Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?

Christianity is one of the most influential religions on both ancient and modern Western society, with the religion based on the teachings of the prophet Jesus Christ who lived approximately between the years of 5 BC and 33 AD. It is claimed that Christ was the son of God whose spirit was embodied and sent to Earth as a human being to bring peace and prosperity to the less fortunate, and absolve the world of its sin. Jesus preached a doctrine of a supreme monotheistic god who ruled over the universe, as well as ethics and morals especially centred on the concept of faith and forgiveness. If one was to live their life in accordance to the Will of God and the teachings of Christ found in the written word of the Holy Bible, one would be absolved of their sin and ascend to the spiritual realm of God, known as Heaven, after their physical death.

In the Gospels according to Matthew and that according to Luke, Jesus’ birth and childhood is narrated. While both of these accounts mention Jesus as not only being the son of Joseph and his virgin wife Mary but also the Son of God, they also have numerous differences between the two. When compared and contrasted many scholars find historical inaccuracies between the two Gospels (especially when it comes to the birth and childhood of Jesus). That being said however, after a closer look at some of the historical problems one may be able to see that they are not nearly as important as the deeper motivation they bring out to the reader.

The foundation of the Christian faith is cradled within truth of the virgin birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As diverse as the world-wide Christian culture is, the truth in the birth and life of Jesus stands without border and language limitations. Just as each individual life story can be adapted to be relevant for a variety of audiences, the birth story of the Messiah was also. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are an example of the well-rounded and diverse narration of the birth story of Jesus—Matthew’s narration spoke to the history of the Jewish people and Luke presented to the citizen of Rome.

It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.

Some scholars argue that evidence of Jesus of Nazareth 's existence can only be found within the writings of the New Testament. They believe that the New Testament is a biased and unreliable source for the existence of Jesus. They therefore claim that Jesus did not exist. The historical existence of Jesus is necessary to demonstrate the truth of Christianity. While Christian scholars do not discount the reliability of the New Testament as a historical document, they are also able to point to other historical documents and consider non-Christian writings which support the existence of Jesus. In this paper I will argue that Jesus the Nazarene was an actual, historical person and that this can be demonstrated through extra-Biblical resources.

One of the many things that puzzle people even today; is how Jesus was portrayed and how he became a part of history throughout the centuries. Fortunately, within the book Jesus Through the Centuries, written by Jaroslav Pelikan, readers are able to get a sense of what societies viewed Jesus as and how he was/is important to many aspects of the world such as; the political, social, and cultural impact he had left. As Pelikan discusses this very topic and theme in his book, we see how there’s a connection between his audience in this book and Jesus’s are closely similar. When he got his motivation to write about Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav had an open audience, which was intended for anyone of all ages, races, and beliefs to read

One of the main pieces of evidence used by historians when authenticating the life of Jesus Christ is the information presented by various

The most rebutted aspect of the work done by the scholars was their idiosyncrasy to equate “unverifiable” with “unauthentic.” Most scholars who study the elements attribute to the life of Jesus stand on common ground when it comes to the realization that many of the sayings and deeds associated to Jesus in the Gospels lack sufficient evidence to establish authenticity. However, to many scholars insufficient evidence means an element cannot be verified, and therefore should not be deemed as historical. In contrast, the Jesus Seminar went beyond this scope and maintained that Jesus did not say or did not do things that cannot be authenticated by evidence. For example, it is widely accepted that there is very little evidence to support whether or not Jesus was born from his virgin mother, Mary. As a result, this element of his life has just been something that one would believe on the foundation of religious faith rather than historical science. However, the Jesus Seminar applied a post-Enlightenment historical scientific view to this element in order to determine authenticity. Under this assessment, they determined not only what is confirmable but what also is scientifically possible. Therefore, the scholars deemed the virgin birth as non-historical, concluding that Jesus had been conceived through normal sexual intercourse between a male and female because it fit the paradigm known today. This stance held by the Jesus Seminar “turn[s] a corner in the traditional understanding of the relationship that faith and philosophy bear to science and history” (Powell, 115). For this reason, I reject the integrity of their work. I believe faith and philosophy should be kept separate of science and history, unless the two aim to support one another. Rescinding concepts of faith simply because they do fall within current scientific boundaries is illegitimate. The major flaw of the Jesus Seminar is their

Caesar Augustus was the Roman emperor at the time of Jesus’s birth Luke tells us At that time, Augustus Caesar sent an order that all people in the countries under Roman rule must list their names in a register” Luke 2:1 Octavian was the adopted son of Julius Caesar, who had been assassinated. He became the undisputed and sole emperor after defeating Mark Antony after whom the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem was name and Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt at the maritime Battle of Actium.

Christianity is a well-developed religion, which was formed out of Judaism during the time of the first century. There are a multitude of branches within in the religion of Christianity with some of the major ones being Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Even within the major branches there are even smaller subcategories to which people claim to be their religion of choice. During my research I was able to really find out in greater details more about this marvelous form of religion and why it has the most people of any religion world wide currently adhering to it. With nearly 2.2 billion people claiming to be Christians, Christianity’s beliefs that derive from the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ have stayed true since the formation of their religion. I was fortunate enough to interview Eli Riddle who is a practicing Evangelist and provided me with a vast amount of information about his denomination. Throughout my paper it is my goal to help give a better understanding of the History, Sacred Texts, Worship, Sacraments, Life after Death, as well as a few other intriguing topics covering the broad religion of Christianity while also giving insight about

The quest for the knowledge on the historical Jesus started as a protest against the traditional dogma of Christianity, but when the neutral historians joined the movement, all they saw was Jesus without features. Even when these scholars decided that other biblical figures such as John the evangelist, John the Baptist, Paul, and others were at home in a symbolic and richly storied world. Jesus himself

Several years ago, I too “lost the historical Jesus as a credible human being” (p. 8) after reading Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. Although I have recovered from that momentary crisis, I have developed a “hermeneutic of suspicion” (p. 18) in that I do not appraise value to events in the bible as factual, but I find truths within the texts. I appreciate Borg’s separation of the pre- and post-Easter Jesus while exploring a sense of the historical Jesus (p. 7). However, both are unclear at best due to the formation of the sacred texts. The oral traditions circulating prior to the written forms cannot be reclaimed, at least not entirely. As oral traditions were collected, the written forms artistically combined these traditions to create the Christian

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. But he has risen! He is not here!" says Mark 16:6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest and most miraculous event in human history. Many believe though, it is a great historical problem. But, when we look at the evidence, the truth of the resurrection provides the most valid explanation. Though skepticism about the resurrection of Jesus exists; the empty tomb, the appearances of Christ after his death, and the violent deaths of the apostles, provide well-founded evidence for the resurrection of Christ.

Christians believe in the Trinity, which means that God has 3 forms: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With Christianity having about 2.4 billion adherents known as Christians, it is the world’s largest religion. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who is fully divine and human, is the savior of humanity whose coming as Christ or the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. In the Christian Bible, the Old Testament is written about in the first section based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible. According to the Christian Bible, Jesus suffered before he died, was buried, and was then resurrected from the dead. Jesus resurrected in order to grant eternal life to those who believed in him for the

The world’s largest and most popular religion, Christianity, revolves around one man who is believed to have performed several miracles, Jesus Christ. Claimed to be “son of God,” Jesus was born near Jerusalem to the Virgin Mary. When Jesus reached the age of 30, a prophet by the name of John the Baptist appeared in Jesus’ town and called people to the truth. As Jesus approached John to get baptized, John “recognized in him [Jesus] the Messiah whose coming he had foretold” (“Jesus