Jesus' crucifixion as portrayed
by Diego Velázquez

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Jesus (8–2 BC/BCE to 29–36 AD/CE) is the central figure of Christianity.

Christian views of Jesus (known as Christology) are both diverse and complex. Most Christians are Trinitarian and affirm the Nicene Creed, believing that Jesus is both the Son of God and God made incarnate¹, sent to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by atoning for the sins of humanity (see also Christian worldview).

The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the Gospel of Matthew (probably written between 60 and 85 AD/CE) and the Gospel of Luke (probably written between 60 and 100 AD/CE). There is considerable debate about the details of Jesus' birth even among Christian scholars, and few scholars claim to know either the year or the date of his birth or of his death.

The infant Jesus in Adoration of
the Shepherds, Gerard van Honthorst

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In the 248th year of the Diocletian Era (based on Diocletian's ascension 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.

Infant Jesus, Mary and
Joseph in Bethlehem

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However, based on a lunar eclipse that Jewish historian Flavius Josephus reports shortly before the death of Herod the Great (who plays a major role in Matthew's account), as well as a more accurate understanding of the succession of Roman Emperors, Jesus' birth would have been some time before the year 4 BC/BCE. Having fewer sources and being further removed in time from the authors of the New Testament, establishing a reliable birth date now is particularly difficult.

Horoscope appearing in Ebenezer Sibly’s
book Astrology drawn for the speculated
birth time of Jesus Christ, midnight,
December 25, in the Julian year 45.

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The Bible portays Jesus as:

Jesus the Messiah

• Messiah is a Hebrew word meaning "anointed one." It is the equivalent of the New Testament word "Christ" which also means "anointed." In the bible, the word Messiah usually means more: A deliverer sent by God to sort out a crisis.

• Ps 72:1-17; 89:3-4
• Is. 9:6-7; 11:1-5; 53:1-12; 61:1-11
• Ez. 37:24-25
• Micah 4:1-2; 5:2
• Zech. 9:9-10
• Matt. 21:1-9
• Mark 8:27-30; 14:60-64
• Luke 1:32-33; 2:11; 4:16-21; 7:18-23
• John 4:25-26; 14:1-15-27
• Acts 2:36; 3:18-26
• 1 Cor. 1:23-24
• 1 Pet. 2:21-25

Infant Jesus with Simeon, Luke 2:21-32

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Most Christians hold that the Gospels also teach that Jesus is divine and equal to God the Father (John 8:58, 10:30); however, other groups, citing John 14:28 and various other verses, adhere to different interpretions of the nature of Jesus.

According to the Gospels, Jesus was born in Bethlehem to Mary, a virgin, by a miracle of the Holy Spirit.

²¹On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

²²When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), ²⁴and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."

²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. ²⁷Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
³² light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

Catholics call this the Annunciation. Joseph of Nazareth, Mary's betrothed husband, appears only in stories of the childhood of Jesus. With Jesus commending Mary into the care of John the Apostle during his crucifixion, it is likely that Joseph had died by the time of Jesus' ministry.

Spiritual Significance of Luke 3:23

Major events in Jesus' life in the Gospels

Galilee, circa AD 50

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• Nativity
• Childhood
• Baptism
• Temptation
• Sermon on the Mount
• Transfiguration
• The Last Supper
• Passion
• Crucifixion
• Hell
• Resurrection
• The Great Commission
• Ascension, Resurrection

The Baptism of Christ. Artist: Piero della
Francesca, c. 1440-1450, Oil on panel.
Location: National Gallery. source: 10.000
Meisterwerke der Malerei : von der Antike bis
zum Beginn der Moderne. Publisher:
Berlin : The Yorck Project, 2002.

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Following His baptism, Jesus was led into the desert by God where he fasted for forty days and forty nights (Matt 4:1-2). During this time, the devil appeared to him and tempted Jesus three times to demonstrate his supernatural powers as proof of his being the Son of God. Each time, Jesus refused each temptation with a quote of scripture from the Book of Deuteronomy. Having failed, the devil departed and angels came and brought nourishment to Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13).

Jesus' most common method of teaching was the parable. Some of his most famous teachings come from the Sermon on the Mount, which contained the Beatitudes and "The Golden Rule."

At the height of his ministry, Jesus attracted huge crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, primarily in the areas of Galilee (in modern-day northern Israel) and Perea (in modern-day western Jordan).

The Sermon On the Mount by Carl
Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter,
d. 1890.

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The twelve disciples were commissioned, by Jesus, to continue the work of His ministry on Earth.

The transfiguration of Jesus,
Carl Heinrich Bloch

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Jesus frequently put himself in opposition to the Jewish religious authorities, both in the synagogue (largely the domain of the Pharisees) and the Temple (largely the domain of the Sadducees).

His teaching castigated the Pharisees primarily for their legalism (Matthew 15:9) and hypocrisy (Luke 18:10-14), although he also had followers among religious leaders such as Nicodemus. Jesus was also known as a social reformer.

Jesus Praying in Gethsemane

However, this point should not be confused, because Jesus said:

¹⁷ "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17 ESV)

Some contend, for example, that Jesus preached a "higher level" of morality than in Jewish law, since, for instance, he preached to love not only your "neighbor" but your "enemy" as well (Matthew 5:43-48). But despite the many unique aspects of Jesus' teaching, recent Christian and Jewish scholarship have moderated the perception of opposition between Jesus and the Jewish teachers of his day by showing his substantial agreement with trends in the Jewish religious thinking.

It is commonly thought that Jesus preached for a period of three years, but this is never mentioned explicitly in any of the four gospels, and some interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year.

Jesus vertreibt die Händler aus dem
Tempel by Giovanni Paolo Pannini

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The narrative of Jesus and the Money Changers occurs in both the Synoptic Gospels and in the Gospel of John, although it occurs close to the end of the Synoptic Gospels at:

• Mark 11:15–19, 11:27–33,
• Matthew 21:12–17, 21:23–27 and
• Luke 19:45–48, 20:1–8

Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man!"),
Pontius Pilate presenting a
scourged Jesus of Nazareth to
the people of Jerusalem

Jesus was condemned for blasphemy by the Sanhedrin and turned over to the Romans, charged with sedition for claiming to be King of the Jews. The usual penalty for sedition was a humiliating death by crucifixion, but, according to the Gospels, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate did not find Jesus to be guilty of any crime.

Christ with the crown of thorns, 1623,
Oil on canvas, 106 cm x 136 cm,
Catharijneconvent, Utrecht

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Pilate washed his hands to display that he himself was innocent of the injustice of the decision. All four Gospels say Pilate then ordered Jesus to be crucified with a charge placed atop the cross (called the titulus crucis) which read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". (The titulus crucis is often written as INRI, the Latin acronym.) According to Matthew and Mark, his last words were "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (taken from Psalm 22), according to John, "It is finished," and according to Luke, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." (see also: sayings of Jesus on the cross)

Jesus Christ carrying the cross as
portrayed by El Greco 1580

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The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke state that on the third day of death, an angel appeared near the tomb of Jesus and announced his ressurection to the women who had arrived to anoint the body. The sight of the same angel had apparently left the Roman guards unconscious (Matthew 28:2-4). (According to Matthew 27:62-66, the high priests and Pharisees, with Pilate's permission, had posted guards in front of the tomb to prevent the body from being stolen by Jesus' disciples.) Mark 16:9 states that the morning of his resurrection, Jesus first appeared to his disciple, Mary Magdalene. John 20:11-18 states that when Mary Magdalene looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus—even by his voice—until he called her by her name.

Christ Carrying the Cross, Artist:
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1737-38,
Oil on canvas, 450 x 517 cm,
Sant'Alvise, Venice

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According to the gospel of John, during one of these visits, Jesus' disciple Thomas initially doubted the resurrection, but after placing his finger in Jesus' peirced side, said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Thereafter, Jesus went to Galilee and showed himself to several of his disciples by the lake and on the mountain. These disciples were present when he returned to the Mount of Olives, between Bethany and Jerusalem, and was lifted up to heaven and a cloud concealed him from their sight. According to Acts, Paul of Tarsus also saw Jesus during his Road to Damascus experience.

Most scholars agree the Gospels were written after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. According to most critical historians, Jesus probably lived in Galilee for most of his life and he probably spoke Aramaic and Hebrew.

Jesus Christ being nailed to the cross

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Examining the New Testament account of Jesus in light of historical knowledge about the time when Jesus was purported to live, as well as historical knowledge about the time during which the New Testament was written, has led several scholars to reinterpret many elements of the New Testament accounts. Of special interest has been the names and titles ascribed to Jesus. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name rendered Joshua in English. It literally means "God saves". Before the J written glyph was invented in the 16th century, Jesus was written as Iesus in English, as seen in the 1611 KJV Bible. Christ (which is a title and not a part of his name) is an Anglicization of the Greek term for Messiah, and literally means "anointed one". Historians have debated what this title might have meant at the time Jesus lived; some historians have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament (e.g. Lord, Son of Man, and Son of God) had meanings in the first century quite different from those meanings ascribed today: see Names and titles of Jesus. The Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution brought skepticism regarding the historical accuracy of these texts. Although some critical scholars, including archeologists, continue to use them as points of reference in the study of ancient Near Eastern history some have come to view the texts as cultural and literary documents, generally regarding them as part of the genre of literature called hagiography, an account of a holy person regarded as representing a moral and divine ideal. Hagiography has a principal aim of the glorification of the religion itself and of the example set by the perfect holy person represented as its central focus.

Most modern Biblical scholars hold that the works describing Jesus were initially communicated by oral tradition, and were not committed to writing until several decades after Jesus' crucifixion. The earliest extant texts which refer to Jesus are Paul's letters, which are usually dated from the mid-1st century. Paul saw Jesus only in visions, but he claimed that they were divine revelations and hence authoritative (Galatians 1:11-12). The earliest extant texts describing Jesus in any detail were the four New Testament Gospels. These texts, being part of the Biblical canon, have received much more analysis and acceptance from Christian sources than other possible sources for information on Jesus.

Many apocryphal texts have also surfaced detailing events in Jesus' life and teachings, though they were not included in the Bible due to a belief that they were not divinely inspired, in the sense that an apostle was not the author, and they were written too long after his death. Chief among them the Gospel of Thomas, a "sayings gospel" or logia, consisting primarily of phrases attributed to Jesus. Other New Testament apocrypha, generally considered less important, include the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, 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 and the Fayyum Fragment. A number of Christian traditions (such as Veronica's veil and the Assumption of Mary) are found not in the canonical gospels but in these and other apocryphal works, such as the Acts of Pontius Pilate.

Some texts with even earlier historical or mythological information on Jesus are speculated to have existed prior to the Gospels, though none have been found. Based on the unusual similarities and differences (see synoptic problem) between the Synoptic Gospels — Matthew, Mark and Luke, the first three canonical gospels — many Biblical scholars have suggested that oral tradition and logia (such as the Gospel of Thomas and the theoretical Q document) probably played a strong role in initially passing down stories of Jesus, and may have inspired some of the Synoptic Gospels.

Specifically, many scholars believe that the Q Document and the Gospel of Mark were the two sources used for the gospels of Matthew and Luke; however, other theories, such as the older Augustinian hypothesis, continue to hold sway with some Biblical scholars. Another theoretical document is the Signs Gospel, believed to have been a source for the Gospel of John. There is little consensus concerning how and when any of these documents were circulated, if they existed at all.

The Entombment of Christ or Deposition
from the Cross (1602–1603) is a
masterwork of Michelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio. It was originally located in
Santa Maria in Vallicella, a church built
for Saint Phillip Neri's Oratorian order,
and adjacent to the buildings of the
order. A copy of the painting is now
in the chapel. The painting was
originally commissioned by Alessandro
Vittrice in 1601, and completed by
two years later. Now, after some eloping,
it is among the treasures of the
Vatican Pinacoteca.

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Many scholars, such as Michael Grant, did not see significant similarity between the pagan myths and Christianity. Grant stated in Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels that "Judaism was a milieu to which doctrines of the deaths and rebirths, of mythical gods seemed so entirely foreign that the emergence of such a fabrication from its midst is very hard to credit."

However, some scholars believe that the gospel accounts of Jesus have little or no historical basis. At least in part, this is because they see many similarities between stories about Jesus and older myths of pagan godmen such as Mithras, Apollo, Attis, Horus and Osiris-Dionysus, leading to conjectures that the pagan myths were adopted by some authors of early accounts of Jesus to form a syncretism with Christianity. While these connections are disputed by many, it is nevertheless true that many elements of Jesus' story as told in the Gospels have parallels in pagan mythology, where miracles such as virgin birth were well-known. Some Christian authors, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, account for this with the belief that such myths were created by ancient pagans with vague and imprecise foreknowledge of the Gospels.

Jesus has an important role in two religions, Christianity and Islam. Most other religions, however, do not consider Jesus to have been a supernatural or holy being. Some of these religions, like Buddhism, do not take any official stance on Jesus' life. Judaism rejects claims of his divinity and of his being the Jewish Mashiach (see also: Messiah for the Christian perspective regarding the Messiah).

Generally speaking, most Christians believe that Jesus is a member of the Holy Trinity - that he is one of the three divine persons who are God (the other two being God the Father and the Holy Spirit). They believe Jesus is the Son of God, and the Messiah or Christ. Christians have also identified Jesus as "the Word" (or Logos cf. John 1:1, see: the names of God).

It is believed that since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Book of Genesis (known to Christians and Jews as The Fall), people have been born flawed with the tendency to sin (original sin), and this "separated" humankind from God, making them liable to condemnation to eternal punishment in Hell. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Three empty crosses after the
crucifixion of Jesus

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Jesus says:

"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:2-3)

Burial of Jesus, Carl Heinrich Bloch

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Some liberal Christians such as John Shelby Spong and Tom Harpur, do not accept that:

1. Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, or
2. that he still lives bodily.

If either of these are true, then Christianity is a hoax.

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."

A 16th-century painting of the
resurrection of Jesus by Matthias
Grünewald.
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Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

The last words of Jesus

⁷He (Jesus) said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
-Jesus (Acts 1:7-8)

Contrarily, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that the Bible states that Jesus was not equal with God, never claimed to be God, that the resurrection is additional proof that he is not God, and that other passages often used as "proof texts" are ambiguous about such claims.

They view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotten Son" (John 3:16), the "firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15).

Fulfilled prophecy

^18-20 "I'm not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I've selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of this Scripture: The one who ate bread at my table Turned on his heel against me.

"I'm telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me."
John 13:18-20 (The Message)

Judaism considers the idea of Jesus being God, or part of a Trinity, or a mediator to God, as heresy. (Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5) Judaism also does not consider Jesus to be the Messiah primarily because it does not consider him to have fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Tanakh, nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.

The Mishneh Torah (an authoritative work of Jewish law) states:

Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, “And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled” (Daniel 11:14). Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandmends. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world – there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him – there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, “Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3:9). Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcized of heart. (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12.)

Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate. (Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68).

According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after 420 BC/BCE, Malachi being the last prophet, who lived centuries before Jesus. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the Torah to prove that he was a prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Even if Jesus had produced such a sign, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preachings was that of repentance, forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus extensively trained disciples who, after his death, interpreted and spread his teachings. Within a few decades his followers comprised a religion clearly distinct from Judaism. Christianity spread throughout The Roman Empire under a version known as Nicene Christianity and became the state religion under Constantine the Great. Over the centuries, it spread to most of Europe, and around the world.

Jesus has been drawn, painted, sculpted, portrayed on stage and in films in many different ways, both serious and humorous. Many of the sayings attributed to Jesus have become part of the culture of Western civilization. There are many items purported to be relics of Jesus, of which the most famous are the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo. Other legacies include a view of God as more fatherly, merciful, and more forgiving, and the growth of a belief in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus and his message have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Jesus has been explained notably by Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, and more recently by C.S. Lewis.

For some, the legacy of Jesus has been a long history of Christian anti-Semitism, although in the wake of the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect. For others, Christianity has often been linked to European colonialism conversely, Christians have often found themselves as oppressed minorities outside of Europe and the Americas.

Most also believe that Jesus' resurrection is additional proof that he is God. Contrarily, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that the Bible states that Jesus was not equal with God, never claimed to be God, that the resurrection is additional proof that he is not God, and that other passages often used as "proof texts" are ambiguous about such claims. They view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotten Son" (John 3:16), the "firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15).

Judaism considers the idea of Jesus being God, or part of a Trinity, or a mediator to God, as heresy.(Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5) Judaism also does not consider Jesus to be the Messiah primarily because it does not consider him to have fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Tanakh, nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.

The Mishneh Torah (an authoritative work of Jewish law) states:

Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, “And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled” (Daniel 11:14). Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandmends. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world – there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him – there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, “Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3.9). Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcized of heart. (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12.)

Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate. (Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68).

According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after 420 BC/BCE, Malachi being the last prophet, who lived centuries before Jesus. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the Torah to prove that he was a prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Even if Jesus had produced such a sign, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preachings was that of repentance, forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus extensively trained disciples who, after his death, interpreted and spread his teachings. Within a few decades his followers comprised a religion clearly distinct from Judaism. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire under a version known as Nicene Christianity and became the state religion under Constantine the Great. Over the centuries, it spread to most of Europe, and around the world.

Jesus has been drawn, painted, sculpted, portrayed on stage and in films in many different ways, both serious and humorous. Many of the sayings attributed to Jesus have become part of the culture of Western civilization. There are many items purported to be relics of Jesus, of which the most famous are the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo. Other legacies include a view of God as more fatherly, merciful, and more forgiving, and the growth of a belief in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus and his message have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Jesus has been explained notably by Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, and more recently by C. S. Lewis.

For some, the legacy of Jesus has been a long history of Christian anti-Semitism, although in the wake of the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect. For others, Christianity has often been linked to European colonialism (see the British Empire); conversely, Christians have often found themselves as oppressed minorities outside of Europe and the Americas.

Notes

• Eusebius, Life of Constantine
• Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range include D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992, 54, 56
• Michael Grant, Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, Scribner's, 1977, p. 71; John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, Doubleday, 1991–, vol. 1:214; E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, Penguin Books, 1993, pp. 10–11, and Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," Christian History 17 (1998) No. 3:12–20.
• per The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave (New York: Doubleday, Anchor Bible Reference Library 1994), p. 964; D. A. Carson, et al., p. 50–56; Shaye J.D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Westminster Press, 1987, p. 78, 93, 105, 108; John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperCollins, 1991, p. xi – xiii; Michael Grant, p. 34–35, 78, 166, 200; Paula Fredriksen, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Alfred B. Knopf, 1999, p. 6–7, 105–110, 232–234, 266; John P. Meier, vol. 1:68, 146, 199, 278, 386, 2:726; E.P. Sanders, pp. 12–13; Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1973), p. 37.; Paul L. Maier, In the Fullness of Time, Kregel, 1991, pp. 1, 99, 121, 171; N. T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, HarperCollins, 1998, pp. 32, 83, 100–102, 222; Ben Witherington III, pp. 12–20.
• Though many historians may have certain reservations about the use of the Gospels for writing history, "even the most hesitant, however, will concede that we are probably on safe historical footing" concerning certain basic facts about the life of Jesus; Jo Ann H. Moran Cruz and Richard Gerberding, Medieval Worlds: An Introduction to European History Houghton Mifflin Company 2004, pp. 44–45.
• Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Zondervan, 1998. ISBN 0310209307; Wright, N.T. The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. InterVarsity Press, 1999. ISBN 0830822003; Dunn, James D.G. The Evidence for Jesus." Westminster John Knox Press, 1985. ISBN 0664246982
• Examples of authors who argue the Jesus myth hypothesis: Thomas L. Thompson The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David (Jonathan Cape, Publisher, 2006); Michael Martin, The Case Against Christianity (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), 36–72; John Mackinnon Robertson
• Friedmann, Robert (1953). "Antitrinitarianism". Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
• James Leslie Houlden, "Jesus: The Complete Guide", Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, ISBN 082648011X
• Prof. Dr. Şaban Ali Düzgün, "Uncovering Islam: Questions and Answers about Islamic Beliefs and Teachings", Ankara: The Presidency of Religious Affairs Publishing, 2004
• Edwin D. Freed, Stories of Jesus' Birth, (Continuum International, 2004), page 119.
• Geza Vermes, The Nativity: History and Legend, London, Penguin, 2006, page 22.
• James D. G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered, Eerdmans Publishing (2003), page 324.
• Luke states that John's ministry began in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.
• Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, (Eerdmans, 1997), page 168.
• Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 978-0-06-073817-4
• Durant, Will. Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972
• "What the Old Testament Prophesied About the Messiah". Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
• Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX. Anchor Bible. Garden City: Doubleday, 1981, pp. 499–500; I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke (The New International Greek Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978, p. 158;
• Matthew 13:55–56, Mark 6:3, and Galatians 1:19
• For Egypt: Matthew 2:13–23; For Tyre and sometimes Sidon:Matthew 15:21–28 and Mark 7:24–3
• Mark 10:45, Luke 4:43, John 20:31.
• Meier 1991 vol. 1:405
• "The Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible NIV," published December 1999, B.B. Kirkbride Bible Co., Inc.; William Adler & Paul Tuffin, "The Chronography of George Synkellos: A Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation," Oxford University Press (2002), p. 466
• In John, Jesus' ministry takes place in and around Jerusalem.
• Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5–7; Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11–32; Parable of the Sower: Matthew 13:1–9; Agape: Matthew 22:34–40.
• Matthew 17:1–6, Mark 9:1–8, Luke 9:28–36
• The crowd was quoting Psalms 118:26; found in John 12:13–16.
• John puts the cleansing of the temple at the start of Jesus' ministry.
• The apostle is identified as Simon Peter in John 18:10; the healing of the ear is found in Luke 22:51.
• Matthew 27:11; Mark 15:12.
• Mark 15:42–46; Luke 23:50–56.
• Matthew 28:5-10; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:12–16; John 20:10–17; Acts 2:24; 1Cor 6:14
• Ministering to Israel: Matthew 15:24; ascension: Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51Acts 1:6–11.; Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus: Acts 9:1–19., 22:1–22; 26:9–24; Second coming: Matthew 24:36–44
• Borg, Marcus J. in Borg, Marcus J. and N. T. Wright. The Meaning of Jesus: Two visions. New York: HarperCollins. 2007.
• See, for an example of the latter, Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth. Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-52341-7
• "The nonhistoricity thesis has always been controversial, and it has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines and religious creeds. .. Biblical scholars and classical historians now regard it as effectively refuted." - Van Voorst, Robert E. Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 16.
• "The denial of Jesus' historicity has never convinced any large number of people, in or our of technical circless, nor did it in the first part of the century." Walter P. Weaver, The Historical Jesus in the Twentieth Century, 1900-1950, (Continuum International, 1999), page 71.
• "about once every generation someone reruns the thesis that Jesus never existed and that the Jesus tradition is a wholesale invention", J. G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered, (Eerdmans, 2003), page 142.
• "There is almost universal agreement that Jesus lived". Bernard L. Ramm, An Evangelical Christology: Ecumenic and Historic, (Regent College Publishing, 1993), page 19.
• "some judgements are so probable as to be certain; for example, Jesus really existed," Marcus Borg, 'A Vision of the Christian Life', in Marcus J. Borg and N T Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, (HarperCollins, 1999), page 236.
• Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 - article "Historical Jesus, Quest of the"
• Meier (1991), pp.43–4
• For a comparison of the Jesus movement to the Zealots, see S. G. F. Brandon, Jesus and the Zealots: a study of the political factor in primitive Christianity, Manchester University Press (1967) ISBN 0–684–31010–4
• For a general comparison of Jesus' teachings to other schools of first century Judaism, see John P. Meier, Companions and Competitors (A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume 3) Anchor Bible, 2001. ISBN 0–385–46993–4.
• Shaye J.D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Westminster Press, 1987, p. 78, 93, 105, 108; John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperCollins, 1991, p. xi – xiii; Michael Grant, p. 34–35, 78, 166, 200; Paula Fredriksen, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Alfred B. Knopf, 1999, p. 6–7, 105–110, 232–234, 266; John P. Meier, vol. 1:68, 146, 199, 278, 386, 2:726; E.P. Sanders, pp. 12–13; Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1973), p. 37.;
• Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987; Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1981; Fredriksen, Paula. From Jesus to Christ. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
• Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987; Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1981; Fredriksen, Paula. From Jesus to Christ. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
• Funk, Robert W., Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar. The five gospels. HarperSanFrancisco. 1993.
• Brian Knowles: Which Language Did Jesus Speak – Aramaic or Hebrew?.
• "Origin of the Name of Jesus Christ". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
• Durant, Will. Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. p. 558; John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew. New York: Doubleday, 1991 vol. 1:205–7;
• Vermes, "Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels"
• Crossan, John Dominic, God and Empire, 2007, p. 28
• "Jesus was claiming for himself the title "I AM" by which God designates himself.. he was claiming to be God." - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, page 546, Zondervan.
• "A further point of broad agreement among New Testament scholars is .. that the historical Jesus did not make the claim to deity that later Christian thought was to make for him: he did not understand himself to be God, or God the Son, incarnate. " - John Hick, The Metaphor of God Incarnate: Christology in a Pluralistic Age, Westminster John Knox Press, page 27.
• Michael Ramsey, Jesus and the Living Past (Oxford University Press, 1980), page 39: 'Jesus did not claim deity for himself'
• C. F. D. Moule, The Origin of Christology : 'Any case for a "high" Christology that depended on the authenticity of the alleged claims of Jesus about himself, especially in the Fourth Gospel, would indeed be precarious'
• James Dunn (theologian), Christology in the Making, (SCM Press 1980), page 254: 'We cannot claim that Jesus believed himself to be the incarnate Son of God' and 'There is no question in my mind that the doctrine of incarnation comes to clear expression within the NT…John 1.14 ranks as a classic formulation of the Christian belief in Jesus as incarnate God.' Page xiii. .
• Brian Hebblethwaite, The Incarnation (Cambridge University Press, 1987), page 74: 'it is no longer possible to defend the divinity of Jesus by reference to the claims of Jesus' .
• John A. T. Robinson, Honest to God, Westminster Press (1963), Page 47: 'It is, indeed, an open question whether Jesus ever claimed to be the Son of God, let alone God.'
• Larry Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, page 5, describes the view that Jesus made 'both his messiahship and his divinity clear to his disciples during his ministry' as 'naive and ahistorical'.
• Larry Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, (Eerdmans, 2005), page 650.
• Based on a comparison of the Gospels with the Talmud and other Jewish literature. Maccoby, Hyam Jesus the Pharisee, Scm Press, 2003. ISBN 0–334–02914–7; Falk, Harvey Jesus the Pharisee: A New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus, Wipf & Stock Publishers (2003). ISBN 1–59244–313–3.
• Neusner, Jacob A Rabbi Talks With Jesus, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000. ISBN 0–7735–2046–5. Rabbi Neusner contends that Jesus' teachings were closer to the House of Shammai than the House of Hillel.
• "Sadducees." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
• Based on a comparison of the Gospels with the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially the Teacher of Righteousness and Pierced Messiah. Eisenman, Robert James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Penguin (Non-Classics), 1998. ISBN 0–14–025773-X; Stegemann, Hartmut The Library of Qumran: On the Essenes, Qumran, John the Baptist, and Jesus. Grand Rapids MI, 1998. See also Broshi, Magen, "What Jesus Learned from the Essenes," Biblical Archaeology Review, 30:1, pg. 32–37, 64. Magen notes similarities between Jesus' teachings on the virtue of poverty and divorce, and Essene teachings as related in Josephus' The Jewish Wars and in the Damascus Document of the Dead Sea Scrolls, respectively. See also Akers, Keith The Lost Religion of Jesus. Lantern, 2000. ISBN 1-930051-26-3.
• Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, p. 14
• See Schwietzer, Albert The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede, pp. 370–371, 402. Scribner (1968), ISBN 0–02–089240–3; Ehrman, Bart Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium, Oxford University Press USA, 1999. ISBN 0–19–512474-X. Crossan, however, makes a distinction between John's apocalyptic ministry and Jesus' ethical ministry. See Crossan, John Dominic, The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus, pp. 305–344. Harper Collins, 1998. ISBN 0–06–061659–8.
• This includes the belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Brown, Michael L. Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: Messianic Prophecy Objections Baker Books, 2003. ISBN 0–8010–6423–6. Brown shows how the Christian concept of Messiah relates to ideas current in late Second Temple period Judaism. See also Klausner, Joseph, The Messianic Idea in Israel: From its Beginning to the Completion of the Mishnah, Macmillan 1955; Patai, Raphael, Messiah Texts, Wayne State University Press, 1989. ISBN 0–8143–1850–9; Crossan, John Dominic, The Birth of Christianity: Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus, pg. 461. Harper Collins, 1998. ISBN 0–06–061659–8. Patai and Klausner state that one interpretation of the prophecies reveal either two Messiahs, Messiah ben Yosef (the dying Messiah) and Messiah ben David (the Davidic King), or one Messiah who comes twice. Crossan cites the Essene teachings about the twin Messiahs. Compare to the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming.
• "Zealots." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
• "Jesus Christ." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
• "The New Testament was complete, of substantially complete, about AD 100, the majority of the writings being in existence twenty to forty years before this ..the situation is encouraging from the historian's point of view, for the first three Gospels were written at a time when many were alive who could remember the things that Jesus said and did.. At any rate, the time elapsing between the evangelic events and the writing of most of the New Testament books was, from the standpoint of historical research, satisfactorily short." Bruce, F. F.: The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, pp. 12-14, InterVarsity Press, USA, 1997.
• "The interval then between the dates of the original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Sciptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established." As quoted in Bruce, F. F.: The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, p. 20, InterVarsity Press, USA, 1997.
• Ehrman, Bart (2005). Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-073817-0.
• Meier, John P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Doubleday: 1991. vol 1: p. 168–171.
• Durant 1944:553-7
• M. Grant, Jesus: An Historian's Review, pp. 199-200
• Bruce, FF (1982). New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? InterVarsity Press, ISBN 087784691X
• Herzog II, WR (2005). Prophet and Teacher. WJK, ISBN 0664225284
• Komoszewski, JE; Sawyer, MJ & Wallace, DB (2006). Reinventing Jesus. Kregel Publications, 195f. ISBN 978-0825429828.
• This section draws on a number of sources to determine the doctrines of these groups, especially the early Creeds, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, certain theological works, and various Confessions drafted during the Reformation including the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, works contained in the Book of Concord, and others.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §436–40; Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, article 2; Irenaeus Adversus Haereses in Patrologia Graeca ed. J. P. Migne (Paris, 1857–1866) 7/1, 93; Luke 2:11; Matthew 16:16
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §606–618; Council of Trent (1547) in Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) §1529;John 14:2–3
• Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, article 9; Augsburg Confession, article 2; Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 8; Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:21–22.
• Apostles' Creed; Nicene Creed; Catechism of the Catholic Church §441–451; Augsburg Confession, article 3; Luther's Small Catechism, commentary on Apostles' Creed; Matthew 16:16–17; 1 Corinthians 2:8
• Augsburg Confession, article 3; John 1:1
• Apostles' Creed; Nicene Creed; Catechism of the Catholic Church §461–463;Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, article 2; Luther's Small Catechism commentary on Apostles' Creed; John 1:14, 16; Hebrews 10:5–7
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §456–460; Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. catech. 15 in Patrologia Graeca ed. J. P. Migne (Paris, 1857–1866) 45, 48B; St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 3.19.1 in ibid. 7/1, 939; St. Athanasius, De inc., 54.3 in ibid. 25, 192B. St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. in ibid. 57: 1–4; Galatians 4:4–5
• Apostles' Creed; Nicene Creed; Catechism of the Catholic Church §484–489, 494–507; Luther's Small Catechism commentary on Apostles' Creed
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §541–546
• Apostles' Creed; Catechism of the Catholic Church §551–553; Augsburg Confession, article 8; Luther's Small Catechism commentary on Apostles' Creed; Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 9; Leo the Great, Sermo 4.3 in Patrologia Latina ed. J. P. Migne (Paris, 1841–1855); Matthew 16:18
• Catechism of the Catholic Church"§1322–1419; Martin Luther, Augsburg Confession, article 10; Luther's Small Catechism: the Sacrament of the Altar
• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part, Question 87, Article 7, Reply to Objection 3, available here
• Apostles' Creed; Nicene Creed;Luther's Small Catechism commentary on Apostles' Creed; Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 9
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §638–655; Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion of Easter; Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, article 4 and 17; Augsburg Confession, article 3; Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 9.
• Apostles' Creed; Nicene Creed; Catechism of the Catholic Church §668–675, 678–679; Luther's Small Catechism commentary on Apostles' Creed; Mt 25:32–46
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §1021-1022
• Fuller 1965, p. 15
• Pliny the Younger: C. Plinius Traino Imperatori Liber Decimus Epistula XCVI
• Nicene Creed; Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, article 1; Augsburg Confession, article 1; Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 3; Council of Nicaea I (325) in Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) §126; Council of Constantinople II (553) in ibid. §424 and 424; Council of Ephesus in ibid. §255; John 1:1; 8:58; 10:30
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §464–469; Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, article 2 and 3 Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 9; Council of Ephesus (431) in Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (1965) §250; Council of Ephesus in ibid. §251; Council of Chalcedon (451) in ibid. §301 and 302; Hebrews 4:15.
• Barth 1956, p. 207
• MacLeod 1998, p. 37-41
• John Calvin, Calvins Calvinism BOOK II Chapter 15 Centers for Reformed Theology and Apologetics (1996-2002, accessed 03 June 2006); available here
• H. Orton Wiley, Christian Theology Chapter 22 (Nampa, Idaho: 1993-2005, accessed 03 June 2006); available here
• Doctrine and Covenants 20.
• 3 Nephi 11:8
• Doctrine and Covenants 20.
• "Revelation—Its Grand Climax at Hand!" –1988 | chap. 27 pp. 180-181 par. 15 "God's Kingdom Is Born!" | . © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | "But who is Michael? The name "Michael" means "Who Is Like God?" So Michael must be interested in vindicating Jehovah's sovereignty by proving that no one is to be compared to Him. In Jude verse 9, he is called "Michael the archangel." Interestingly, the title "archangel" is used elsewhere in the Bible with reference to only one person: Jesus Christ. Paul says of him: "The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel's voice"
• "Insight On The Scriptures 2" –1988 | p. 393 "Michael" | . © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | "Scriptural evidence indicates that the name Michael applied to God's Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ and also after his return. Michael is the only one said to be "the archangel," meaning "chief angel," or "principal angel." The term occurs in the Bible only in the singular. This seems to imply that there is but one whom God has designated chief, or head, of the angelic host. At 1 Thessalonians 4:16 the voice of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is described as being that of an archangel, suggesting that he is, in fact, himself the archangel"
• "Jesus The Ruler Whose Origin Is From Early Times," The Watchtower (15 June 1998) p. 22. | "Some centuries later came Jesus' greatest assignment up to that time. Jehovah transferred the life force of his beloved Son from heaven into the womb of Mary. Nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy, Jesus. (Luke 2:1-7, 21)"
• "Reasoning From The Scriptures" –1985 © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | p. 257 par. 1 Mary (Jesus' Mother) "Heb. 2:14, 17, JB: "Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, he Jesus too shared equally in it . . . It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers." (But would he have been "completely like his brothers" if he had been a God-man?)"
• "Insight On The Scriptures" –1988 | p. 53 "Jesus Christ" | . © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | "Doubtless on many occasions during his prehuman existence as the Word, Jesus acted as Jehovah's Spokesman to persons on earth. While certain texts refer to Jehovah as though directly speaking to humans, other texts make clear that he did so through an angelic representative. (Compare Ex 3:2-4 with Ac 7:30, 35; also Ge 16:7-11, 13; 22:1, 11, 12, 15-18.) Reasonably, in the majority of such cases God spoke through the Word. He likely did so in Eden, for on two of the three occasions where mention is made of God's speaking there, the record specifically shows someone was with Him, undoubtedly his Son. (Ge 1:26-30; 2:16, 17; 3:8-19, 22) The angel who guided Israel through the wilderness and whose voice the Israelites were strictly to obey because 'Jehovah's name was within him,' may therefore have been God's Son, the Word.—Ex 23:20-23; compare Jos 5:13-15."
• Watchtower 9/1/06 1 p. 28 par. 5 "Let Your Petitions Be Made Known to God" © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | "5 Jehovah does not lay down a lot of rigid rules on how to pray. Nevertheless, we need to learn the proper approach to God, which is explained in the Bible. For instance, Jesus taught his followers: "If you ask the Father for anything he will give it to you in my name." (John 16:23) Hence, we are required to pray in Jesus' name, recognizing Jesus as the sole channel through which God's blessings are extended to all mankind."
• John 3:16
• Col 1:15
• Rom 11:36
• "What Do They Believe?", Watchtower Bible and Tract Society c.f., Retrieved April 14, 2007
• "Who is Jesus Christ?", The Watchtower, September 15, 2005, Retrieved December 3, 2007.
• "Insight On The Scriptures" –1988 © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | it-1 p. 1197 Incorruption "Raised to Immortality and Incorruption. Christ Jesus entered into immortality upon his resurrection from the dead, thereafter possessing "an indestructible life." (1Ti 6:15, 16; Heb 7:15-17)"
• The Watchtower © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | 10/1/06 p. 5 You Can Live Forever |"the apostle Paul explains: "Christ, now that he has been raised up from the dead, dies no more; death is master over him no more." (Romans 6:9)" |
• Flint, James; Deb Flint. One God or a Trinity?. Hyderabad: Printland Publishers, p. 3. ISBN 81-87409-61-4.
• Flint, James; Deb Flint. One God or a Trinity?. Hyderabad: Printland Publishers, p. 10. ISBN 81-87409-61-4.
• Pearce, Fred. Jesus: God the Son or Son of God? Does the Bible Teach the Trinity?. Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association Ltd (UK), p. 7.
• Pearce, Fred. Jesus: God the Son or Son of God? Does the Bible Teach the Trinity?. Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association Ltd (UK), p. 8.
• Morgan, Tecwyn. Christ is Coming! Bible Teaching About His Return. Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association Ltd (UK), p. 1.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities, Oxford, 2003, p. 102.
• McManners, John, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 26–31.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities, Oxford, 2003, p. 124–125.
• Wace, Henry, "Commentary on Marcion", Retrieved April 16, 2007.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities, Oxford, 2003, p. 103, p. 104–105, p.108
• The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, p.158
• "Isa", Encyclopedia of Islam
• Fasching, deChant (2001) p. 241
• Jesus in India
• Ahmad, M. M. "The Lost Tribes of Israel: The Travels of Jesus", Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Retrieved April 14, 2007. This view has also been taken up by some western authors, Günter Grönbold, Jesus In Indien, München: Kösel 1985, ISBN 3466202701. Norbert Klatt, Lebte Jesus in Indien?, Göttingen: Wallstein 1988.
• Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5
• Simmons, Shraga, "Why Jews Do not Believe in Jesus", Retrieved April 15, 2007; "Why Jews Do not Believe in Jesus", Ohr Samayach — Ask the Rabbi, Retrieved April 15, 2007; "Why do not Jews believe that Jesus was the messiah?", AskMoses.com, Retrieved April 15, 2007
• Devarim 13:1–5.
• Buchwald, Ephraim, "Parashat Re'eh 5764–2004: Identifying a True Prophet", National Jewish Outreach Program, Retrieved April 15, 2007; Tracey Rich, "Prophets and Prophecy", Judaism 101, Retrieved April 15, 2007; Rabbi Pinchas Frankel, "Covenant of History: A Fools Prophecy", Orthodox Union of Jewish Congregations of America, Retrieved April 15, 2007; Laurence Edwards, "Torat Hayim — Living Torah: No Rest(s) for the Wicked", Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Retrieved April 15, 2007
• "Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, "And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled". (Daniel 11.14) Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world — there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him — there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, "Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder".(Zephaniah 3.9) Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcised of heart. "Hilchot Malachim (laws concerning kings) (Hebrew)", MechonMamre.org, Retrieved April 15, 2007
• Waxman, Jonathan (2006). Messianic Jews Are Not Jews. United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Retrieved on 2008-01-15. “Judaism has held that the Mashiach will come and usher in a new era; not that he will proclaim his arrival, die and wait centuries to finish his task. To continue to assert that Jesus was the Mashiach goes against the belief that the Mashiach will transform the world when he does come, not merely hint at a future transformation at some undefined time to come.. Judaism rejects the claim that a new covenant was created with Jesus and asserts instead that the chain of Tradition reaching back to Moshe continues to make valid claims on our lives, and serve as more than mere window dressing.”
• Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68, "Question 18.3.4: Reform's Position On..What is unacceptable practice?", faqs.org. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
• Stockman, Robert (1992). "Jesus Christ in the Baha'i Writings". Bahá'í Studies Review (1).
• Letter by Shoghi Effendi on November 29, 1937, published in Compilations (1983). in Hornby, Helen (Ed.): Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File. Bahá'í Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India, p. 491. ISBN 8185091463.
• The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Introduction by Swami Nikhilananda, p. 34.
• Christ the Messenger. Retrieved on April 15, 2007.
• Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, 2nd ed., Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1–56589–212–7.
• wikiquote:Mahatma Gandhi; Taylor, Dan. "The Jesus So Few Know," The Good News A Magazine of Understanding, Retrieved April 15, 2007.
• Beverley, James A., Hollywood's Idol, Christianity Today, "Jesus Christ also lived previous lives," he said. "So, you see, he reached a high state, either as a Bodhisattva, or an enlightened person, through Buddhist practice or something like that," Retrieved April 20, 2007
• Mandaean Scriptures and Fragments: The Haran Gawaitha. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
• Bevan, A. A. (1930). "Manichaeism". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume VIII Ed. James Hastings. London
• Wills, Garry, What Jesus Meant (2006) ISBN 0–670–03496–7
• Crossan, John Dominic, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperSanFrancisco (1993), ISBN 0–06–061629–6; Robert Funk, The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the AUTHENTIC Words of Jesus, Harper San Francisco (1997), ISBN 0–06–063040-X; Robert Funk, The Acts of Jesus: What Did Jesus Really Do?, The Jesus Seminar, Harper San Francisco (1998), ISBN 0–06–062978–9; The Jesus Seminar, The Gospel of Jesus: According to the Jesus Seminar, Robert Walter Funk (Editor), Polebridge Press (1999), ISBN 0–944344–74–7
• John 13:34–35
• Sniegocki, John. "Review of Joseph GRASSI, Peace on Earth: Roots and Practices from Luke's Gospel," Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2004 (repentance, forgiveness); Bock, Darrell L. "Major Themes of Jesus' life," (coming of the Kingdom of God); Brussat, Frederic and Mary Ann. "Review of If Grace Is So Amazing, Why Do not We Like It?," (grace); Hughes, F. A. "Grace and Truth," STEM publishing 1972 (grace)
• Duhaime, Jean; Blasi, Anthony J.; Turcotte, Paul-André (2002). Handbook of early Christianity: social science approaches. Walnut Creek, Calif: AltaMira Press, p.434. ISBN 0-7591-0015-2.
• The Jefferson Bible. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
• "Christian Antisemitism: A History of Hate" by William Nicholls, 1993. Published by Jason Aronson Inc., 1995; "Mature Christianity: The Recognition and Repudiation of the Anti-Jewish Polemic in the New Testament" Norman A. Beck, Susquehanna Univ. Press, 1985; "The Satanizing of the Jews: Origin and development of mystical anti-Semitism" Joel Carmichael, Fromm, 1993; "The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes Toward Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity" John G. Gager, Oxford Univ. Press, 1983; "What Did They Think of the Jews?" Edited by Allan Gould, Jason Aronson Inc., 1991; "The New Testament's Anti-Jewish Slander and Conventions of Ancient Polemic," Luke Johnson, Journal of Biblical Literature, Volume 3, 1989; "Three Popes and the Jews" Pinchas E. Lapide, Hawthorne Books, 1967; "National Socialism and the Roman Catholic Church" Nathaniel Micklem, Oxford Univ. Press, 1939; Theological Anti-Semitism in the New Testament," Rosemary Radford Ruether, Christian Century, Feb. 1968, Vol. 85; "John Chrysostom and the Jews" Robert L. Wilken, Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 1983
• Of Revelation and Revolution, Volume 1: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa by Jean Comaroff, John L. Comaroff 1991 University of Chicago Press; A Violent Evangelism: The Political and Religious Conquest of the Americas by Luis Rivera Pagan 1992 Westminster Press; The Americas in the Spanish World Order: The Justification for Conquest in the 17th century by James Muldoon 1994 University of Pennsylvania Press; An Empire Divided: Religion, Republicanism, and the Making of French Colonialism, 1880–1914 by J.P. Daughton 2006 Oxford University Press; Contracting Colonialism: Translations and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society Under Early Spanish Rule by Vicente L. Rafael 1988 Cornell University Press; Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-Cultural Communication Since 1500; With Special Reference to Caste, Conversion, and Colonialism (Studies in the History of Christian Missions) edited by Robert Eric Frykenberg and Alaine Low 2003 Wm. B. Eerdmans

References

• Allison, Dale. Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999. ISBN 0–8006–3144–7
• Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Doubleday, 1997. ISBN 0–385–24767–2
• Cohen, Shaye J.D. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1988. ISBN 0–664–25017–3
• Cohen, Shaye J.D. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0–520–22693–3
• Crossan, John Dominic. o The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. ISBN 0–06–061629–6 o Who Killed Jesus?," 1995. ISBN 0–06–061480–3
• Guy Davenport and Benjamin Urrutia. The Logia of Yeshua; The Sayings of Jesus. Washington, DC: 1996. ISBN 1–887178–70–8
• De La Potterie, Ignace. "The Hour of Jesus." New York: Alba House, 1989.
• Durant, Will. Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. ISBN 0–671–11500–6
• Ehrman, Bart. The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0–19–514183–0
• Ehrman, Bart. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0–19–515462–2
• Fredriksen, Paula. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity. New York: Vintage, 2000. ISBN 0–679–76746–0
• Fredriksen, Paula. From Jesus to Christ. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN 0–300–04864–5
• Finegan, Jack. Handbook of Biblical Chronology, revised ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1–56563–143–9.
• Fuller, Reginald H., The Foundations of New Testament Christology. New York: Scribners, 1965. ISBN 022717075X
• Meier, John P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, New York: Anchor Doubleday,
  v. 1, The Roots of the Problem and the Person, 1991. ISBN 0–385–26425–9
  v. 2, Mentor, Message, and Miracles, 1994. ISBN 0–385–46992–6
  v. 3, Companions and Competitors, 2001. ISBN 0–385–46993–4
• O'Collins, Gerald. Interpreting Jesus. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983.
• Pelikan, Jaroslav. Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN 0–300–07987–7
• Robinson, John A. T. Redating the New Testament. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001 (original 1977). ISBN 1–57910–527–0.
• Sanders, E.P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. New York: Penguin, 1996. ISBN 0–14–014499–4
• Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987. ISBN 0–8006–2061–5
• Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1981. ISBN 0–8006–1443–7
• Fredriksen, Paula. From Jesus to Christ. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
• Vermes, Geza. The Religion of Jesus the Jew. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1993. ISBN 0–8006–2797–0
• Vermes, Geza. Jesus in his Jewish Context. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0–8006–3623–6
• Wilson, A.N. Jesus. London: Pimlico, 2003. ISBN 0–7126–0697–1
• Wright, N.T. Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1997. ISBN 0–8006–2682–6
• Wright, N.T. The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0–8006–2679–6

See also:
Jesus
Jesus as God
Jesus as Man
Christ the Lord
Genealogy of Jesus
prophecy
New Testament view on Jesus' Life

External Links