User:Aiden/Jesus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. For other uses, see Aiden/Jesus (disambiguation).
Jesus (Greek Ἰησοῦς Iēsous) (8-2 BC/BCE – 29-36 AD/CE),[1] also known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene, is the central figure of Christianity, in which context he is known as Jesus Christ, where Christ is a title meaning "Anointed", corresponding to "Messiah".
The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which are generally believed to have been written in the decades after his death. Scholars and historians generally agree that Jesus was a Jewish Galilean teacher and healer who was sentenced to death by crucifixion outside of Jerusalem on the orders of Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, for claiming to be the "King of the Judeans," a crime of rebellion against Rome.[2] [3] A small minority question the historicity of Jesus, citing a lack of extant contemporaneous documents making reference to him.[4]
Christian views of Jesus (known as Christology) are both diverse and complex. Most Christians are Trinitarian and affirm the Nicene Creed, believing that Jesus is both the Son of God and God made incarnate, sent to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by atoning for the sins of humanity. Other Christians, however, do not believe that the Nicene Creed correctly interprets Scripture. Christians generally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, crucified and entombed, resurrected on the third day of death, and ascended into Heaven where he resides with God the Father until the Second Coming. Most Christians also believe that Jesus fulfilled Biblical prophecy.
In Islam, Jesus (called Isa) is considered one of God's most beloved and important prophets, a bringer of divine scripture, and also the Messiah. Muslims, however, do not share the Christian belief in the crucifixion or divinity of Jesus. Islam teaches that Jesus is alive in heaven and will return to the earth as Messiah in the company of the Mahdi once the earth has become full of sin and injustice.
Contents |
[edit] Life and teachings, based upon the Gospels
In addition to their portrayal of Jesus as a teacher and healer, the Gospels make various additional claims about his divinity:
- that he is the Messiah (Matthew 1:1, 26:64; Mark 1:1; Luke 2:11; John 1:41; 20:31);
- that he is the Son of God (Mark 1:1; John 20:31);
- that his birth by Mary was virginal (1:23; Luke Matthew 1:34);
- that he was referred to as the 'King of the Jews' (Matthew 27:11; Mark 15:2)
- and that after his crucifixion he rose from the dead (Matthew 28:5-10; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:12-16; John 20:10-17), and then ascended into heaven (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51).
Most Christians hold that the Gospels also teach that Jesus is divine and equal to God the Father (John 8:58, 10:30); however, other groups, citing John 14:28 and various other verses, adhere to different interpretions of the nature of Jesus.
[edit] Chronology of Jesus
| Suggested years of Jesus' birth and death based on Gospel interpretations |
|
|---|---|
| c. 8 BC/BCE | Birth (earliest) |
| c. 4 BC/BCE | Herod's death |
| c. 6 AD/CE | Birth (latest) |
| Quirinius' census | |
| c. 26/27 | Pilate governor |
| c. 27 | Death (earliest) |
| c. 36 | Death (latest) |
| c. 36/37 | Pilate removed |
The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the Gospel of Matthew (probably written between 60 and 85 AD/CE) and the Gospel of Luke (probably written between 60 and 100 AD/CE).[5] There is considerable debate about the details of Jesus' birth even among Christian scholars, and few scholars claim to know either the year or the date of his birth or of his death.
Based on the accounts in the Gospels of the shepherds' activities, the time of year depicted for Jesus' birth could be spring or summer. However, as early as 354, Roman Christians celebrated it following the December solstice in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Before then, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the feast of Theophany, also known as Epiphany, which commemorated not only Jesus' birth but also his baptism by John in the Jordan River and possibly additional events in Jesus' life. The traditional date of Jesus's birth is celebrated as "Christmas".
In the 248th year of the Diocletian Era (based on Diocletian's ascension to the Roman throne), Dionysius Exiguus attempted to pinpoint the number of years since Jesus' birth, arriving at a figure of 753 years after the founding of Rome. Dionysius then set Jesus' birth as being December 25 1 ACN (for "Ante Christum Natum", or "before the birth of Christ"), and assigned AD 1 to the following year—thereby establishing the system of numbering years from the birth of Jesus: Anno Domini (which translates as "in the year of our Lord"). This system made the then current year 532, and almost two centuries later it won acceptance and became the established calendar in Western civilization due to its championing by the Venerable Bede.
However, based on a lunar eclipse that Josephus reports shortly before the death of Herod the Great (who plays a major role in Matthew's account), as well as a more accurate understanding of the succession of Roman Emperors, Jesus' birth would have been some time before the year 4 BC/BCE. Having fewer sources and being further removed in time from the authors of the New Testament, establishing a reliable birth date now is particularly difficult.
The exact date of Jesus' death is also unclear. The Gospel of John depicts the crucifixion just before the Passover festival on Friday 14 Nisan, called the Quartodeciman, whereas the synoptic gospels describe the Last Supper, immediately before Jesus' arrest, as the Passover meal on Friday 15 Nisan. Further, the Jews followed a lunisolar calendar with phases of the moon as dates, complicating calculations of any exact date in a solar calendar. According to John P. Meier's A Marginal Jew, allowing for the time of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate and the dates of the Passover in those years, his death can be placed most probably on April 7, 30 or April 3, 33.
[edit] Genealogy and Family
The genealogy of Jesus through his legal father Joseph is given by two passages from Gospels, Matthew 1:2-16 and Luke 3:23-38. Both of them trace his line to King David and from there on to Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David, but they differ radically between David and Joseph.
Matthew starts with Solomon and proceeds through the kings of Judah up to and including Jeconiah. At Jeconiah the line of kings was terminated due to Israel being conquered by Babylonians. Thus, Jesus is established as legal heir to the throne of Israel. Luke's genealogy is considerably longer than is Matthew's, presenting a far more plausible number of names. His list starts with Nathan, brother of Solomon, and contains 40 names between David and Joseph, almost none of which match Matthew or appear in any historical documents. That Luke goes through David's much less acclaimed son Nathan and does not include the kings of Israel in Jesus' lineage is also seen as adding to Luke's credibility. However, the names on Luke's list seem to lack the historical accuracy of Matthew.
Joseph appears only in stories of Jesus' childhood. With Jesus commending Mary into the care of John the Apostle during his crucifixion, it is likely that he had died by the time of Jesus' ministry. Both Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 tell of Jesus' siblings. Mark 6 reports that Jesus was "Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon," and also states that Jesus had sisters. The Gospel of Luke records that Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:36), though the exact relationship is unspecified.
The first-century Jewish historian Josephus describes James as "the brother of Jesus who is called Christ", though this passage has been suggested as an interpolation (See Josephus on Jesus). Additionally, the Christian historian Eusebius refers to James the Just as Jesus' brother (See Desposyni). However, Epiphanius argued that they were "Joseph's children by his (unrecorded) first wife," while Jerome argued that these siblings were Jesus' cousins, which the Greek word for "brother" as used in the Gospels would encompass. This was based on the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition that Mary remained a perpetual virgin, thus having no biological children before or after Jesus.
[edit] Nativity and Childhood
According to the Gospels, Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem to Mary, a virgin, by a miracle of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of Luke gives an account of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary to tell her that she was chosen to bear the Son of God (Luke 1:26-38). Catholics call this the Annunciation. The odd location of the birth was the result of Joseph and Mary being forced by order of Caesar Augustus to leave their homes in Nazareth and come to the home of Joseph's ancestors, the house of David, for a census. The whole city was full of people who had made the pilgrimage to the city of David and as a result there was no room for the expecting couple at the town's inn.
Present at the scene, according to Luke's account, were local shepherds who were visited in the night by an angel who said, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." After this an innumerable company of angels appeared with the herald singing "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." (See The First Noël.) The shepherds went quickly to Bethlehem, finding the sign to be as the angel foretold. They subsequently publicized what they had witnessed throughout the area.
Based on the accounts of Matthew and Luke, a group of wise men from Persia, known as the Magi, presented the infant Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The men were said to be following a mysterious star, commonly known as the Star of Bethlehem, that had suddenly appeared in the sky, believing it to be the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, or King of the Jews. However, neither Luke nor Matthew provide any positive support for the idea that the Magi were present on the night of the birth, while both provide details that conflict with that idea. Still, traditional Christian celebrations of Christmas often involve the display Nativity Scenes including the Three Wise Men.
Jesus' childhood home is represented as Nazareth in Galilee, and aside from a flight to Egypt in infancy to escape Herod's Massacre of the Innocents and a short trip to Tyre and Sidon, all other events in the Gospels are set in ancient Israel. The Finding in the Temple is the only event between his infancy and his adult life mentioned in the canonical Gospels, although New Testament apocrypha fill in the details of this time, some quite extensively.
[edit] Baptism and Temptation
The Baptism of Jesus marks the Gospels' first mention of Jesus after childhood. According to Luke, he was about thirty years old at the time. It is a very important event in Christianity as it not only marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, but also sets a precident of baptism adhered to by Christians to this day. According to Matthew Jesus came to the Jordan River near the Desert of Judea where his cousin, John the Baptist, had been preaching and baptising those in the crowd. Jesus approached John to be baptized, but John declined, saying that it should be Jesus who should be baptizing John. Jesus insisted however, claiming that baptism was necessary to "fulfill all righteousness", which is commonly held as meaning to fulfill the will of God. After Jesus rose from the water, Matthew claims "the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'"
Following his baptism, according to Matthew, Jesus was lead into the desert by God where he fasted for forty days and forty nights. It was there that he was tempted by Satan. In all, he was tempted three times. Each temptation is rejected by Jesus with scripture from the book of Deuteronomy. The first temptation came during his fast, in which Satan tempted Jesus to prove he was the Son of God by turning a stone into bread, to which Jesus responded, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" During the second temptation, Satan lead Jesus to what is referred to as the Holy City, commonly held to be Jerusalem, where his tempted him him to prove he was the Son of God by throwing himself from from the pinnacle of the temple and having the angels catch him. But Jesus responded, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'" The final temptation came when Satan lead Jesus to the top of a mountain. There he offered all of the world if Jesus would worship him. Finally, Jesus responded, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" With this, Satan departed and angels came to be with Jesus.
[edit] Transfiguration
[edit] The Last Supper
[edit] The Passion and Crucifixion
According to the Gospels, Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival, and created a disturbance at the Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers there. He was subsequently arrested on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the high priest, Caiaphas, for blasphemy, because he claimed to be the Messiah (Mark 14:62) and because, the Jews believed, he had made himself to be God (John 10:33). He was identified to the guards by one of his apostles, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus by a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane, after which another apostle (identified as Peter in the Gospel of John), used a sword to attack one of the captors, cutting off his ear, which Jesus immediately healed. After his arrest, Jesus' apostles went into hiding.
Jesus was condemned for blasphemy by the Sanhedrin and turned over to the Romans, charged with sedition for claiming to be King of the Jews. The usual penalty for sedition was a humiliating death by crucifixion, but, according to the Gospels, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate did not find Jesus to be guilty of any crime. So Pilate first had Jesus flogged, and then, remembering that it was a custom at Passover for the Roman governor to free a prisoner, Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Jesus of Nazareth and an insurrectionist named Barabbas. The crowd chose to have Barabbas freed and Jesus crucified. Pilate washed his hands to display that he himself was innocent of the injustice of the decision. All four Gospels say Pilate then ordered Jesus to be crucified with a charge placed atop the cross (called the titulus crucis) which read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". (The titulus crucis is often written as INRI, the Latin acronym.) According to Matthew and Mark, his last words were "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (taken from Psalm 22), according to John, "It is finished," and according to Luke, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."
While it was common practice to let a body hang upon the cross for days and decay,[6] Jesus' followers were allowed to take his body down and place it in a tomb.
[edit] Harrowing of Hell
[edit] Resurrection of Jesus
According to the New Testament, Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. This day is celebrated by Christians as Resurrection Sunday during Easter.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke state that on the third day of death, an angel appeared near the tomb of Jesus and announced his ressurection to the women who had arrived to anoint the body. The sight of the same angel had apparently left the Roman guards unconscious (Matthew 28:2-4). (According to Matthew 27:62-66, the high priests and Pharisees, with Pilate's permission, had posted guards in front of the tomb to prevent the body from being stolen by Jesus' disciples.) Mark 16:9 states that the morning of his resurrection, Jesus first appeared to his disciple, Mary Magdalene. John 20:11-18 states that when Mary looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus—even by his voice—until he called her by her name.
The Acts of the Apostles tell of several appearances of Jesus to various people in various places over a period of forty days before he ascended into heaven. Hours after his resurrection, he appeared to two travelers on the road to Emmaus. To his assembled disciples he showed himself on the evening after his resurrection. According to Luke, during one of these visits, Jesus' disciple Thomas initially doubted the resurrection, but after placing his finger in Jesus' peirced side, said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Thereafter, Jesus went to Galilee and showed himself to several of his disciples by the lake and on the mountain. These disciples were present when he returned to Mount Olivet, between Bethany and Jerusalem, and was lifted up to heaven and a cloud concealed him from their sight.
[edit] Ascension
[edit] Ministry of Jesus
The Gospels describe the Baptism of Jesus by his kinsman John the Baptist as the beginning of his public ministry. According to Luke, he was about thirty years old at the time. Jesus' most common method of teaching was the parable (a story with metaphorical meaning). Some of his most famous teachings come from the Sermon on the Mount, which contained the Beatitudes and the Golden Rule. His most famous parables include the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.
At the height of his ministry, Jesus attracted huge crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, primarily in the areas of Galilee (in modern-day northern Israel) and Perea (in modern-day western Jordan). Though many of his followers were considered disciples, the focus of his ministry was toward his closest adherents, the twelve disciples (from the Latin word discipulus meaning "student"), later called the Twelve Apostles (from the Greek word apostolos meaning "to send out"), who were commissioned by Jesus to continue the work of his ministry on Earth.
According to the Gospels, Jesus also performed various miracles, including healings, exorcisms, walking on water, turning water into wine, and raising several people, such as Lazarus, from the dead. Jesus frequently put himself in opposition to the Jewish religious authorities, both in the synagogue (largely the domain of the Pharisees) and the Temple (largely the domain of the Sadducees). His teaching castigated the Pharisees primarily for their legalism (Matthew 15:9) and hypocrisy (Luke 18:10-14), although he also had followers among religious leaders such as Nicodemus. Jesus was also known as a social reformer.
Jesus introduced and preached the concept of agape (literally "[God kind of] love"). Jesus also preached about faith, service and humility, the forgiveness of sin, and attaining everlasting life in "The Kingdom of God." Many interpret the Gospels to suggest that Jesus was opposed to much of traditional Jewish law, advocating more the spirit than the letter of the law. Some contend, for example, that Jesus preached a "higher level" of morality than in Jewish law, since, for instance, he preached to love not only your "neighbor" but your "enemy" as well (Matthew 5:43-48). But despite the many unique aspects of Jesus' teaching, recent Christian and Jewish scholarship have moderated the perception of opposition between Jesus and the Jewish teachers of his day by showing his substantial agreement with trends in the Jewish religious thinking.
It is commonly thought that Jesus preached for a period of three years, but this is never mentioned explicitly in any of the four gospels, and some interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year. Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the end of his ministry is usually associated with the Passover Feast (15 Nisan or spring), as stated in the New Testament, which indicates that the waving of palm fronds and other greetings from the crowd were intended to hail him as the Messiah (John 12:13). The Hosanna shout and the waving of palm fronds, ordinarily a part of the feast of Sukkoth (15 Tishri or fall), appear to have been moved by the followers of Jesus to Passover because of their Messianic associations.
[edit] Parables
[edit] Sermon on the Mount
- See also: Beatitudes, Lord's Prayer, Turn the other cheek, and Salt of the earth
[edit] Miracles of Jesus
[edit] Cultural and historical background of Jesus
Most modern Biblical scholars hold that the works describing Jesus were initially communicated by oral tradition, and were not committed to writing until several decades after Jesus' crucifixion. The earliest extant texts which refer to Jesus are Paul's letters, which are usually dated from the mid-1st century. Paul saw Jesus only in visions, but he claimed that they were divine revelations and hence authoritative (Galatians 1:11-12). The earliest extant texts describing Jesus in any detail were the four New Testament Gospels. These texts, being part of the Biblical canon, have received much more analysis and acceptance from Christian sources than other possible sources for information on Jesus.
Many apocryphal texts have also surfaced detailing events in Jesus' life and teachings, though they were not included in the Bible due to a belief that they were not divinely inspired, in the sense that an apostle was not the author, and they were written too long after his death. Chief among them the Gospel of Thomas, a "sayings gospel" or logia, consisting primarily of phrases attributed to Jesus. Other New Testament apocrypha, generally considered less important, include the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Infancy Gospels, the Gospel of Peter, the Unknown Berlin Gospel, the Naassene Fragment, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Egerton Gospel, the Oxyrhynchus Gospels and the Fayyum Fragment. A number of Christian traditions (such as Veronica's veil and the Assumption of Mary) are found not in the canonical gospels but in these and other apocryphal works, such as the Acts of Pilate.
[edit] Historicity of Jesus
[edit] Historical Jesus
Most scholars agree the Gospels were written after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. According to most critical historians, Jesus probably lived in Galilee for most of his life and he probably spoke Aramaic and Hebrew. Many have sought to reconstruct Jesus's life in terms of contemporaneous political, cultural, and religious currents in Israel, including differences between Galilee and Judea; between different sects such the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, and in terms of conflicts among Jews in the context of Roman occupation. See Cultural and historical background of Jesus and Aramaic of Jesus for more about Israel in Jesus' day and what effect this may have had on his life.
Examining the New Testament account of Jesus in light of historical knowledge about the time when Jesus was purported to live, as well as historical knowledge about the time during which the New Testament was written, has led several scholars to reinterpret many elements of the New Testament accounts. Of special interest has been the names and titles ascribed to Jesus. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name rendered Joshua in English. It literally means "God saves". Before the J written glyph was invented in the 16th century, Jesus was written as Iesus in English, as seen in the 1611 KJV Bible. Christ (which is a title and not a part of his name) is an Anglicization of the Greek term for Messiah, and literally means "anointed one". Historians have debated what this title might have meant at the time Jesus lived; some historians have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament (e.g. Lord, Son of Man, and Son of God) had meanings in the first century quite different from those meanings ascribed today: see Names and titles of Jesus. The Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution brought skepticism regarding the historical accuracy of these texts. Although some critical scholars, including archeologists, continue to use them as points of reference in the study of ancient Near Eastern history [1], some have come to view the texts as cultural and literary documents, generally regarding them as part of the genre of literature called hagiography, an account of a holy person regarded as representing a moral and divine ideal. Hagiography has a principal aim of the glorification of the religion itself and of the example set by the perfect holy person represented as its central focus.
[edit] Questions of existence of earlier texts
Some texts with even earlier historical or mythological information on Jesus are speculated to have existed prior to the Gospels,[7] though none have been found. Based on the unusual similarities and differences (see synoptic problem) between the Synoptic Gospels — Matthew, Mark and Luke, the first three canonical gospels — many Biblical scholars have suggested that oral tradition and logia (such as the Gospel of Thomas and the theoretical Q document) probably played a strong role in initially passing down stories of Jesus, and may have inspired some of the Synoptic Gospels.
Specifically, many scholars believe that the Q document and the Gospel of Mark were the two sources used for the gospels of Matthew and Luke; however, other theories, such as the older Augustinian hypothesis, continue to hold sway with some Biblical scholars. Another theoretical document is the Signs Gospel, believed to have been a source for the Gospel of John.[8] There is little consensus concerning how and when any of these documents were circulated, if they existed at all.
[edit] Questions of reliability
As a result of the several-decade time gap between the writing of the Gospels and the events they describe, the accuracy of all early texts claiming the existence of Jesus or details of Jesus' life have been disputed by various parties. However, most scholars accept many details of the gospel narratives. [2] The authors of the gospels are traditionally thought to have been witnesses to the events included. After the original oral stories were written down, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. However, several Biblical historians have responded to claims of the unreliability of the gospel accounts by pointing out that historical documentation is often biased and second-hand, and frequently dates from several decades after the events described. Some say that the Gospel accounts are neither objective nor accurate, since they were written or compiled by his followers and seem to exclusively portray a positive, idealized view of Jesus whilst others point to the lack of contemporary non Christian sources. Those who have a naturalistic view of history, as a general rule, do not believe in divine intervention or miracles, such as the resurrection of Jesus mentioned by the Gospels. One method used to estimate the factual accuracy of stories in the gospels is known as the "criterion of embarrassment", which holds that stories about events with embarrassing aspects (such as the denial of Jesus by Peter, or the fleeing of Jesus's followers after his arrest) would likely not have been included if those accounts were fictional.
[edit] External influences on gospel development
Many scholars, such as Michael Grant, do not see significant similarity between the pagan myths and Christianity. Grant states in Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels that "Judaism was a milieu to which doctrines of the deaths and rebirths, of mythical gods seemed so entirely foreign that the emergence of such a fabrication from its midst is very hard to credit." [3]
However, some scholars believe that the gospel accounts of Jesus have little or no historical basis. At least in part, this is because they see many similarities between stories about Jesus and older myths of pagan godmen such as Mithras, Apollo, Attis, Horus and Osiris-Dionysus, leading to conjectures that the pagan myths were adopted by some authors of early accounts of Jesus to form a syncretism with Christianity. While these connections are disputed by many, it is nevertheless true that many elements of Jesus' story as told in the Gospels have parallels in pagan mythology, where miracles such as virgin birth were well-known. Some Christian authors, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, account for this with the belief that such myths were created by ancient pagans with vague and imprecise foreknowledge of the Gospels.
[edit] Religious perspectives
Jesus has an important role in two religions, Christianity and Islam. Most other religions, however, do not consider Jesus to have been a supernatural or holy being. Some of these religions, like Buddhism, do not take any official stance on Jesus' life. Judaism rejects claims of his divinity and of his being the Mashiach.
[edit] Christian views
Generally speaking, most Christians believe that Jesus is a member of the Holy Trinity - that he is one of the three divine persons who are God (the other two being God the Father and the Holy Spirit). They believe Jesus is the Son of God, and the Messiah or Christ. Christians have also identified Jesus as "the Word" (or Logos).
It is believed that since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Book of Genesis (known to Christians and Jews as The Fall), people have been born flawed with the tendency to sin (original sin), and this "separated" humankind from God, making them liable to condemnation to eternal punishment in Hell. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
But most Christians believe that Jesus' death by crucifixion was the perfect sacrifice to reconcile humanity with God and save them from their sins. Hebrews 9:14 states, "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" Most Christians also believe that three days after Jesus's death, he rose from the grave and forty days later, he ascended into Heaven, and that his resurrection grants eternal life in heaven to the faithful. Jesus says in John 14:2-3, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
There are several differing views within Christian groups as to whether or not Jesus was divine (and on other issues). The majority of Christian laypeople, theologians, and clergy hold that the Bible states Jesus to be divine, to claim divinity, and to claim equality with God the Father. Most also believe that Jesus' resurrection is additional proof that he is God. Contrarily, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that the Bible states that Jesus was not equal with God, never claimed to be God, that the resurrection is additional proof that he is not God, and that other passages often used as "proof texts" are ambiguous about such claims. They view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotten Son" (John 3:16), the "firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15).
Most Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus to be Michael the Archangel, who became a human to come down to earth. Other nontrinitarian groups hold similar beliefs. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains that Jesus is the very same as Yahweh of the Old Testament but is distinct from God the Father. (See also Jesus in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
[edit] Islamic views
In Islam, Jesus (known as Isa, Arabic: عيسى), is considered one of God's most-beloved and important prophets. Like Christian writings, the Qur'an holds that Jesus was born without a biological father by the will of God and for this reason is consistently termed "Isa ibn Maryam", a matronymic (since he had no biological father). Similarly Islamic belief also holds that he could perform miracles, and that he will one day return to the world to rid it of evil. However, unlike Christians, Muslims do not consider Jesus to have been God or the Son of God, and do not believe that he died on the cross. Instead, the Qur'an states that his death was only an illusion (done by God) to deceive his enemies, and that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven. Muslims believe he will return to the world in the flesh following Imam Mahdi to defeat the Dajjal (an Antichrist-like figure, translated as "Deceiver") once the world has become filled with sin, deception and injustice, and then live out the rest of his natural life.
Muslims also believe that Jesus received a gospel from God (called the Injil) that corresponds to the Christian New Testament, but that it and the Old Testament have both been changed by mankind over time so that they no longer accurately represent God's original message to mankind. In Muslim traditions, Jesus lived a perfect life of nonviolence, showing kindness to humans and animals (similar to the other Islamic prophets), without material possessions and abstaining from sin.
The Ahmadiyya Muslims believe that Jesus survived the crucifixion and later travelled to Kashmir, where he lived and died as a prophet under the name of Yuz Asaf.
[edit] Judaism's view
Judaism considers the idea of Jesus being God, or part of a Trinity, or a mediator to God, as heresy.(Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5) Judaism also does not consider Jesus to be the Messiah primarily because it does not consider him to have fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Tanakh, nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.[9] [10] [11]
The Mishneh Torah (an authoritative work of Jewish law) states:
Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, “And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled” (Daniel 11.14). Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandmends. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world – there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him – there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, “Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3.9). Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcized of heart. (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12.) [4]
Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate. (Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68).[12]
According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after 420 BC/BCE, Malachi being the last prophet, who lived centuries before Jesus. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the Torah to prove that he was a prophet (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Even if Jesus had produced such a sign, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5) [5][6][7][8]
[edit] Eastern religions
Hindu beliefs in Jesus vary from those who consider him to have been just a normal man, or even purely a fable, to those who believe that he was an avatar of God. A large number of Hindus consider Jesus to have been a wise guru or yogi, some even suggesting that he spent his "lost years" learning various Hindu beliefs in India. The Hindutva historian P.N. Oak has even claimed that Jesus was in fact Krishna, and that Christianity originated as a form of his worship. Many in the Surat Shabd Yoga tradition regard Jesus as a Satguru. Mahatma Gandhi considered Jesus one of his main teachers and inspirations for Nonviolent Resistance. Swami Vivekananda has praised Jesus and cited him as a source of strength and epitome of perfection in several of his eloquent speeches. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, one of the greatest religious teachers of Hinduism is considered as the reincarnation of Jesus.
According to Ayyavazhi belief, Jesus was the incarnation of Narayana. In addition, many events in the life of Vaikundar seem similar to those of Jesus.
Although Buddhism in general attributes no spiritual significance to Jesus, some Buddhists believe that Jesus may have been a Bodhisattva, one who has dedicated his or her future to the happiness of all beings. Some Buddhists also interpret Jesus through Zen Buddhism, sometimes basing their perspective on the Gospel of Thomas.
The Bahá'í Faith considers Jesus to be one of many "Manifestations" (or prophets) of God, with both human and divine stations.
[edit] Other views
The Ebionites believed that Jesus was a great prophet and the Messiah, but not divine. They rejected the Epistles of Paul and asserted that Jesus did not consider the Biblical laws to be abrogated, but instead wanted his followers to abide by them, except for animal sacrifices, for which they believe he proclaimed an end. The Ebionites claimed the leadership of Saint James the Just, often referred to as the brother of Jesus, but no historical connection between James and the sect has been substantiated.
Gnostics believed salvation was achieved through secret knowledge (gnosis) of the spiritual world. Gnostics considered themselves "people in the know. [They] are the elect, their souls fragments of the divine, needing liberation from matter and the power of the planets."[13] Gnostic Christians believed that Jesus was an Aeon who provided gnosis, and who was sent by a higher deity than the evil demiurge who created the material world. Gnostic Christians further believed that Jesus was a spiritual being whose material body, and thus his crucifixion and death, were divine illusions. Some Gnostics believed that Jesus had a syzygy named Sophia. The Gnostics wrote several texts and tended to interpret the New Testament as allegory.
Marcion believed that Jesus rejected the Mosaic Law, or at least the parts that were incompatible with his teachings. According to Henry Wace's Commentary on Marcion: "The story proceeds to say that he asked the Roman presbyters to explain the texts, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit," and "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment," texts from which he himself deduced that works in which evil is to be found could not proceed from the good God, and that the Christian dispensation could have nothing in common with the Jewish. Rejecting the explanation offered him by the presbyters, he broke off the interview with a threat to make a schism in their church"
The New Age movement entertains a wide variety of views on Jesus, with some representatives (such as A Course In Miracles) going so far as to trance-channel him. Many recognize him as a "great teacher" (or "Ascended Master") similar to Buddha, and teach that Christhood is something that all may attain. At the same time, many New Age teachings, such as reincarnation, appear to reflect a certain discomfort with traditional Christianity. Numerous New Age subgroups claim Jesus as a supporter, often incorporating contrasts with or protests against the Christian mainstream. Thus, for example, Theosophy and its offshoots have Jesus studying esotericism in the Himalayas or Egypt during his "lost years".
Many Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics, whilst rejecting the concept of God, and therefore of the divinity of Christ, nevertheless have empathy with some of the moral principles taught in the New Testament.
[edit] Cultural Impact
- See also: Dramatic portrayals of Jesus, Jesus in Pop culture, and Images of Jesus
According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preachings was that of repentance, forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus extensively trained disciples who, after his death, interpreted and spread his teachings. Within a few decades his followers comprised a religion clearly distinct from Judaism. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire under a version known as Nicene Christianity and became the state religion under Constantine the Great. Over the centuries, it spread to most of Europe, and around the world.
Jesus has been drawn, painted, sculpted, and portrayed on stage in many different ways. There are also many items purported to be relics of Jesus, of which the most famous are the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo. Many of the sayings attributed to Jesus have become part of the culture of Western civilization. Other legacies include a view of God as more fatherly, merciful, and more forgiving, and the growth of a belief in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus and his message have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Jesus has been explained notably by Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, and more recently by C.S. Lewis.
For some, the legacy of Jesus has been a long history of Christian anti-Semitism, although in the wake of the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect. For others, Christianity has often been linked to European colonialism (see British Empire, Portuguese Empire, Spanish Empire, French colonial empire, Dutch colonial empire); conversely, Christians have often found themselves as oppressed minorities outside of Europe and the Americas.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range include Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, Simon and Schuster, 1994, p. 557-558; Michael Grant, Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, Scribner's, 1977, p. 71; John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, Doubleday, 1991-, vol. 1:214; E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, Penguin Books, 1993, pp. 10-11, and Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," Christian History 17 (1998) No. 3:12-20.
- ^ Shaye J.D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Westminster Press, 1987, p. 78, 93, 105, 108; John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperCollins, 1991, p. xi-xiii; Will Durant, 557-558, 568, 570, 572; Michael Grant, p. 34-35, 78, 166, 200; Paula Fredriksen, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, p. 6-7, 105-110, 232-234, 266; John P. Meier, vol. 1:68, 146, 199, 278, 386, 2:726; E.P. Sanders, pp. 12-13; Geza Vermes; D. A. Carson; Paul L. Maier, In the Fullness of Time, Kregel, 1991, pp. 1, 99, 121, 171; N. T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, HarperCollins, 1998, pp. 32, 83, 100-102, 222; Ben Witherington III, pp. 12-20.
- ^ Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave (New York: Doubleday, Anchor Bible Reference Library 1994), p. 964. "'The King of Israel' is not a political title as is 'the King of the Jews'", p. 976; Will Durant, p. 572; Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1973), p. 37.
- ^ Bruno Bauer; Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy. The Jesus Mysteries: Was the 'Original Jesus' a Pagan God? London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999, pp. 133, 158; Michael Martin; John Mackinnon Robertson; G.A. Wells. The Jesus Legend, Chicago: Open Court, 1996, p xii.
- ^ The Gospels of the Bible, BibleGateway.com.
- ^ Joe Zias, "Crucifixion in Antiquity: The Anthropological Evidence", accessed March 14, 2006.
- ^ Henry Bettenson, Chris Maunder, Documents of the Christian Church (3rd edition), Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0192880713
- ^ Daniel Gaztambide (2005), "So Sayeth The Lord... According to Who?".
- ^ Rabbi Shraga Simmons, "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus", accessed March 14, 2006.
- ^ "Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus", Ohr Samayach - Ask the Rabbi, accessed March 14, 2006.
- ^ "Why don't Jews believe that Jesus was the messiah?", AskMoses.com, accessed March 14, 2006.
- ^ "Question 18.3.4: Reform's Position On...What is unacceptable practice?", faqs.org, accessed March 14, 2006.
- ^ John McManners, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 26-31.
[edit] See also
|
Find more information on Jesus by searching Wikipedia's sister projects:
|
[edit] References
- Allison, Dale. Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet, Augsburg Fortress, 1999. ISBN 0800631447
- Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament, Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1997. ISBN 0-385-24767-2
- Cohen, Shaye J.D., From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Westminster John Knox Press, 1988. ISBN 0-664-25017-3
- Cohen, Shaye J.D. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties, University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0-520-22693-3
- Crossan, John Dominic, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. ISBN 0060616296
- Ehrman, Bart The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0195154622
- Fredriksen, Paula Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity, Vintage, 2000. ISBN 0679767460
- Fredriksen, Paula, From Jesus to Christ, Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-300-04864-5
- Finegan, Jack, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, revised ed., Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1565631439.
- Robinson, John A. T. Redating the New Testament, Wipf & Stock, 2001 (original 1977). ISBN 1-579-10527-0.
- Sanders, E.P. The Historical Figure of Jesus, Penguin, 1996. ISBN 0140144994
- Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism, Fortress Press, 1987. ISBN 0800620615
- Vermes, Geza Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels, Augsburg Fortress Pub, 1981. ISBN 0800614437
- Vermes, Geza, The Religion of Jesus the Jew, Augsburg Fortress Pub, 1993. ISBN 0800627970
- Vermes, Geza, Jesus in his Jewish context, Augsburg Fortress Pub, 2003. ISBN 0800636236
- Wright, N.T. Jesus and the Victory of God, Augsburg Fortress, 1997. ISBN 0800626826
- Wright, N.T. The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0800626796
[edit] External links
|
Historical and skeptical views
|
