Historical Jesus

Why Should We Care About Jesus?

• What makes Jesus stand out?• Teacher of Jewish theology and morality• Performed miracles and exorcisms• Claimed to be divine (and maintained that

there was a monotheistic God)• Means that Jesus is either God, or a liar• Claim to have resurrected from the dead

Jesus of History and Christ of Faith

• Gospels not meant to be historical or bibliographic• Drawing from particular communities

experience of the resurrected Christ • Gospel writers were expressing who

Christ was• To find who Jesus of history was, need to

sift through material• Information that is not Jewish or

primitive Christianity is likely the more historically accurate

Origins of Jesus

• Carpenter (or craftsman)• Debate about his social class • Early life glossed over• Matthew and Luke provide infancy

accounts, but these are both problematic

Not a Bibliography

• Not told about Jesus’ personality• No information about habits or character• Told about his actions and words only• Never given a physical description• Why were people drawn to Christ?

Is Jesus a John Doe…a man of mystery shrouded in the unknown?

What Would Jesus and his Followers have looked Like?• First followers were a group of fishermen• Rough, blue collar workers• Not well educated• Leader called Simon Peter (Literally Rock)• Probably a formidable group

As W.W.E. teaches us, a nickname like “The Rock”

isn’t given to just any person, clearly Peter wasn’t

to be messed with.

Message and Mission of Jesus

• Inaugurate a Kingdom• Did this mean challenging present

establishments?• Did Jesus intend to start a Church?• What did the term “Kingdom of God” mean?• Greek word translated to Kingdom is Basileia• Complete reign and sovereignty of a ruler• The entire universe aligned with God’s will• Is there a precedent for this in Scripture

Crucifixion

• Gospels provide Pro-Roman narrative• Shifted blame to Jewish leaders• Some Roman sources suggest that

Rome saw Jesus as a threat• Pilate probably didn’t hesitate to kill

Jesus• Evangelist depict Romans more

positive because they are writing under the Roman regime

Resurrection

• Inconsistent accounts• Differ on who Jesus first appeared to• All agree Jesus returned to life, in a pre-

fallen state• God’s Kingdom being realized• Historians offer different explanations

for this phenomenon• All agree, without the experience of the

resurrection, Western history would have gone down a very different course