Historicity of Jesus

The historicity of Jesus concerns the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth . While scholars often draw a distinction between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, and while scholars further debate what can specifically be known concerning Jesus' character and ministry, essentially all scholars in the relevant fields agree that the mere historical existence of Jesus can be established using documentary and other evidence. The lines of evidence used to establish Jesus' historical existence include the New Testament documents, theoretical source documents that may lie behind the New Testament, statements from the early Church Fathers , brief references in histories produced decades or centuries later by pagan and Jewish sources, gnostic documents, and early Christian creeds. Graham Stanton , The Gospels and Jesus (2nd ed.), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) p. xxiii

The historicity of Jesus concerns whether Jesus of Nazareth existed as a historical figure , whether the episodes portrayed in the gospels can be confirmed as historical events as opposed to myth , legend , or fiction , and the weighing of the evidence relating to his life. The historicity of Jesus is distinct from the related study of the historical Jesus , which refers to scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus-based primarily on critical analysis of the gospel texts. Historicity is the historical actuality or authenticity of a person or event, as opposed to being a myth , legend , or fiction . Since the 18th century, scholars have attempted to reconstruct the life of the historical Jesus , developing historical-critical methods for analysing the available texts. The only sources are documentary; in conjunction with Biblical texts such as the Pauline Letters and the synoptic Gospels , three passages in non-Christian works have been used to support the historicity of Jesus: two in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus , and one from the Roman historian Tacitus . Although the authenticity of all three has been questioned, and one is generally accepted as having been altered by Christians, most scholars believe they are at least partially authentic. There is near unanimity among scholars that Jesus existed historically, although biblical scholars differ about the beliefs and teachings of Jesus as well as the accuracy of the details of his life that have been described in the Gospels. While scholars have sometimes criticized Jesus scholarship for religious bias and lack of methodological soundness , with very few exceptions, such critics do support the historicity of Jesus, and reject the theory that Jesus never existed, known as the Christ myth theory . Certain scholars, particularly in Europe, have recently made the case that while there are a number of plausible "Jesuses" that could have existed, there can be no certainty as to which Jesus was the historical Jesus, and that there should also be more scholarly research and debate on this topic. The Historical Jesus in Context . Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium . The Historical Jesus: Five Views . Jesus Now and Then . Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography . Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds . The Cambridge Companion to Jesus . Verenna (2013). 'Is This Not the Carpenter?': The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus .

Relates to whether Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure Not to be confused with Historical Jesus . The historicity of Jesus relates to whether Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure . Virtually all scholars who have investigated the history of the Christian movement find that the historicity of Jesus is effectively certain, and standard historical criteria have aided in reconstructing his life. Scholars differ on the beliefs and teachings of Jesus as well as the accuracy of the details of his life that have been described in the gospels, but virtually all scholars support the historicity of Jesus and reject the Christ myth theory that Jesus never existed. The question of the historicity of Jesus is part of the study of the historical Jesus as undertaken in the quest for the historical Jesus and the scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus, based primarily on critical analysis of the gospel texts and applying the standard criteria of critical-historical investigation, and methodologies for analyzing the reliability of primary sources and other historical evidence . The Gospels and Jesus (Oxford Bible Series) (2nd ed.). Today nearly all historians, whether Christians or not, accept that Jesus existed and that the gospels contain plenty of valuable evidence which has to be weighed and assessed critically. There is general agreement that, with the possible exception of Paul, we know far more about Jesus of Nazareth than about any first or second century Jewish or pagan religious teacher. Just to read the ancient sources requires expertise in a range of ancient languages: Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and often Aramaic, Syriac, and Coptic, not to mention the modern languages of scholarship (for example, German and French). And that is just for starters. Expertise requires years of patiently examining ancient texts and a thorough grounding in the history and culture of Greek and Roman antiquity, the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, both pagan and Jewish, knowledge of the history of the Christian church and the development of its social life and theology, and, well, lots of other things. It is striking that virtually everyone who has spent all the years needed to attain these qualifications is convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure." Blomberg, Craig (2011). The fruit of a decade of work by the IBR Historical Jesus Study Group, Key Events in the Life of the Historical Jesus: A Collaborative Exploration of Context and Coherence [Ed. Webb (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, forthcoming).] takes a dozen core themes or events from Jesus' life and ministry and details the case for their authenticity via all the standard historical criteria, as well as assessing their significance. The results show significant correlation between what historians can demonstrate and what evangelical theology has classically asserted about the life of Christ. The Historical Jesus in Context . Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium . Archaeology, the Rabbis, & Early Christianity. There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).

Debate whether Jesus was a historical figure The historicity of Jesus is the question of whether or not Jesus , the central figure of Christianity , historically existed (as opposed to being a purely mythical figure). Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed. The contrary perspective, that Jesus was mythical , is regarded as a fringe theory . Only two key events of Jesus's life are widely accepted as historical, namely his baptism and crucifixion , while other elements (e.g. his alleged miracles ) are subject to debate. Standard historical criteria are used in evaluating the historicity of the gospel narratives . Academic efforts to determine facts of Jesus's life are part of the quest for the historical Jesus . Besides the gospels and the letters of Paul , sources for the historicity of Jesus include the works of Jewish historian Josephus and Roman historian Tacitus , who both lived shortly after the time of Jesus and wrote in reference to him and his followers . Bart Ehrman (a secular agnostic) wrote: "He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees, based on certain and clear evidence." B. The fruit of a decade of work by the IBR Historical Jesus Study Group, Key Events in the Life of the Historical Jesus: A Collaborative Exploration of Context and Coherence [Ed. Webb (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, forthcoming).] takes a dozen core themes or events from Jesus' life and ministry and details the case for their authenticity via all the standard historical criteria, as well as assessing their significance. The results show significant correlation between what historians can demonstrate and what evangelical theology has classically asserted about the life of Christ. There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).

Whether Jesus was a historical figure The historicity of Jesus is the scholarly question in Biblical criticism and early Christian history of whether Jesus historically existed or was a purely mythological figure. Scholarly discussions questioning the historical existence of Jesus have remained marginal within academic circles for over two hundred years, and the question of historicity was generally settled in scholarship in the early 20th century. Modern scholars agree that a Jewish man named Jesus of Nazareth existed in the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and the subsequent Herodian tetrarchy in the 1st century AD , upon whose life and teachings Christianity was later constructed. However scholars distinguish between the 'Christ of faith' as presented in the New Testament and the subsequent Christian theology and a minimal 'Jesus of history', of whom almost nothing can be known. Beyond this, there is no scholarly consensus concerning most elements of Jesus's life as described in the Bible , and only two key events of the biblical story of Jesus's life are widely accepted as historical, based on the criterion of embarrassment , namely his baptism by John the Baptist and his crucifixion by the order of Pontius Pilate . Furthermore, the historicity of supernatural elements like his purported miracles and resurrection are deemed to be solely a matter of 'faith' or of 'theology', or lack thereof. The Christ myth theory , developed in 19th century scholarship and gaining popular attraction since the turn of the 20th century, is the view that Jesus is purely a mythological figure and that Christianity began with belief in such a figure. Proponents use a three-fold argument developed in the 19th century: that the New Testament has no historical value with respect to Jesus's existence, that there are no non-Christian references to Jesus from the first century, and that Christianity had pagan or mythical roots. The idea that Jesus was a purely mythical figure has a fringe status in scholarly circles and has no support in critical studies , with most such theories going without recognition or serious engagement. Academic efforts in biblical studies to determine facts of Jesus's life are part of the " quest for the historical Jesus ", and several criteria of authenticity are used in evaluating the authenticity of elements of the Gospel-story. The criterion of multiple attestation is used to argue that attestation by multiple independent sources confirms his existence. There are at least fourteen independent sources for the historicity of Jesus from multiple authors within a century of the crucifixion of Jesus such as the letters of Paul (contemporary of Jesus who personally knew eyewitnesses), the gospels , and non-Christian sources such as Josephus (Jewish historian and commander in Galilee) and Tacitus (Roman historian and Senator). The Cambridge Companion to the New Testament . At the moment, the consensus in scholarship is that the gospels are best described as a variation of Greco-Roman biography. David Aune defines an ancient biography as "a discrete prose narrative devoted exclusively to the portrayal of the whole life of a particular individual perceived as historical."...they stand in some literary analogy to the Greco-Roman biographical tradition and books such as Xenophon's Memoirs of Socrates and similar works. Later, in the 60s ce, Josephus was stationed in Galilee for several years at which time he visited many places where Jesus once ministered, such as Cana and Capernaum.".."Then, a year or so later, Josephus was appointed general of Galilee and later sent by 'the first men of Jerusalem' (τῶν Ἱεροσολυμιτῶν οἱ πρῶτοι) into Galilee itself...Upon arriving in Galilee, Josephus gathered an army of 100,000 men and began planning defenses, all while staying in communication with the 'Sanhedrin'(τῷ συνεδρίῳ) and the 'first men of Jerusalem' (τῶν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις πρώτων). He also set about becoming familiar with the geography of Galilee and its inhabitants...Josephus was further acquainted with places where early Christians are known to have had residence. He, for example, was stationed in Sepphoris for a time, where the Tosefta (third–fourth centuries ce) reports that some early Christians were ministering. Sepphoris, like Cana, was also only three or so miles down the road from Nazareth, Jesus' hometown, and it surely would have had citizens in Josephus' day who remembered Jesus...Ananus II was therefore known to Josephus directly, if not intimately..It was he, the reader will remember, who considered James, the brother of Jesus, such a threat that at enormous political risk he went to the extent of having James illegally executed in 62 ce...And of course, it was this Ananus' father and brother-in-law who personally had Jesus arrested, interrogated, and condemned to death. There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).