Jesus

===Historicity of events===
{{Main|Historicity of Jesus}}
{{See also|Cultural and historical background of Jesus|History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Historical criticism|Textual criticism|Historical reliability of the Gospels}}
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Nearly all historians (both modern and historical) agree that Jesus was a real person who historically existed.{{efn|name=exist}} Scholars have reached a limited consensus on the basics of Jesus' life.<ref name="White">{{cite book |title=Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite |first=L. Michael |last=White |year=2010 |publisher=HarperOne}}</ref>

====Family====
{{See also|Brothers of Jesus}}
Many scholars agree that Joseph, Jesus' father, died before Jesus began his ministry. Joseph is not mentioned in the Gospels during Jesus' ministry. Joseph's death would explain why in Mark 6:3, Jesus' neighbours refer to Jesus as the "son of Mary" (sons were usually identified by their fathers).{{sfn|Brown|1978|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ML1mnUBwmhcC&pg=PA64 64]}}

According to Theissen and Merz, it is common for extraordinary [[Charismatic authority|charismatic leaders]], such as Jesus, to come into conflict with their ordinary families.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=194}} In Mark, Jesus' family comes to get him, fearing that he is mad (Mark 3:20–34), and this account is thought to be historical because early Christians would likely not have invented it.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Robert W. Funk |last=Funk |first=Robert W. |author2-link=Jesus Seminar |author2=The Jesus Seminar |title=The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |year=1998 |chapter=Mark |pages=51–161}}</ref> After Jesus' death, many members of his family joined the Christian movement.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=194}} Jesus' brother [[James, brother of Jesus|James]] became a leader of the Jerusalem Church.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|loc=James, St.}}

[[Géza Vermes]] says that the doctrine of the [[virgin birth of Jesus]] arose from theological development rather than from historical events.{{sfn|Vermes|1981|p=283}}
Despite the widely held view that the authors of the Synoptic Gospels drew upon each other (the so-called [[synoptic problem]]), other scholars take it as significant that the virgin birth is [[criterion of multiple attestation|attested]] by two separate gospels, Matthew and Luke.<ref>Bromiley, Geoffrey (1995) ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'', Eerdmans Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-8028-3784-4}}, p. 991.</ref>{{sfn|Keener|2009b|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8C2Y_HaL5W0C&pg=PA83 83]}}<ref>Donald A. Hagner, ''Matthew 1–13'' (Paternoster Press 1993 {{ISBN|978-0-8499-0232-1}}), pp. 14–15, cited in the preceding.</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0PbBz6-XcssC&pg=PA761 |page=761 |title=Christian Theology |isbn=978-1-4412-0010-5 |last1=Erickson |first1=Millard J. |date=August 1998 |publisher=Baker Publishing |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-date=13 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913031951/https://books.google.com/books?id=0PbBz6-XcssC&pg=PA761 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Christmas – Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal |first=Scott C. |last=Lowe |publisher=Wiley |date=20 September 2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hYEngEACAAJ |page=28 |isbn=978-1-4443-3090-8 |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-date=13 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913014940/https://books.google.com/books?id=2hYEngEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bruner |first=Frederick Dale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jZlfg1yxIEC&pg=PA41 |title=Matthew a Commentary: The Christbook, Matthew 1–12, Volume 1 |date=30 April 2004 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-1118-9 |page=41 |language=en |author-link=F. Dale Bruner |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913024157/https://books.google.com/books?id=5jZlfg1yxIEC&pg=PA41 |archive-date=13 September 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

According to [[E. P. Sanders]], the [[Nativity of Jesus|birth narratives]] in the [[Gospel of Matthew]] and the [[Gospel of Luke]] are the clearest case of invention in the Gospel narratives of Jesus' life. Both accounts have Jesus born in [[Bethlehem]], in accordance with Jewish salvation history, and both have him growing up in Nazareth. But Sanders points out that the two Gospels report completely different and irreconcilable explanations for how that happened. Luke's account of a census in which everyone returned to their ancestral cities is not plausible. Matthew's account is more plausible, but the story reads as though it was invented to identify Jesus as like a new [[Moses]], and the historian [[Josephus]] reports Herod the Great's brutality without ever mentioning that [[Massacre of the Innocents|he massacred little boys]].{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=85–88}} The contradictions between the two Gospels were probably apparent to the early Christians already, since attempts to harmonize the two narratives are already present in the earlier apocryphal [[infancy gospels]] (the [[Infancy Gospel of Thomas]] and the [[Gospel of James]]), which are dated to the 2nd century AD.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cousland|first=J. R. C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMw6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|title=Holy Terror: Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas|date=16 November 2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-567-66817-2|language=en|access-date=17 May 2021|archive-date=9 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309232719/https://books.google.com/books?id=rMw6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Gambero|first=Luigi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dsZzsAtggnUC&q=L.+Gambero,+Mary+and+the+Fathers+of+the+Church|title=Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought|date=1999|publisher=Ignatius Press|isbn=978-0-89870-686-4|language=en|access-date=17 May 2021|archive-date=9 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309232541/https://books.google.com/books?id=dsZzsAtggnUC&q=L.+Gambero,+Mary+and+the+Fathers+of+the+Church#v=snippet&q=L.%20Gambero%2C%20Mary%20and%20the%20Fathers%20of%20the%20Church&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Sanders says that the genealogies of Jesus are based not on historical information but on the authors' desire to show that Jesus was the universal Jewish saviour.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=80–91}} In any event, once the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus became established, that tradition superseded the earlier tradition that he was descended from [[David]] through Joseph.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=196}} The [[Gospel of Luke]] reports that Jesus was a [[Consanguinity|blood relative]] of [[John the Baptist]], but scholars generally consider this connection to be invented.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=80–91}}<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Robert W. Funk |last=Funk |first=Robert W. |author2-link=Jesus Seminar |author2=The Jesus Seminar |title=The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |year=1998 |chapter=Birth & Infancy Stories |pages=497–526}}</ref>

====Baptism====
[[File:ဗတ္တိဇံ.jpg|thumb|Baptism in the [[Jordan River]], the river where Jesus was baptized]]
Most modern scholars consider Jesus' baptism to be a definite historical fact, along with his crucifixion.{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=339}} Theologian [[James Dunn (theologian)|James D. G. Dunn]] states that they "command almost universal assent" and "rank so high on the 'almost impossible to doubt or deny' scale of historical facts" that they are often the starting points for the study of the historical Jesus.{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=339}} Scholars adduce the [[criterion of embarrassment]], saying that early Christians would not have invented a baptism that might imply that Jesus committed [[sin]]s and wanted to [[Repentance|repent]].{{sfn|Powell|1998|p=47}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Murphy|first=Catherine|title=John the Baptist: Prophet of Purity for a New Age|year=2003|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-5933-5|pages=29–30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=so_G78SBXAoC&pg=PA29|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=7 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907065554/https://books.google.com/books?id=so_G78SBXAoC&pg=PA29|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Theissen and Merz, Jesus was inspired by [[John the Baptist]] and took over from him many elements of his teaching.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=235}}

====Ministry in Galilee====
Most scholars hold that Jesus lived in [[Galilee]] and [[Judea]] and did not preach or study elsewhere.<ref name="Dunn303">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2006 |title=The Spirit-Filled Experience of Jesus |encyclopedia=The Historical Jesus in Recent Research |publisher=Eisenbrauns |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=37uJRUF6btAC&pg=PA303 |access-date=14 August 2015 |last=Borg |first=Marcus J. |editor-last1=Dunn |editor-first=James D. G. |page=303 |isbn=978-1-57506-100-9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910073549/https://books.google.com/books?id=37uJRUF6btAC&pg=PA303 |archive-date=10 September 2015 |editor2-last=McKnight |editor2-first=Scot |url-status=live}}</ref> They agree that Jesus debated with Jewish authorities on the subject of God, performed some healings, taught in [[parable]]s and gathered followers.{{sfn|Levine|2006|p=4}} Jesus' Jewish critics considered his ministry to be scandalous because he feasted with sinners, fraternized with women, and allowed his followers to pluck grain on the Sabbath.{{sfn|Funk|Hoover|The Jesus Seminar|1993|p=3}} According to Sanders, it is not plausible that disagreements over how to interpret the Law of Moses and the Sabbath would have led Jewish authorities to want Jesus killed.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=205–23}}

According to Ehrman, Jesus taught that a coming kingdom was everyone's proper focus, not anything in this life.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=167–70}} He taught about the Jewish Law, seeking its true meaning, sometimes in opposition to traditions.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=164–67}} Jesus put love at the center of the Law, and following that Law was an apocalyptic necessity.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=164–67}} His ethical teachings called for forgiveness, not judging others, loving enemies, and caring for the poor.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=171–76}} Funk and Hoover note that typical of Jesus were [[paradox]]ical or surprising turns of phrase, such as advising one, when struck on the cheek, [[Turning the other cheek|to offer the other cheek]] to be struck as well.<ref>Luke 6:29.</ref>{{sfn|Funk|Hoover|The Jesus Seminar|1993|p=294}}

The Gospels portray Jesus teaching in well-defined sessions, such as the [[Sermon on the Mount]] in the Gospel of Matthew or the parallel [[Sermon on the Plain]] in Luke. According to Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz, these teaching sessions include authentic teachings of Jesus, but the scenes were invented by the respective evangelists to frame these teachings, which had originally been recorded without context.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|pp=17–62}} While Jesus' [[miracle]]s fit within the social context of [[Ancient history|antiquity]], he defined them differently. First, he attributed them to the faith of those healed. Second, he connected them to [[Eschatology|end times]] prophecy.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=310}}

Jesus chose [[Apostles in the New Testament|twelve disciples]] (the "Twelve"),{{sfn|Sanders|1993|p=10}} evidently as an [[Apocalypticism|apocalyptic]] message.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=186–87}} All three Synoptics mention the Twelve, although the names on Luke's list vary from those in Mark and Matthew, suggesting that Christians were not certain who all the disciples were.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=186–87}} The twelve disciples might have represented the twelve original [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|tribes of Israel]], which would be restored once God's rule was instituted.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=186–87}} The disciples were reportedly meant to be the rulers of the tribes in the coming Kingdom.<ref>Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:30.</ref>{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=186–87}} According to Bart Ehrman, Jesus' promise that the Twelve would rule is historical, because the Twelve included [[Judas Iscariot]]. In Ehrman's view, no Christians would have invented a line from Jesus, promising rulership to the disciple who betrayed him.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|pp=186–87}}

In Mark, the disciples play hardly any role other than a negative one. While others sometimes respond to Jesus with complete faith, his disciples are puzzled and doubtful.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=123–24}} They serve as a [[Foil (literature)|foil]] to Jesus and to other characters.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=123–24}} The failings of the disciples are probably exaggerated in Mark, and the disciples make a better showing in Matthew and Luke.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=123–24}}

Sanders says that Jesus' mission was not about [[repentance]], although he acknowledges that this opinion is unpopular. He argues that repentance appears as a strong theme only in Luke, that repentance was [[John the Baptist]]'s message, and that Jesus' ministry would not have been scandalous if the sinners he ate with had been repentant.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=230–36}} According to Theissen and Merz, Jesus taught that God was generously giving people an opportunity to repent.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=336}}

====Role====
Jesus taught that an apocalyptic figure, the "[[Son of man (Christianity)|Son of Man]]", would soon come on clouds of glory to gather the elect, or chosen ones.<ref>Mark 13:24–27, Matthew 24:29–31, and Luke 21:25–28.</ref> He referred to himself as a "[[son of man]]" in the colloquial sense of "a person", but scholars do not know whether he also meant himself when he referred to the heavenly "Son of Man". [[Paul the Apostle]] and other early Christians interpreted the "Son of Man" as the risen Jesus.<ref name="Britannica" />

The Gospels refer to Jesus not only as a messiah but in the absolute form as "the Messiah" or, equivalently, "the Christ". In early Judaism, this absolute form of the title is not found, but only phrases such as "his messiah". The tradition is ambiguous enough to leave room for debate as to whether Jesus defined his [[Eschatology|eschatological]] role as that of the messiah.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|loc=Messiah}} The Jewish messianic tradition included many different forms, some of them focused on a messiah figure and others not.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|pp=533–40}} Based on the Christian tradition, [[Gerd Theissen]] advances the hypothesis that Jesus saw himself in messianic terms but did not claim the title "Messiah".{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|pp=533–40}} Bart Ehrman argues that Jesus did consider himself to be the messiah, albeit in the sense that he would be the king of the new political order that God would usher in,<ref>{{cite web|last=Ehrman|first=Bart|url=http://ehrmanblog.org/judas-and-the-messianic-secret/|title=Judas and the Messianic Secret|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|date=1 December 2015|access-date=15 February 2016|archive-date=23 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223091403/http://ehrmanblog.org/judas-and-the-messianic-secret/|url-status=live}}</ref> not in the sense that most people today think of the term.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ehrman|first=Bart|url=http://ehrmanblog.org/jesus-claim-to-be-the-messiah/|title=Jesus' Claim to be the Messiah|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|date=1 December 2015|access-date=15 February 2016|archive-date=23 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223082758/http://ehrmanblog.org/jesus-claim-to-be-the-messiah/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Passover and crucifixion in Jerusalem====
Around AD 30, Jesus and his followers travelled from [[Galilee]] to [[Jerusalem]] to observe [[Passover]].{{sfn|Sanders|1993|p=10}} Jesus caused a disturbance in the [[Second Temple]],{{sfn|Sanders|1993|p=11}} which was the center of Jewish religious and civil authority. Sanders associates it with Jesus' prophecy that the Temple would be totally demolished.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=254–62}} Jesus held a last meal with his disciples, which is the origin of the [[Eucharist|Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist]]. His words as recorded in the Synoptic gospels and Paul's [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|First Letter to the Corinthians]] do not entirely agree, but this meal appears to have pointed to Jesus' place in the coming Kingdom of God when very probably Jesus knew he was about to be killed, although he may have still hoped that God might yet intervene.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=263–64}}

The Gospels say that Jesus was betrayed to the authorities by a disciple, and many scholars consider this report to be highly reliable.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|loc=Jesus Christ}} He was executed on the orders of [[Pontius Pilate]], the Roman [[prefect]] of [[Judea (Roman province)|Judaea]].{{sfn|Sanders|1993|p=11}} Pilate most likely saw Jesus' reference to the Kingdom of God as a threat to Roman authority and worked with the Temple elites to have Jesus executed.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|pp=465–66}} The Sadducean high-priestly leaders of the Temple more plausibly had Jesus executed for political reasons than for his teaching.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|loc=Jesus Christ}} They may have regarded him as a threat to stability, especially after he caused a disturbance at the Second Temple.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|loc=Jesus Christ}}<ref name="JE1906">{{cite web |last1=Jacobs |first1=Joseph |last2=Kohler |first2=Kaufmann |last3=Gottheil |first3=Richard |last4=Krauss |first4=Samuel |title=Jesus of Nazareth |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8616-jesus-of-nazareth |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160226102548/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8616-jesus-of-nazareth |archive-date=26 February 2016 |website=Jewish Encyclopedia}} See ''Avodah Zarah 17a:1'', ''Sanhedrin 43a:20'', ''Gittin 57a:3–4'', and ''Sotah 47a:6''.</ref> Other factors, such as Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, may have contributed to this decision.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=269–73}} Most scholars consider Jesus' crucifixion to be factual, because early Christians would not have invented the painful death of their leader.{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=339}}{{sfn|Meier|2006|pp=126–28}}

====After crucifixion====
[[File:The Resurrection Beaufort arms in border (f. 131) Cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The Resurrection of Christ from a 16th-century manuscript of ''La Passion de Nostre Seigneur'']]
After Jesus' death, his followers said he was restored to life, although exact details of their experiences are unclear. The gospel reports contradict each other, possibly suggesting competition among those claiming to have seen him first rather than deliberate fraud.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|pp=276–81}} On the other hand, [[L. Michael White]] suggests that inconsistencies in the Gospels reflect differences in the agendas of their unknown authors.<ref name="White" /> The followers of Jesus formed a community to wait for his return and the founding of his kingdom.{{sfn|Sanders|1993|p=11}}