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 Blame shifted 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 did 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