The Weight Of One Of The World 's Most Dominant Religions

Jesus: What is Jesus' true identity? What did Jesus do? Why is Jesus' identity and work significant for the Christian worldview?

[v] Edershiem, Alfred. Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database: Biblesoft, Inc.

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

It can be argued that the similarities and differences of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke can cause the reader to either see both of these accounts to complement one another with their different perspectives or that they contradict one another by certain events being mentioned in one birth narrative but not the other. Different aspects of both of these birth narratives such as the way Matthew and Luke treat Mary, the extent to which they use the Old Testament and the audience to whom they are writing to reveals the authors’ agenda as they allow their culture and own personal beliefs to influence what they write. These factors could be argued to have an effect on the historical authenticity of these texts as it could be possible that they could have caused the authors to twist the truth to fit in with their own beliefs.

While the Councils of Nicea and Chalcedon allow for a more elucidated understand of Christ, the reality of other factors inhibits its full potential. There are factors that exist which produce the opposite effect. Several issues, including history, philosophy, and language, impede the attempt to better apprehend Jesus Christ. In regards to the issue with history, there is an inverse relationship between the desire for Jesus’ history with the current amount of information that humanity has recorded of him. For a religious figure who has left an immeasurable amount of influence onto mankind with his abilities, interactions with others, humility, and ultimate sacrifice, procuring more knowledge on this being would a great benefit to Christological studies. There would be no amount of books large enough to contain the knowledge of the Messiah’s actions that are not already detailed (O’Collins 2). This unquantifiable yearning for learning is unfortunately contrasted with the amount of detailed information on him currently available after nearly two millennia. There are not many details that the world knows about Jesus Christ since “he left no letters or other personal documents” (O’Collins 2). Not a lot of information is known about the Redeemer before he established his “public ministry”

Two thousand years ago, the birth of Jesus, arguably the most influential man the world has ever seen, altered history forever. Christians know him as the Messiah, the son of God who came to save all of mankind, and for others, he may just be a great teacher and person of history. It is the latter that Reza Aslan attempts to shed an unbiased light on by comparing the Jesus that modern Christians believe in to the Jesus that Aslan believes would have fit into first-century Palestine: a violet revolutionary, dedicated to the eradication of the Roman government in Israel and the deposition of the rich priestly class. Aslan paints a portrayal of Jesus using knowledge of the time period, Scripture that has been taken out of context and misinterpreted, and most of all, the author’s imagination and powerful rhetoric to cover up his faulty argumentation. In his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan recreates an interesting but purely speculative image of the historical Jesus through exploring the political and social history of first-century Palestine, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the development of early Christianity.

Jesus—perhaps the most discoursed name in history. He has transformed and influenced many lives including mine. To some people, He was a prophet. To others He is a mere legend. To me, he is a father and a friend, but most of all, He is my Lord and Savior through justification, sanctification, and redemption.

In the book The Jesus I Never Knew, Phillip Yancey presents an image of Jesus that contradicts the image of the Son of God society has established. As children, a majority of conventional Christians are subjected to a warm, soft-spoken, calm, levelheaded Jesus. Yancey argues against this common interpretation of Jesus, opting for a different, more realistic approach to Him. In contrast to the accepted portrayal, he stresses to the reader that Jesus was not always calm and accepting, and although he was the Son of God, he was still a human. As a human, Jesus was not without strong emotions of both love and anger. In the book of Mathew, it is written, “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned

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

Immediately preceding Jesus’ death by crucifixion an oral tradition of recounting the story began to take hold. Numerous scriptures in Evolution of the Word by Marcus J. Borg, the primary version of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible that will be used in this paper, contradict each other not only while recounting the death of Jesus but, a plethora of times while recounting his life or the interpretations of his message. Even though scriptures contradict each other at every turn it is hardly enough evidence to simply proclaim that the Bible is false. Oral tradition simplified is the passage of significant events, like Jesus’ crucifixion, from one generation to the next via speech. Antiquity was a time of vast illiteracy and sub-par

Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many great men who have left an impact on today’s world. Some of these men may have changed a certain system was run or established a better community for other people. While doing these things is certainly commendable, there is one man who stands above the rest. This man is unique in every way from His conception to His death. In addition, this man made astonishing claims and performed many great miracles. While there were many that embraced this man, there were many that called him foolish and a sinner. This man was Jesus Christ. Through the use of Old Testament prophets, various New Testament testimonies, and certain divine attributes, it is proven that Jesus Christ is unique in that He and God are one.