Posted: January 24th, 2024

Examine historical records to learn more about Jesus’ life

Examine historical records to learn more about Jesus’ life

One of the challenges of studying the life of Jesus is the scarcity and diversity of historical sources. Apart from the Christian writings in the New Testament, there are only a few non-Christian references to Jesus from the first and second centuries CE. These include Jewish sources such as Josephus, and Roman sources such as Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Suetonius. However, these sources are not always reliable, consistent, or independent of each other. Moreover, they often reflect the biases and agendas of their authors and audiences, who may have had different views and interests regarding Jesus and his followers.

Therefore, historians need to apply various methods and criteria to evaluate and compare the available sources, such as the criterion of embarrassment, the criterion of multiple attestation, the criterion of coherence, and the criterion of dissimilarity. These methods help to determine the authenticity and reliability of the information about Jesus, as well as to identify the distinctive features of his teachings and actions. By using these methods, historians can reconstruct a plausible and probable picture of Jesus’ life, although not without some gaps and uncertainties.

Some of the historical facts that are widely accepted by scholars are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, that he was a Jewish preacher who attracted many followers in Galilee and Judea, that he performed deeds that were considered miraculous or supernatural by some people, that he was accused by some Jewish leaders of blasphemy and sedition, that he was crucified by the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, and that some of his followers claimed to have seen him alive after his death. However, there are many other aspects of Jesus’ life that are disputed or debated by scholars, such as his birthplace, his family background, his relationship with other Jewish groups and movements, his understanding of his own identity and mission, his use of parables and aphorisms, his attitude towards the Law and the Temple, his expectation of the Kingdom of God, his role in the Last Supper and its significance, his trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, and his resurrection and its implications.

To examine historical records to learn more about Jesus’ life is a challenging but rewarding task. It requires a careful analysis of the sources, a critical evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses, a comparison of their similarities and differences, and a synthesis of their information into a coherent narrative. By doing so, historians can gain a deeper insight into the historical context and significance of Jesus’ life, as well as into the origins and development of Christianity.

References:

– Ehrman, Bart D. Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. New York: HarperOne, 2012.
– Mykytiuk, Lawrence J. “Did Jesus Exist? write my paper homework help Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible.” Biblical Archaeology Review 41 (2015): 44-51.
– Van Voorst, Robert E. Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

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