latest)
|-
|c. 36/37
|Pilate removed from 
office.
|}


The most detailed information about Jesus' birth
and death is contained in the Gospel of Matthew
and the Gospel of Luke. There is considerable
debate about the details of Jesus' birth even
among Christian scholars. Few, if any, 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 pagan festival of
Saturnalia. Before then, Jesus' birth was
generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the
feast of Theophany, also known as Epiphany
(feast)|Epiphany, which commemorated not only
Jesus' birth but also his baptism by John the
Baptist|John in the Jordan Valley|Jordan and
possibly additional events in Jesus' life.

In the 248th year of the Diocletian Calendar
era|Era (based on Diocletian's acsension 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 BC|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 Bede|Venerable Bede.


However, based on a lunar eclipse that Josephus
reports shortly before the death of Herod the
Great, the birth of Christ would have been some
time before the year 4 BC|4 BC/BCE, probably 5
BC|5 or 6 BC|6 BC/BCE. This estimate itself relies
on the historicity of the New Testament Massacre
of the Innocents|story involving Herod around the
time of Jesus' birth.

Having fewer sources and being even further
removed in time from the authors of the New
Testament, details surrounding Jesus' birth are
regarded, even by many believers, as less likely
to be historical fact.

As for Jesus' death, the exact date is also
unclear. The Gospel of John depicts the
crucifixion just before the Passover festival on
Friday 14 Nisan, called the
Quartodecimanism|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 or March 30, 36.

== Life and teachings ==


According to the texts of Christianity, Jesus was
born in Bethlehem to Mary, the mother of
Jesus|Mary, a virgin, via the Holy Spirit. Joseph,
Mary's betrothed husband, appears only in stories
of Jesus' childhood; this is generally taken to
mean that he was dead by the time of Jesus'
ministry. In the Gospels, Jesus' birth is attended
by visits from shepherds who were told of the
birth by angels. Magi ("Wise Men") from the East
were guided by a star to his location some months
later.

Mark 6:3 (and analogous passages in Matthew and
Luke) reports that Jesus was "Mary, the mother of
Jesus|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 of
Caesarea|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). However, Jerome argued that they were
Jesus's 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
exactly reveal how Mary and Elizabeth were
related. 



Nazareth in Galilee is represented as his
childhood home. Only one incident between his
infancy and his adult life is mentioned in the
canonical Gospels (although New Testament
apocrypha go into these details, some quite
extensively). At the age of twelve, Jesus was left
behind by his parents after a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. On being missed, he was found
'instructing the scholars in the temple'.

Just after he was baptized by John the Baptist he
began his public teaching; he is generally
considered to have been about thirty years old at
that time. Jesus used a variety of methods in his
teaching, such as paradox, metaphor and parable.
His teaching frequently centered on the Kingdom of
God, or Kingdom of Heaven. Some of his most famous
teachings are in the Sermon on the Mount, which
also contains the Beatitudes. His parables (or
stories with a hidden meaning) include the parable
of the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son. Jesus
had a number of disciples. His closest followers
were twelve apostles, headed by Saint Peter|Peter.
According to the New Testament, Jesus also
performed various Miracles of Jesus|miracles in
the course of his ministry, including healings,
exorcisms, and raising Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus frequently put himself in opposition to the
Jewish religious leaders including the opposing
forces of Sadducees and Pharisees. His teaching
castigated the Pharisees primarily for their
legalism and hypocrisy, although he also had
followers among the religious leaders (see
Nicodemus). In his role as a social reformer, and
with his followers holding the inflammatory view
that he was the Jewish Messiah, Jesus threatened
the status quo. 

Jesus also preached the imminent end of the
current era (αίών) of history,
or even the literal end of the world; in this
sense he was an apocalyptic preacher. Some
interpretations of the text, particularly amongst
Protestants, suggest that Jesus opposed stringent
interpretations of Halakha|Jewish law, supporting
the spirit more than the letter.



==Jesus as a Leader of Nonviolent Resistance==

In Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18,
chapter 3, paragraph 1, we learn that Pontius
Pilate began his administration of Judea by
ordering Eagle Standards set up in Jerusalem.
Thousands of Jewish people descended on Caesarea
to ask the standards' removal. Pilate threatened
them with death. They replied they would rather
die than see the Torah violated. Pilate gave in
and ordered the standards removed. Josephus does
not say who inspired and organized this major act
of Nonviolent Resistance, but in the third
paragraph, just two paragraphs later, he tells of
the Crucifixion of Jesus by Pilate - though he
does not say for what crime was he executed, if
any. (This section of Josephus contains obvious
Christian interpolations in most texts, but the
Arabic version seems to be free of these.) There
seems to be a very high probability that the
organizer of the Caesarea resistance was Jesus
himself - it is very hard to come up with an
alternative candidate - and this was at least one
major reason why Pilate ordered his Crucifixion.



===Arrest and trial===
Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during
the Passover festival, and created a disturbance
at the Temple in Jerusalem|Temple by overturning
the tables of the moneychangers there. He was
subsequently arrested on the orders of the
Sanhedrin and the High Priest, Caiaphas|Joseph
Caiaphas. He was identified to the guards by one
of his apostles, Judas Iscariot, who is portrayed
as having betrayed Jesus by a kiss. 

He was condemned for blasphemy by the Sanhedrin
and turned over to the Roman Empire|Romans for
execution - not for blasphemy, but for sedition
against the Empire. According to the canonical
gospel accounts (Matthew 27:24-26, Mark 15:15,
Luke 23:24-25, John 19:16a), Pontius Pilate,
bowing to the Jewish religious leaders' pressure,
handed Jesus over (paredĹŤken) (to his Roman
soldiers) to be crucified. Some scholars argue
that it was an ordinary Roman trial of a rebel,
whose Messianic claims made him especially
dangerous. (See Barabbas.) All four Gospel
accounts mention that the charge noted on the
tablet called the titulus crucis, attached by
orders of Pilate atop the cross, included the term
"King of the Jews". In art it is often written as
INRI, the Latin acronym for "Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews."

Following the crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea
obtained Pilate's permission to take down Jesus'
body and lay it into his own new tomb. This was
observed by Mary and other women, notably Mary
Magdalene.

===Resurrection and Ascension===

Resurrection of Jesus

In accordance with the four canonical Gospel
accounts Christianity|Christians believe that
Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day
after his crucifixion. This article of faith is
referred to in Christian terminology as the
Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection of Jesus
Christ; and each year at Easter (on a Sunday) it
is commemorated and celebrated by most groups who
consider themselves Christians.

No one was a witness to the event of the
Resurrection of Jesus|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. Matthew 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 recognise Jesus – even
by his voice – until he called her by her name.
The Gospel accounts and 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". Just hours
after his resurrection he appeared to two
travellers on the road to Emmaus. To his assembled
disciples he showed himself on the evening after
his resurrection, when Thomas (Apostle)|Thomas was
however 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 Bethany and was lifted up and a cloud concealed
him from their sight.

The First Epistle to the Corinthians, which was
written before the Gospels or Acts, mentions
appearances to Iakobos ("James") - presumably the
"brother" of Jesus - and to 500 brethren. Neither
is mentioned in the canonical Gospel accounts.
This suggests that in the written accounts the
number of post-resurrection appearances decreased,
rather than increased. It may be argued that this
reduction was owing perhaps to ideological and
cultural problems. For example, 1 Corinthians
fails to mention any of the appearances to women
that are so prominent in the Gospels, which may be
attributed to prejudice (on the part of Paul, or
of his source) against accepting women as reliable
witnesses, or to spare them the torture to which
they would have been routinely subjected before
testifying, had they been called as witnesses in a
Roman court of law. The absence from the canonical
Gospel accounts of any mention of the appearance
to James alone may be owing to censorship because
of conflict between the Ebionites (Jewish
followers of Jesus, led by Jacob/James) and
Gentile Christians.

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
their faith; however, some liberal Christians do
not accept a literal bodily resurrection (e.g.
Bishop Spong|John Shelby Spong).

A few modern scholars (e.g., Robert Graves and
Evan Powell) take a position that Jesus may have
undergone a near-death experience. This is
disputed by Dr. Alexander Metherell who, in an
interview with Lee Strobel for his book The Case
for Christ argued that Roman floggings were brutal
and the lashes would often shred a prisoner's
back, which John 19:1-2 details. He argued that
"Jesus was already in a serious to critical
condition even before the nails were driven
through his hands and feet". He further argued
that John 19:34 states that "one of the soldiers
pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a
sudden flow of blood and water" (NIV), which in
fact indicated that Jesus was suffering from
hypovolemic shock and suffered heart failure. In
Metherell's opinion, there was no doubt that Jesus
actually died. He says that:
:"The spear apparently went through his right lung
and into the heart, so when the spear was pulled
out, some fluid — the pericardial effusion
and pleural effusion — came out. This would
have the appearance of a clear fluid, like water,
followed by a large volume of blood, as the
witness John described in his gospel."

However, this piercing with a spear is only
mentioned in the Gospel of John, but not in
Matthew, Mark, or Luke. John is certainly not an
impartial observer, and his accuracy is often
disputed.

=== Preparation of apostles ===
According to most Christian interpretations of the
Bible, the theme of Jesus' preaching was that of
apocalyptic repentance. During his public ministry
Jesus extensively trained twelve Apostles to
continue after his departure his leadership of the
many who had begun to follow him mainly in the
towns and villages throughout Galilee, Samaria,
and the Decapolis. Most Christians who hold that
Jesus' miracles were literally true, not allegory,
think that the Apostles gained the power to
perform healing for both Jews and Gentiles alike
after they had been empowered by the Holy Spirit
of Truth (to pneuma tēs alētheias, John 14:17,
26; Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, 2:4) that he had
promised the Father would send them after his
departure – a promise that according to Acts 2:4
was fulfilled at Pentecost, poignantly the Jewish
feast that, in addition to other Scriptural
events, commemorates also the giving of the
Torah|Law to Moses. ref|JewishEncyclopedia

== Names and titles==
Main article: Names and titles of Jesus

Jesus is derived from the History of the Greek
language|Koine Greek
Ιησους 
(Iēsoûs) via Latin. The earliest
uses of Iēsoûs  are found in the
writings of Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, and the
Septuagint, as a transliterate|transliteration of
the Hebrew language|Hebrew name Yehoshua
(יהושע — known
in English as Joshua when transliterated directly
from Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew), and also Yeshua
(ישוע). Jesus' original
name is not reported by contemporary or
near-contemporary sources, but modern scholars
have suggested that Jesus' name was the Aramaic
ישׁוע /
YēšĂ»aʿ (as in the Syriac New
Testament) a shortened form of Yehoshua used in
Book of Ezra|Ezra, Book of Nehemiah|Nehemiah and
Book of Chronicles|Chronicles), which was a fairly
common name at the time. Josephus, a first century
Jewish historian, mentions no fewer than nineteen
different people with this name, about half of
them contemporaries of Jesus of Nazareth. Other
Aramaic forms of the name include Yeshu`, Ishu`,
and Eshu`. His patronymic would have been, bar
Yosef, for "son of Joseph". Many scholars believe
he was also known popularly as "Bar Abba," (see
Barabbas) "Son of the Father," because he always
addressed God in his prayers as "Abba," Father.

The Arabic language|Arabic form of the name used
by Christians, following Syriac language|Syriac,
is Yasu`. Muslims, following Qur'anic usage, refer
to him by the name `Isa (possibly cognate with the
Hebrew name Esau).

Christ is not a name but a title, which comes from
the Ancient Greek language|Greek
Χριστός
(Christos) via Latin, meaning Anointing|anointed
with Chrismation|chrism. The Greek form is a
liberal translation of Messiah from Hebrew
mashiach  (משיח) or
Aramaic m'shikha
(משיחא), a word
which occurs often in the Hebrew Bible and
typically refers to the "high priest" or
"Monarch|king". The word mashiach in Hebrew means
anointed (a cognate in English is "massage," from
the Arabic for "vigorous rubbing with aromatic
oils") , because the Israelite kings were anointed
with oil. The title does not imply, either in
Greek or in Hebrew, a divine nature for the
possessor of it. In fact, it would seem prima
facie that an inherently divine being would not be
in need of being anointed. The title Christ is
also sometimes identified with the Greek chrestos,
meaning "good", although the words are unrelated
in terms of etymology, and Chrestus was often used
as a pet name for slaves.

The Gospels record Jesus referring to himself both
as Son of Man and as Son of God, but not as God
the Son. However, some scholars have argued that
Son of Man was an expression that functioned as an
indirect first person pronoun, and that Son of God
was an expression that signified "a righteous
person". Evidence for these positions is provided
by similar use by other persons than Jesus at a
similar time to the writing of the Gospels, such
as Jewish priests and judges.

In the Gospels, Jesus has many other titles,
including Prophet (a title that he applied to
himself, unlike others), Lord, and INRI|King of
the Jews. Together, the majority of Christians
understand these 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.

==Cultural and historical background==
Main article: Cultural and historical background
of Jesus


The world in which Jesus lived was volatile,
marked by cultural and political dilemmas.
Culturally, Jews had to grapple with the values
and philosophy of Hellenism, and the imperialism
of Rome, together with the paradox that their
Torah applied only to them, but revealed universal
truths. This situation led to new interpretations
of the Torah, influenced by Hellenic thought and
in response to Gentile interest in Judaism.

All of the land of Israel belonged to the Roman
Empire at the time of Jesus' birth. It was
directly ruled by the Idumea|Idumaean Herod the
Great who was appointed King of the Jews in Rome
in 39 BC|39 BC/BCE by Mark Antony and Octavian. In
6|AD 6/6CE, Octavian, recently designated Roman
Emperor and renamed as Caesar Augustus|Augustus,
deposed Herod's son Herod Archelaus. He combined
Judea, Samaria, and Idumea into Iudaea Province
which was placed under direct Roman administration
and supervision by a Roman prefect who appointed a
Jewish High Priest for Herod's Temple in
Jerusalem. This situation existed, more or less,
till 64 and the start of the Great Jewish Revolt.
Galilee, where Jesus grew up according to the
Gospels, remained under the jurisdiction of
another of Herod's sons, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch
of Galilee and Perea, from 4 BC|4 BC/BCE to 39|AD
39/39 CE.

At this time Jesus' childhood hometown of Nazareth
(Hebrew, Natserath) was, as revealed by
archaeology, a tiny hamlet of a few hundred
inhabitants. It had no synagogue, nor any public
buildings. No gold, silver or imported goods have
been found in it by archaeological excavation. 

According to Josephus, within 1st century Judaism,
there were several sects, primarily the Sadducees,
closely connected with the priesthood and the
Temple, and the Pharisees, who were teachers and
leaders of the synagogues. They resented Roman
occupation, but, according to historian Shaye
Cohen (1988), were in Jesus' time relatively
apolitical. In addition, isolated in small
communities from these main groups, by choice,
some even taking to remote desert caves in
anticipation of the end times, lived the Essenes,
whose theology and philosophy are thought, by some
scholars, to have influenced Jesus and/or John the
Baptist. 

Many Jews hoped that the Romans would be replaced
by a Jewish king (or Messiah) of the line of King
David — in their view the last legitimate
Jewish regime. Most people at that time believed
that their history was governed by God, meaning
that even the conquest of Judea by the Romans was
a divine act. Therefore the Romans would be
replaced by a Jewish king only through divine
intervention. Some, like John the Baptist in the
first half of the century, and Yehoshua ben
Ananias in the second half, claimed that a Kingdom
of God|messianic age was at hand. Josephus' Jewish
Antiquities book 18 states there was a "fourth
sect", in addition to Sadducees, Pharisees and
Essenes, which scholars associate with those he
called Zealotry|Zealots. They were founded by
Judas of Galilee and Zadok the Pharisee in the
year 6 against Quirinius' tax reform and "agree in
all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but
they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and
say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord."
(18.1.6) They believed that the kingdom should be
restored immediately, even through violent human
action, and advocated direct action against the
Romans. Roman reaction to the Zealots eventually
led to the destruction of Herod's Temple by
Vespasian in August of 70 CE, and the subsequent
decline of the Zealots, Sadducees and Essenes. 

Some scholars have asserted that, despite the
depictions of him as antagonistic towards the
Pharisees, Jesus was a member of that group.
ref|EPSaunders
See also
Pharisees#.22Pharisees.22_and_Christianity|Pharise
es and Christianity

Jesus' language was most probably Aramaic; see
Aramaic of Jesus.  He may also have spoken other
languages of the time, such as the Jewish
liturgical language Hebrew language|Hebrew and the
administrative language Greek language|Greek.

==Relics==
main|Relics of Jesus

There are many items that are purported to be
authentic relics of the Gospel account. The most
famous alleged relics of Jesus are the Shroud of
Turin, which is claimed to be the burial shroud
used to wrap his body, the Sudarium of Oviedo,
which is claimed to be the cloth which was used to
cover his face, and the Holy Grail which is said
to have been used to collect his blood during his
crucifixion and possibly used at the Last Supper.
Many modern Christians, however, do not accept any
of these as true relics. Indeed, this skepticism
has been around for centuries, with Erasmus joking
that so much wood formed parts of the True Cross,
that Jesus must have been crucified on a whole
forest.

==Artistic portrayals==

Jesus has been portrayed in countless paintings
and sculptures throughout the Middle Ages,
Renaissance, and modern times. Often he is
portrayed as looking like a male from the region
of the artist creating the portrait. According to
historians, forensic scientists, and genetics
experts, he was most likely a bronze-skinned
man—resembling a modern-day man of Middle
Eastern descent.

Jesus has been featured in many films and media
forms, sometimes seriously, and other times
satire|satirically. The British musical stage play
Jerry Springer - The Opera is a notable recent
example of the latter. Many of these portrayals
have attracted controversy, whether they were
intended to be based on the Biblical accounts
(such as Mel Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of the
Christ, Pier Pasolini's The Gospel According to
St. Matthew and Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of
Nazareth (movie)|Jesus of Nazareth) or
intentionally added extra material (such as The
Last Temptation of Christ). Another recurring
theme is the updating of aspects of the life of
Jesus, or imagining his Second Coming (for
example, The Seventh Sign). In many films Jesus
himself is a minor character, used to develop the
overall themes or to provide context. For example,
in Ben-Hur and The Life of Brian Jesus only
appears in a few scenes.

In music, many  List of songs which refer to
Jesus|songs refer to Jesus and Jesus provides the
theme for many classical works throughout music
history|musical history. He is the title character
in Andrew Lloyd Webber's acclaimed musical Jesus
Christ Superstar.

In literature, we find Yeshua, the historical
original of Jesus, as a character in the fantasy
novel The Master and Margarita, by the 20th
century Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov and in the
science fiction short novel Riverworld by the 20th
century American writer Philip Jose Farmer. The
portrayal in these two works is so similar that
Farmer's narrative can easily be read as a sequel
to Bulgakov's.
A mystical version of Jesus as the Eternal Holy
Child can be read in the story The Selfish Giant
by Oscar Wilde.

==Interpretations of Jesus==
The following wikilinks provide more information
on notable interpretations of Jesus:
*Historical Jesus
*Sermon on the Mount
*Dramatic portrayals of Jesus
*Marcion ca.110-160 called "most dangerous"
heretic
*Augustine of Hippo 354-430 Catholic Doctor of the
Church
*Martin Luther 1486-1546 German theologian
Lutheran
*John Calvin 1509-1564 French theologian Calvinism
*Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826 Jefferson Bible
*Albert Schweitzer 1875-1965 Quest for the
Historical Jesus
*F.F. Bruce 1910-1990 British Evangelical scholar
*Raymond E. Brown 1928-1998 Union Theological
Seminary Professor Emeritus, Does the New
Testament call Jesus God?, Theological Studies
#26, 1965, pp.545-573
*Hyam Maccoby 1924-2004, British scholar
*Geza Vermes Oxford University Professor of Jewish
Studies
*Jacob Neusner scholar of Judaism, author of A
Rabbi talks with Jesus
*E. P. Sanders Duke University Professor of
Religion
*James D. G. Dunn Durham University Emeritus
Lightfoot Professor of Divinity
*John Dominic Crossan retired former DePaul
University Professor of Biblical Studies
*Marcus Borg Oregon State University Hundere
Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture
*Tom Wright Anglican Bishop of Durham
*Jesus Seminar modern scholars attempt to find
Historical Jesus, solely using first stratum
sources (those dateable to 30-70 CE) and only
considering events and sayings with multiple
independent attestations.
*Josh McDowell proponent of Trilemma of C. S.
Lewis: Jesus is either "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord"
*Left Behind popular End Times books on
Apocalyptic Jesus: "It was as if the very words of
the Lord had superheated their blood, causing it
to burst through their veins and skin."
*Chick Publications popular Evangelical comics
*The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov.

==Notes==
#note|BarnettAncientHistory Paul Barnett, "Is the
New Testament History?", p.1.
#note|Catechism catechism entry on grace and
justification
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/cate
chism/p3s1c3a2.htm catechism. Nostra Aetate,
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vat
ican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra
-aetate_en.html declaration of Vatican II
#note|JointDeclarationJoint declaration
http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/
romancatholic/jddj/declaration.html ELCA
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_counc
ils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999
_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html Vatican
#note|JewishEncyclopedia
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1
77&letter=P&search=pentecost Jewish Encyclopedia
on Pentecost
#note|EPSaundersE. P. Sanders in Jesus and
Judaism, pp.264-269, states: "I am one of a
growing number of scholars who doubt that there
were any substantial points of opposition between
Jesus and the Pharisees ...  We find no criticism
of the law which would allow us to speak of his
opposing or rejecting it."

==Sources and further reading==

*The New Testament of the Bible, especially the
Gospels.
*The Greek New Testament, Aland, United Bible
Societies
*A Textual Commentary on the Greek NT, Metzger
*Teach Yourself NT Greek, Hudson, ISBN 0844237892
*The Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot, Harmer, Holmes
*Acharya S The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest
Story Ever Sold ISBN 0932813747 
*Akers, Keith, "The Lost Religion of Jesus," ISBN
1930051263
*Albright, William F. Yahweh and the Gods of
Canaan: An Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting
Faiths, ISBN 0931464013
*Badenas, Robert. Christ the End of the Law,
Romans 10.4 in Pauline Perspective, ISBN
0905774930
*Brown, Raymond. Does the NT call Jesus God?,
Theological Studies #26, 1965
*Browne, Sir Thomas. Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 6th
edition, 1672, V:vi.
*Cohen, Shaye J.D. 1988 From the Maccabees to the
Mishnah ISBN 0-664-25017-3
*Crossan, John Dominic. Who Killed Jesus?:
Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel
Story of the Death of Jesus
*Guy Davenport|Davenport, Guy and Benjamin
Urrutia|Urrutia, Benjamin. The Logia of Yeshua:
The Sayings of Jesus, ISBN 1887178708
*Doherty, Earl. The Jesus Puzzle. Did Christianity
Begin with a Mythical Christ?: Challenging the
Existence of an Historical Jesus, ISBN 0968601405
*Dunn, James D.G. Jesus, Paul and the Law, ISBN
0664250955
*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
*Funk, Robert W. The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus
Really Say? The Search for the Authentic Words of
Jesus
*Gaus, Andy. The Unvarnished New Testament, A new
translation from the original Greek free of
doctrines and dogmas, ISBN 0933999992
*Lewis, C.S. "Mere Christianity" A book on
Christianity and logical support for Jesus as God.
ISBN 0060652926 
*McDowell, Josh. Evidence that Demands a Verdict,
Two volumes looking at Jesus from the point of
view of evidence. Vol I: ISBN 0918956463 ,  Vol.
II: ISBN 0918956730
*Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the
Historical Jesus ISBN 0385264259
*Mendenhall, George E. The Tenth Generation: The
Origins of the Biblical Tradition, The Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1973. ISBN
0-8018-1654-8. A study of the earliest traditions
of Israel from linguistic and archaeological
evidence which also treats the teachings and
followers of Jesus in that context.
*Mendenhall, George E. Ancient Israel's Faith and
History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context,
Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. ISBN
0-664-22313-3. Another, less technical, study of
the earliest traditions of Israel from linguistic
and archaeological evidence which also treats the
teachings and followers of Jesus in that context.
*Messori, Vittorio. Jesus hypotheses, St Paul
Publications, 1977, ISBN 0854391541; The
translation from Italian Ipotesi su GesĂą. An
amazing and very readable book that shows how
Vittorio Messori, a recognized Italian historian
who didn't care about faith, explores the question
of Jesus, starting from two points of view,
mythical (Jesus never lived) and critical (Jesus
was not God) and finally comes to the third
hypothesis, the one of the faith. The author is
also famous as one of the rare who did an
interview with Pope John Paul II.
*Miller, Robert, The Complete Gospels, the
Scholars Version translation of gospels from the
first three centuries, includes canonical gospels,
thomas, james, mary, infancy gospels, fragments,
ISBN 0944344305
*Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First
International Congress of Mithraic Studies.
Manchester U. Press, 1975. 
*Pelikan, Jaroslav. Jesus Through the Centuries:
His Place in the History of Culture,
http://www.yale.edu/yup/ Yale University Press,
1985, hardcover, 270 pages, ISBN 0300034962; trade
paperback, HarperCollins reprint, 304 pages, ISBN
0060970804; trade paperback, Yale University
Press, 1999, 320 pages, ISBN 0300079877
*Price, Robert M. Incredible Shrinking Son of Man:
How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition? ISBN
1591021219 
*Sanders, E.P. The historical figure of Jesus,
Penguin, 1996, ISBN 0140144994. An up-to-date,
popular, but thoroughly scholarly book.
*Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism, Fortress Press,
1987, ISBN 0800620615. More specialistic than the
previous book, though not inaccessible.
*Schaberg, Jane. Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist
Theological Interpretation of the Infancy
Narratives
*Theissen, Gerd, and Annette Merz. The Historical
Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide, Fortress Press,
2003, ISBN 0800631226. An amazing book, tough but
rewarding, exceptionally detailed.
*Theissen, Gerd. The Shadow of the Galilean: The
Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form.
Fortress Press.
*Leo Tolstoy|Tolstoy, Leo The Kingdom of God is
Within You ISBN 0803294042
*C. S. Lewis|Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity ISBN
0060652926
*Geza Vermes|Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A
Historian's Reading of the Gospels ISBN 0800614437
*Walvoord, John F. Jesus Christ Our Lord. Moody
Press, 1969. ISBN 0802443265
*Ian Wilson|Wilson, Ian Jesus: The evidence ISBN
0297835297
*John Howard Yoder|Yoder, John H. The Politics of
Jesus ISBN 0-8028-0734-8
*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, Princeton University Press, 1990,
ISBN 0691020620
*Carlyle, Thomas. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the
Heroic in History.
*The Superhuman life of Gesar of Ling —
Alexandra David-Neel (A divine hero still in oral
tradition)
*In some editions of Jewish Antiquities by the
Jewish historian Josephus Book 18, chapter 3,
paragraph 3 http://www.josephus-1.com/
www.josephus-1.com refer to Jesus. Most scholars
believe that these passages were added to
Josephus's text by later Christians. The Arabic
version of Josephus is free of these apparent
Christian interpolations, but still makes it clear
that Pilate ordered the execution of Jesus. *
Jesus and the Victory of God Tom
Wright|N.T.Wright, SPCK (London), 1996 ISBN
0281047170. Second in a projected massive five or
six volume series on Christian origins, dealing
with the life and death of Christ from a very open
Evangelical perspective. The author is now Bishop
of Durham (Church of England).
* Michael H. Hart, The 100 (book)|The 100, Carol
Publishing Group, July 1992, paperback, 576 pages,
ISBN 0806513500
*Kierkegaard, Soren: "Training in Christianity",
Vintage Spiritual Classics
*Kumar V. and Panakal L.: "The Ancient Mother –
I : The Key to the bible" and "The Ancient Mother
– II : The Key to the bible", Identity
Publishers, Switzerland, 1997. (Available online
in PDF format -
http://www.quicknet.ch/urech/online.htm)

==See also==
*Christian mythology
*Genealogy of Jesus
*Isa
*List of founders of major religions
*List of people believing themselves deities
*Miracles of Jesus
*Resurrection of Jesus
*Anno Domini and Common Era (which show how Jesus'
birth has influenced the modern day calendar)

==External links==
===Christian views===
commons|Jesus

*
http://dubitando.no.sapo.pt/quattuor-evangeliorum-
consonantia.htm Quattuor Evangeliorum Consonantia
- The latin harmony of the Gospels (1)
*
http://dubitando.no.sapo.pt/quattuor-evangeliorum-
consonantia-n.htm Quattuor Evangeliorum
Consonantia - The latin harmony of the Gospels (2)
*
http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/
Christianity/Jesus_Christ/ Directory of sites
about Jesus
* http://www.rejesus.co.uk/ rejesus: UK
interdenominational web site about Jesus
* http://www.godonthe.net/evidence/said_god.htm
Jesus claims to be God
*
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/unique.html
Was he God?
* http://www.insecula.com/contact/A004143.html/
864 pictures
* http://www.jesuschristonly.com/ Jesus Christ
Only — Articles, Sermons & Quotes Dedicated
to Jesus Christ
* http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/ All About
Jesus Christ — Articles and FAQs
* http://www.alamoministries.com/ Literature about
Jesus in english and many other languages
*
http://st-takla.org/Gallery/Gallery-Jesus-01.html
Jesus Gallery Full from http://St-Takla.org
*
http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/topic.asp?topic_id
=6 Christology from The Biblical Resource Database
* http://www.jcsm.org/biblelessons/JesusGod.htm
Did Jesus Claim To Be God?
* ISBN 0-310-22655-4 The Case for Christ by Lee
Strobel

===Other religous views===
*
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/top
ic/christ.html Jesus Christ (Christology) –
Essays on the Deity of Jesus, Jesus' Offices of
Prophet, Priest & King & The Historic Jesus.
* http://www.christnotes.org/ Christ Notes
* http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08374c.htm Jesus
Christ Catholic Encyclopedia article
* http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/JESUMENU.HTM
EWTN's Jesus Christ webpage
* http://www.thewords.com/ The Words –
Website that organises Jesus' sayings by topic
*
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2001/11/15/art
icle_02.htm Jehovah's Witnesses' perspective
* http://www.mormon.org/learn/0,8672,810-1,00.html
Latter-day Saint (Mormon) beliefs about Jesus
*
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefuta
tion.html A Jewish response to Christian
missionaries
*
http://aaiil.org/text/books/others/khwajanazirahma
d/jesusinheavenonearth/jesusinheavenonearth.shtml
Jesus in Heaven on Earth: A Lahore Ahmadiyya
Movement perspective - Ahmadiyya perspective
*
http://www.islamfrominside.com/Pages/Articles/Jesu
s%20-%20An%20Islamic%20Perspective.html An Islamic
perspective on Jesus - Islamic Perspective
*
http://www.islamfrominside.com/Pages/Tafsir/Tafsir
%285-116%20to%20120%29.html The Qur'an on Jesus'
divinity
* http://www.islam.tc/prophecies/jesus.html Jesus'
second coming in Islam
* http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org Jesus Christ
– A conservative Christian view
* http://www.AllAboutGOD.com/is-Jesus-God.htm Is
Jesus God? – A fundamentalist view
*
http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/E
nsign/1988.htm/ensign%20november%201988.htm/what%2
0think%20ye%20of%20christ.htm What think ye of
Christ?
* http://christians.port5.com/jesus.html
Jesus'Divinity
* http://www.uua.org/pamphlet/3040.html Unitarian
Universalist Views of Jesus: prophet; dissident;
one of many Christs
*http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=
254&letter=J&search=Jesus Jewish Encyclopedia:
Jesus

===Other views===
* http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/jhcjp.htm The
Jesus Puzzle
* http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/jesus.html
Skeptic's Guide to Jesus
* http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/ Jesus Never
Existed 
*
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pontificate/bindex.ht
m The Creation of Christ The theory that Jesus was
a myth based on Julius Caesar.
* http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jckr.htm 
The theory that the story of Jesus is based on the
older Hindu story of Krishna
* http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcno.htm
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance -
article about existence of Jesus
* http://www.mind.net/rvuuf/pages/quests.htm The
Many Quests for the Historical Jesus (Unitarian
summary of historical quests)
*
http://www.hilalplaza.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIE
WPROD&ProdID=225 What did Jesus Really Say 
* http://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm The
theory and evidence of Jesus having lived in
Ladakh, in the Himalaya from 12 to 29 years
*
http://www.swami-center.org/en/chpt/jesusteaching/
index.shtml The Original Teaching of Jesus Christ
Online book purporting to reconstruct the original
teachings of Jesus.
* http://www.eliyah.com/nameson.htm Jesus was
actually called Yahushua
* http://www.aaiil.org/text/rlgn/rlgnmain.shtml
Various articles related to the natural death of
Jesus 
* http://hebrew4christians.com/ Jesus the Messiah
at Hebrew for Christians.