Historical Jesus
Dateline: September 13, 2000
"HISTORICAL JESUS" > Page 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
Conclusion
So where does all of this leave the question of a historical Jesus? Not in a good position: at the very least, it has to be admitted that the existence of a historical Jesus cannot simply be assumed as a given and absolute fact.
On the one hand, the evidence of such a person is equivocal at best. People keep trying to write biographies of the man that Jesus was supposed to be, but those biographies keep looking an awful lot like the authors themselves. The authors all pick out different details to focus on and arrive at radically different Jesus-figures.
They can't all be Jesus - so we are left with an embarrassment of riches. There are, quite simply, too many Jesus figures running around. And the unfortunate fact is, once all of the alleged mythology has been stripped away and the remnants of a person are left behind, there just isn't enough left to consider seriously. If there was anyone at the original center of the tradition, we no longer have sufficient information to be sure.
On the other hand, we have a tremendous amount of information which allows us to create amazing parallels between early Christianity and numerous pagan traditions. These mystery religions were popular throughout the Mediterranean region - although they may have started in Egypt, they seem to have spread from one area to the next, always growing in popularity.
The idea that the Christian parallels are just coincidence would stretch credulity to the breaking point. But while it is clear that pagan religions had a strong influence on early Christianity, could there be even more to it? According to Freke and Gandy, there is quite a bit more - early Christianity *was, essentially, a mystery religion. But instead of pagan, it was a Jewish version.
So what is the truth? It's unlikely that we'll ever know for sure. But we do know that history is not as clear-cut as orthodox Christian tradition has told everyone and that the existence of a historical Jesus can justifiably be doubted.
First Page > Introduction > Page 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
Other articles on Jesus:
05/10/00
- Holy Foreskin!
Read about some of the interesting relics which were popular among Christians during
the Middle Ages - including Jesus' foreskin! Actually, there were about of dozen
of Jesus' foreskins distributed around Europe, with different churches fighting over
who had the genuine article. But why?
03/10/99
- Jesus' Ethics
Was Jesus really such a great moral teacher? What did he really advocate?
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