1 / 14

Who was Jesus?

Who was Jesus?. How would you answer this question?. Historical Jesus Born 4-7 BCE in Nazareth A carpenter’s son Born, raised, lived and died a Jew A wise, story telling teacher A miracle worker and healer A radical revolutionary Crucified at the hands of the Romans. Jesus, the Christ

Download Presentation

Who was Jesus?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Who was Jesus? How would you answer this question?

  2. Historical Jesus Born 4-7 BCE in Nazareth A carpenter’s son Born, raised, lived and died a Jew A wise, story telling teacher A miracle worker and healer A radical revolutionary Crucified at the hands of the Romans Jesus, the Christ Born to a virgin in a barn in Bethlehem Divine Son of God Messiah (Christ) Killed by the Jews Resurrected Savior Ascended into heaven Coming back The Historical Jesus vs. The Christ of Faith

  3. Sources • New Testament gospels: • Only two of them tell the birth story and report events in Jesus’ early life • The synoptics vs. John • Other gospels • Josephus (1st century Jewish historian) • Archeology • Social & political history of the time

  4. The New Testament Gospels • Written between 40 – 60 years after Jesus’ death • Written in Greek, but Jesus spoke Aramaic • Written from a perspective of faith (not an objective report of historical facts) • Not the only gospels written • Not canonized until 4th century

  5. The Problem • Distinguishing between what Jesus said and did and what he is “said to have said” and done (as reported in the sources) – reading between the lines (The Jesus Seminar) • Reconciling Biblical scholarship (literary criticism, historical criticism) with faith

  6. Historical Context • Greek culture, philosophy & mystery religions • Roman political power and religion • Jewish religion: • Sadducees: priests and temple Judaism • Pharisees: rabbis and synagogue Judaism • Esseans: ascetic and messianic Jewish movement • Zealots: Jewish political revolutionaries • Messianic hopefuls and followings

  7. Jesus, the Jew • Hebrew name: Yeshu’a (Joshua) • Jewish from birth to death • Circumcision and redemption of the first born (LK 2:21-24) • Observing the Passover (as a youth and an adult) (LK 2:41-42, MT 26:17-19) • Reading and teaching in the synagogue (LK 4:15-22) • The Greatest Commandment (based on Torah) (MK 12:28-31)

  8. Jesus the Teacher (“rabbi”) • Disciples and followers • The Sermon on the Mount (MT ch. 5-7) • Story telling (parables) (MT ch. 13) • Themes: • The Kingdom of God and the end-times • The nature of God • Forgiveness • The power of faith (MT 17:19-20, MT 21:21) • Imagery includes familiar settings and events:farming, fishing, herding, baking, business

  9. Jesus the Miracle Worker& Faith Healer • Did he really do Miracles? • Did he really raise Lazarus from the dead? (JN 11:1-45) What about the little girl? (MT 9:18-26) And another dead man (LK 7:12-15) • Casting out demons? (MK 5:1-20) • Healing of Jews, Romans, Canaanites and Samaritans alike (JN 4:46-50, LK 7:2-10, MT 15:21-28) • “Your faith has made you well” (MT 15:28, LK 17:19)

  10. Jesus the Social and Religious Revolutionary • Love over the “letter of the law” - mercy and compassion over ritual and rules (LK 14:1-6, Mk 2:23-28, MK 7:14-23) • A threat and challenge to authority: • Debates with Jewish religious authorities (MT 15:1-12, MT 21:42-46, MK 3:1-6) • Criticism of political and religious leaders (LK 13:10-17) • A favorite among the underdogs of society – the masses, the little people

  11. Who Killed Jesus & Why? • Crucifixion: a common form of capital punishment for crimes against Rome (MK 15:27) • Claim to be “king of the Jews” (MK 15:2-5, 16-18, 26) • Role of Jewish authorities? (MK 14:10-11, 43-46) • Saw Jesus as a threat to Jewish security under Roman power

  12. Did Jesus Raise from the Dead?Is He Still Alive? The empty tomb: • Was it empty? • Was the body stolen? • Was he not really dead? Did he ascend into heaven? Is he “seated at the right hand of God?” Will he “come again to judge the living and the dead?” A matter of faith, not history

  13. Questions for Reflection • What was most surprising about the historical information? • How does learning new historical information affect faith? • What new insights do you have about Jesus and Christianity?

  14. Resources on the Web • The Jesus Seminar: Scholars seek to identify the historical words of Jesus within the Gospel passages http://religion.rutgers.edu/jseminar/ • From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians: PBS Frontline four hour series explores the life and death of Jesus and the development of Christianity during its first four centuries http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/ • Pictures from: “Faces of Jesus”http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/jesus/photo/photo.html Created by Laura Ellen Shulman

More Related