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105-464: Reconstructions of the historical Jesus are based on the Pauline epistles and the gospels , while several non-biblical sources also support his historical existence. Since the 18th century, three separate scholarly quests for the historical Jesus have taken place, each with distinct characteristics and developing new and different research criteria. Historical Jesus scholars typically contend that he

210-551: A three-fold argument first developed in the 19th century: that the New Testament has no historical value with respect to Jesus's existence, that there are no non-Christian references to Jesus from the first century, and that Christianity had pagan and/or mythical roots. Contemporary scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed, and biblical scholars and classical historians view the theories of his nonexistence as effectively refuted. Robert M. Price , an atheist who denies

315-450: A "critical edition" containing a text most closely approximating the original. There are three fundamental approaches to textual criticism: eclecticism, stemmatics, and copy-text editing. Techniques from the biological discipline of cladistics are currently also being used to determine the relationships between manuscripts. The phrase "lower criticism" is used to describe the contrast between textual criticism and " higher criticism ", which

420-611: A Jew named Jesus who spoke Aramaic and wore tzitzit . There are different hypotheses regarding the origin of the texts because the gospels of the New Testament were written in Greek for Greek-speaking communities , and were later translated into Syriac, Latin, and Coptic. The fourth gospel, the Gospel of John , differs greatly from the Synoptic Gospels and scholars generally consider it to be less useful for reconstructions of

525-514: A decade or more later than the traditional dates. Finally, Epistle to the Hebrews , although anonymous and not really in the form of a letter, has long been included among Paul's collected letters. Although some churches ascribe Hebrews to Paul, neither most of Christianity nor modern scholarship does so. In the order they appear in the New Testament, the Pauline epistles are: This ordering

630-464: A few difficulties when it comes to analyzing the Old Testament as a historical text. New Testament historical analysis is also difficult due to the nature of the original texts that we can analyze, specifically their translatability as well as how oral tradition had effects on written tradition during the formation and canonization of gospel texts and the teachings of Jesus. The Hebrew Bible,

735-680: A few years after the crucifixion, and got some direct information about his life from them. From Paul's writings alone, a fairly full outline of the life of Jesus can be found: his descent from Abraham and David, his upbringing in the Jewish Law, gathering together disciples, including Cephas (Peter) and John, having a brother named James, living an exemplary life, the Last Supper and betrayal, numerous details surrounding his death and resurrection (e.g. crucifixion, Jewish involvement in putting him to death, burial, resurrection, seen by Peter, James,

840-549: A highly symbolic book, there will be different outcomes in the interpretation of particular sections. Additionally, one's view of the scriptures as sacred and written by God or as a historical text has implications on one's interpretation of text. Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in texts, both manuscripts and printed books. Ancient scribes made errors or alterations when copying manuscripts by hand. Given

945-471: A historical event. Eddy and Boyd state that it is now firmly established that there is non-Christian confirmation of the crucifixion of Jesus – referring to the mentions in Josephus and Tacitus. Most scholars in the third quest for the historical Jesus consider the crucifixion indisputable, as do Bart Ehrman, John Dominic Crossan and James Dunn. Although scholars agree on the historicity of

1050-593: A larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did." According to Keith, "these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible," calling into question the methods and aim of the first model. In 2021, James Crossley (editor of the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus ) announced that historical Jesus scholarship now had moved to

1155-405: A manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic seeks to reconstruct the original text (the urtext , archetype or autograph ) as closely as possible. The same processes can be used to attempt to reconstruct intermediate editions, or recensions, of a document's transcription history. The ultimate objective of the textual critic's work is the production of

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1260-402: A number of new techniques, but faded away in the 1970s. In the 1980s a number of scholars gradually began to introduce new research ideas, initiating a third quest characterized by the latest research approaches. One of the modern aspects of the third quest has been the role of archaeology; James Charlesworth states that modern scholars now want to use archaeological discoveries that clarify

1365-503: A problem with comparing the translation to the original Hebrew (because we have it). This may lead to problems of establishing the reliability of translations like the Septuagint. In order to overcome this, researches have come up with methods to use the very few manuscripts we have and continually draw conclusions and compare to original texts using those conclusions to provide more reliability to available texts. In order to indicate if

1470-537: A response from "the father of historical critical research" Johann Semler in 1779, Beantwortung der Fragmente eines Ungenannten ( Answering the Fragments of an Unknown ). Semler refuted Reimarus' arguments, but it was of little consequence. Reimarus' writings had already made lasting changes by making it clear criticism could exist independently of theology and faith, and by founding historical Jesus studies within that non-sectarian view. According to Homer W. Smith ,

1575-436: A sketch or model which may inform about but never will be the real Jesus of history; similar to how models exist in the natural sciences that inform about phenomena without specifying a particular object. W.R. Herzog has stated that: "What we call the historical Jesus is the composite of the recoverable bits and pieces of historical information and speculation about him that we assemble, construct, and reconstruct. For this reason,

1680-454: A toddler). Ehrman writes that few contemporary scholars treat this as historical. There is only one classical writer who refers positively to Jesus and that is Mara bar Serapion , a Syriac Stoic, who wrote a letter to his son, who was also named Serapion, from a Roman prison. He speaks of the execution of 'the wise king of the Jews ' and compares his death to that of Socrates at the hands of

1785-405: A translation is authentic or not, it is crucial to look for keywords that may seem unique and that are not translated from a root language such as Hebrew or any of the other original languages. This shows that there are many other languages present in the translations that seems as if it was reinvented over and over again. However, it is normal to see such a change, and it shows the difference between

1890-511: Is a figment of the Church's imagination, that there never was a Jesus at all. I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that anymore." The New Testament represents sources that have become canonical for Christianity, and there are many apocryphal texts that are examples of the wide variety of writings in the first centuries AD that are related to Jesus. Non-Christian sources that are used to study and establish

1995-451: Is a matter of ongoing debate. Historians subject the gospels to critical analysis by differentiating authentic, reliable information from possible inventions, exaggerations, and alterations. Since there are more textual variants (200,000–400,000) than words in the New Testament, scholars use textual criticism to determine which gospel variants could theoretically be taken as original. To answer this question, scholars have to ask who wrote

2100-522: Is broad scholarly consensus that we can best find access to the historical Jesus through the Synoptic tradition." Bart D. Ehrman adds: "To dismiss the Gospels from the historical record is neither fair nor scholarly." One book argues that if Jesus did not exist, "the origin of the faith of the early Christians remains a perplexing mystery." Eddy and Boyd say the best history can assert is probability, yet

2205-539: Is founded upon historical-literary dynamics, either using scripture to interpret history and science, or using science and history to interpret scripture. This is particularly important when applied to the person of Jesus Christ and the Gospels in the New Testament. Many people agree that Jesus was a real historical person, but whether he was truly the Son of God is debatable among many people, and this distinction proves to be important for one's interpretation of texts and whether

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2310-463: Is little scholarly agreement on a single portrait, or the methods needed to construct it. There are, however, overlapping attributes among the various portraits, and scholars who differ on some attributes may agree on others. The conception of a "Historical Jesus" is limited to the abductions from modern scholars on the sources and the results can only produce fragments of what the "real Jesus" or "Jesus of history" may have been. Such conceptions are merely

2415-406: Is more disagreement with earlier research than is actually the case." The first quest , which started in 1778, was almost entirely based on biblical criticism . This took the form of textual and source criticism originally, which were supplemented with form criticism in 1919, and redaction criticism in 1948. Form criticism began as an attempt to trace the history of the biblical material during

2520-566: Is no means by which certainty can be established concerning this or any of the other lost references, partial references, and questionable references that mention some aspect of Jesus' life or death, but in evaluating evidence, it is appropriate to note they exist. There are two passages in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus , and one from the Roman historian Tacitus , that are generally considered good evidence. Josephus' Antiquities of

2625-403: Is remarkably consistent in the manuscript tradition, with very few deviations. The evident principle of organization is descending length of the Greek text, but keeping the three pastoral epistles addressed to individuals in a separate final section. The only anomaly is that Galatians precedes the slightly longer Ephesians. In modern editions, the anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews is placed at

2730-583: Is that of plausibility, relative to Jesus' Jewish context and to his influence on Christianity. Contemporary scholars of the "third quest" include E. P. Sanders, Géza Vermes, Gerd Theissen, Christoph Burchard, and John Dominic Crossan . In contrast to the Schweitzerian view, certain North American scholars, such as Burton Mack , advocate for a non-eschatological Jesus, one who is more of a Cynic sage than an apocalyptic preacher. Given that Jesus

2835-504: Is the endeavor to establish the authorship, date, and place of composition of the original text. Historical research has often dominated modern biblical studies. Biblical scholars usually try to interpret a particular text within its original historical context and use whatever information is available to reconstruct that setting. Historical criticism aims to determine the provenance , authorship, and process by which ancient texts were composed. Famous theories of historical criticism include

2940-433: Is the proposition that Jesus of Nazareth never existed, or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity and the accounts in the gospels. In the 21st century, there have been a number of books and documentaries on this subject. For example, Earl Doherty has written that Jesus may have been a real person, but that the biblical accounts of him are almost entirely fictional. Many proponents use

3045-692: Is too late to be of much use. Ehrman explains that "Jesus is never mentioned in the oldest part of the Talmud, the Mishnah , but appears only in the later commentaries of the Gemara." Jesus is not mentioned by name, but there is a subtle attack on the virgin birth that refers to the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier Pantera (Ehrman says, "In Greek the word for virgin is parthenos" ), and a reference to Jesus' miracles as "black magic" learned when he lived in Egypt (as

3150-623: The Acts of the Apostles and the catholic epistles (also called the general epistles) in modern editions. Most Greek manuscripts place the general epistles first, and a few minuscules ( 175 , 325 , 336 , and 1424 ) place the Pauline epistles at the end of the New Testament. In all of these epistles, except the Epistle to the Hebrews , the author and writer does claim to be Paul. The contested letters may have been written using Paul's name, as it

3255-632: The Bible , with Bible referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the canonical Old Testament and New Testament , respectively. For its theory and methods, the field draws on disciplines ranging from ancient history , historical criticism , philology , theology , textual criticism , literary criticism , historical backgrounds, mythology , and comparative religion . The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies defines

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3360-597: The New Testament , "we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned." There is no indication that writers in antiquity who opposed Christianity questioned the existence of Jesus. Since the 1970s, various scholars such as Joachim Jeremias , E. P. Sanders and Gerd Theissen have traced elements of Christianity to currents in first-century Judaism and have discarded nineteenth-century minority views that Jesus

3465-484: The Wolfenbüttel Fragments after the library where Lessing worked. Reimarus distinguished between what Jesus taught and how he is portrayed in the New Testament. According to Reimarus, Jesus was a political messiah who failed at creating political change and was executed. His disciples then stole the body and invented the story of the resurrection for personal gain. Reimarus' controversial work prompted

3570-531: The canonical gospels . It also plays an important role in the quest for a historical Jesus . It also addresses the physical text, including the meaning of the words and the way in which they are used and its preservation, history and integrity. Biblical criticism draws upon a wide range of scholarly disciplines, including archaeology , anthropology , folklore , comparative religion , oral tradition studies and historical and religious studies. New Testament and Old Testament rhetorical analysis differ because of

3675-595: The creation of the world and the flood of Noah . The use of terms like "myth" vs "history" also creates controversy due to some connotations that each word has. Oftentimes "myth" or "mythical" texts are seen as not true stories, where as "history" or "historical" texts are seen as fact. Mythical stories can also sometimes be seen as stories which serve some sort of religious or moral lesson, but are not necessarily true, however this does not mean that true historical stories do not have religious and moral lessons that accompany them. These views on myth and history are examples of

3780-709: The documentary hypothesis , which suggests that the Pentateuch was compiled from four different written sources, and different reconstructions of "the historical Jesus", which are based primarily on the differences between the canonical Gospels. There is much controversy around using the Bible as a historical source. The Old Testament is supposed to serve as a continuous account of the establishment of ancient Israel . While many historians agree that figures like King David and King Solomon are real historical figures, there comes trouble when seeking to affirm or deny events like

3885-454: The 17th century and gained popular recognition in the 19th and 20th centuries. The historical reliability of the gospels refers to the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. Historical reliability is not dependent on a source being inerrant or void of agendas since there are sources that are considered generally reliable despite having such traits (e.g. Josephus). The question of reliability

3990-543: The Apostles when studying the reliability of the gospels, as the Book of Acts was seemingly written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke. In addition to biblical sources, there are a number of mentions of Jesus in non-Christian sources. Biblical scholar Frederick Fyvie Bruce says the earliest mention of Jesus outside the New Testament occurs c.  55 AD from a historian named Thallos . Thallos' history, like

4095-506: The Athenians. He links the death of the 'wise king' to the Jews being driven from their kingdom. He also states that the 'wise king' lives on because of the "new laws he laid down". The dating of the letter is disputed but was probably soon after 73 AD. Scholars such as Robert Van Voorst see little doubt that the reference to the execution of the "king of the Jews" is about the death of Jesus. Others such as Craig A. Evans see less value in

4200-515: The Baptist as authentic. One of the arguments in favor of the historicity of the Baptism of Jesus by John is the criterion of embarrassment , i.e. that it is a story which the early Christian Church would have never wanted to invent, as it implies that Jesus was subservient to John. Another argument used in favour of the historicity of the baptism is that multiple accounts refer to it, usually called

4305-560: The Christian origins narrative. The scholarly effort to reconstruct an "authentic" historical picture of Jesus was a product of the Enlightenment skepticism of the late eighteenth century. Bible scholar Gerd Theissen explains that "It was concerned with presenting a historically true life of Jesus that functioned theologically as a critical force over against [established Roman Catholic] Christology." The first scholar to separate

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4410-944: The European Association of Biblical Studies, the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies , the Evangelical Theological Society , the Institute for Biblical Research , the American Schools of Oriental Research , and the Catholic Biblical Association . Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings". Viewing biblical texts as being ordinary pieces of literature, rather than set apart from other literature, as in

4515-423: The Gospels should be read literally or symbolically. The Book of Revelation is very different from the other books of the Bible, drawing need for additional analysis to determine whether it should be read literally or symbolically. The goals of the author of the book (John) also have implications toward how one reads the book. If one reads Revelation as a literal unfolding of the end times vs reading Revelation as

4620-407: The Gospels, he was a contemporary of Jesus and does make it clear that he considers Jesus to have been a real person and a Jew. Moreover, he claims to have met with James , the brother of Jesus. Paul states that he personally knew and interacted with eyewitnesses of Jesus such as his most intimate disciples (Peter and John) and family members (his brother James) starting around 35 or 36 AD, within just

4725-416: The Hebrews , although it does not bear his name, was traditionally considered Pauline (although Rome questioned its authorship), but from the 16th century onwards opinion steadily moved against Pauline authorship and few scholars now ascribe it to Paul, mostly because it does not read like any of his other epistles in style and content and because the epistle does not indicate that Paul is the author, unlike

4830-616: The Jews , written around AD 93–94, includes two references to the biblical Jesus in Books 18 and 20 . The general scholarly view is that while the longer passage, known as the Testimonium Flavianum , is most likely not authentic in its entirety, it is broadly agreed upon that it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus, which was then subject to Christian interpolation. Of the other mention in Josephus, Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman has stated that "few have doubted

4935-423: The Old Testament, including historical accounts, proverbs , poetic texts, praise texts (such as psalms ) and prophetic texts. The New Testament is different in that it has primarily two styles present: the gospels , which are mostly historical accounts, and the letters, or epistles . When it comes to textually analyzing and criticizing the New Testament, there are a couple of eclectic approaches to understanding

5040-489: The application of criteria of authenticity began with dissimilarity. It was often applied unevenly with a preconceived goal. In the early decades of the twentieth century, F. C. Burkitt and B. H. Streeter provided the foundation for multiple attestation. The Second Quest introduced the criterion of embarrassment . By the 1950s, coherence was also included. By 1987, D. Polkow lists 25 separate criteria being used by scholars to test for historical authenticity including

5145-472: The attempt to establish the historical validity of their conclusions. According to Tucker Ferda, it is by now "conventional wisdom that the traditional threefold division of the quest for Jesus [...] is flawed". The threefold terminology uses the literature selectively, poses an incorrect periodization of research, and fails to note that the quest did not begin with Reimarus, as Albert Schweitzer had claimed, but started earlier, with critical questions regarding

5250-421: The author appears to have hidden information, or if the author has fabricated a prophecy. Finally, scholars turn to external sources, including the testimony of early church leaders, to writers outside the church, primarily Jewish and Greco-Roman historians, who would have been more likely to have criticized the church, and to archaeological evidence. Conventionaly since the 18th century, three scholarly quests for

5355-409: The biblical accounts of Jesus, but almost all modern scholars consider his baptism and crucifixion to be historical facts. The existence of John the Baptist within the same time frame as Jesus, and his eventual execution by Herod Antipas is attested to by 1st-century Roman-Jewish historian Josephus and the overwhelming majority of modern scholars view Josephus' accounts of the activities of John

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5460-408: The content and nature of the texts. Things like the literary style and the theology of the author may affect how one reads the text. That may require some external criticism knowledge since who the author is will shine light on why they may be saying what they are saying. Biblical exegesis is the explanation or interpretation of the scriptures traditionally known as The Bible. Much biblical exegesis

5565-497: The context in which they were written. The New Testament was written during a time that had many new Greek and Roman ideas on literature and rhetoric , which provide an avenue for what was known and give additional resources to study New Testament texts in those contexts. Old Testament texts were not written in the same context, and due to their ancient nature have few additional resources to refer to for common themes in rhetoric and literature. There are many abstract text styles in

5670-454: The course of history but are now considered pseudepigraphic : David Trobisch finds it likely that Paul first collected his letters for publication himself. It was normal practice in Paul's time for letter writers to keep one copy for themselves and send a second copy to the recipient(s); surviving collections of ancient letters sometimes originated from the senders' copies, at other times from

5775-454: The criterion of multiple attestation . Technically, multiple attestation does not guarantee authenticity, but only determines antiquity. However, for most scholars, together with the criterion of embarrassment it lends credibility to the baptism of Jesus by John being a historical event. John P. Meier views the crucifixion of Jesus as a historical fact and states that based on the criterion of embarrassment , Christians would not have invented

5880-401: The criterion of "historical plausibility". A number of scholars have criticized the various approaches used in the study of the historical Jesus—on one hand, for the lack of rigor in research methods; on the other, for being driven by "specific agendas" that interpret ancient sources to fit specific goals. By the 21st century, the " maximalist " approaches of the 19th century, which accepted all

5985-473: The criterion of multiple attestation and criterion of dissimilarity – establishes the crucifixion of Jesus as a enemy of state. In addition to the two historical elements of baptism and crucifixion, scholars attribute varying levels of certainty to various other aspects of the life of Jesus, although there is no universal agreement among scholars on these items: Some scholars have proposed further additional historical possibilities such as: Scholars involved in

6090-420: The crucifixion, they differ on the reason and context for it, e.g. both E. P. Sanders and Paula Fredriksen support the historicity of the crucifixion, but contend that Jesus did not foretell his own crucifixion, and that his prediction of the crucifixion is a Christian story. Géza Vermes also views the crucifixion as a historical event but believes this was due to Jesus’ challenging of Roman authority. On

6195-449: The earliest extant Christian documents. They provide an insight into the beliefs and controversies of early Christianity . As part of the canon of the New Testament, they are foundational texts for both Christian theology and ethics . Most scholars believe that Paul actually wrote seven of the thirteen Pauline epistles ( Galatians , Romans , 1 Corinthians , 2 Corinthians , Philemon , Philippians , 1 Thessalonians ), while three of

6300-542: The end of Paul's letters and before the general epistles . This practice was popularized through the 4th century Vulgate by Jerome , who was aware of ancient doubts about its authorship , and is also followed in most medieval Byzantine manuscripts with hardly any exceptions. The placement of Hebrews among the Pauline epistles is less consistent in the manuscripts: Paul's own writings are sometimes thought to indicate several of his letters that have not been preserved: Several other epistles were attributed to Paul during

6405-433: The epistles in Paul's name are widely seen as pseudepigraphic ( 1 Timothy , 2 Timothy , and Titus ). Whether Paul wrote the three other epistles in his name ( 2 Thessalonians , Ephesians and Colossians ) is widely debated. According to some scholars, Paul wrote the questionable letters with the help of a secretary, or amanuensis , who would have influenced their style, if not their theological content. The Epistle to

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6510-598: The era of the Next Quest. The Next Quest has moved on from the criteria, obsessions with the uniqueness of Jesus, and the supersessionism still implicit in scholarly questions of the Jewishness of Jesus. Instead, sober scholarship now focuses on treating the subject matter as part of the wider human phenomenon of religion, cultural comparison, class relations, slave culture and economy, and the social history of historical Jesus scholarship and wider reception histories of

6615-465: The existence of Jesus, agrees that his perspective runs against the views of the majority of scholars. Michael Grant (a classicist and historian) states that "In recent years, no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus, or at any rate very few have, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary." Richard A. Burridge states, "There are those who argue that Jesus

6720-454: The field as a set of various, and in some cases independent disciplines for the study of the collection of ancient texts generally known as the Bible. These disciplines include but are not limited to historical criticism , archaeology , hermeneutics , textual criticism , cultural anthropology , history , the history of interpretation, sociology , theology , and patristics . Several academic associations and societies promote research in

6825-516: The field. The largest is the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) with around 8,500 members in more than 80 countries. It publishes many books and journals in the biblical studies, including its flagship, the Journal of Biblical Literature . SBL hosts one academic conference in North America and another international conference each year, as well as smaller regional meetings. Others include

6930-467: The first quest diminished after Albert Schweitzer 's critique of 1906 in which he pointed out various shortcomings in the approaches used at the time. After Schweitzer's Von Reimarus zu Wrede was translated and published in English as The Quest of the Historical Jesus in 1910, the book's title provided the label for the field of study for eighty years. The second quest began in 1953 and introduced

7035-457: The followers of each portrait. The subsections below present the main portraits that are supported by multiple mainstream scholars. Pauline epistles The Pauline epistles , also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul , are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle , although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of

7140-605: The genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in Antiquities 20, 9, 1 ("the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James"). Paul references meeting and interacting with James, Jesus' brother, and since this agreement between the different sources supports Josephus' statement, the statement is only disputed by a small number of scholars. Roman historian Tacitus referred to "Christus" and his execution by Pontius Pilate in his Annals (written c. AD 116), book 15, chapter 44 . Robert E. Van Voorst states that

7245-582: The gospel accounts. Such portraits include that of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet , charismatic healer, Cynic philosopher, Jewish messiah , prophet of social change, and rabbi . There is little scholarly agreement on a single portrait, nor the methods needed to construct it, but there are overlapping attributes among the various portraits, and scholars who differ on some attributes may agree on others. Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed. Historian Michael Grant asserts that if conventional standards of historical criticism are applied to

7350-509: The gospels , when they wrote them, what was their objective in writing them, what sources the authors used, how reliable these sources were, and how far removed in time the sources were from the stories they narrate, or if they were altered later. Scholars may also look into the internal evidence of the documents, to see if, for example, a document has misquoted texts from the Hebrew Tanakh , has made incorrect claims about geography, if

7455-429: The gospels, and the " minimalist " trends of the early 20th century, which totally rejected them, were abandoned and scholars began to focus on what is historically probable and plausible about Jesus. There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings. Scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in

7560-459: The historical Jesus are distinguished, each with distinct characteristics and based on different research criteria, which were often developed during each specific phase. These quests are distinguished from pre-Enlightenment approaches because they rely on the historical-critical method to study biblical narratives. While textual analysis of biblical sources had taken place for centuries, these quests introduced new methods and specific techniques in

7665-568: The historical Jesus from the theological Jesus in this way was philosopher, writer, classicist, Hebraist and Enlightenment free thinker Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768). Copies of Reimarus' writings were discovered by G. E. Lessing (1729–1781) in the library at Wolfenbüttel where Lessing was the librarian. Reimarus had left permission for his work to be published after his death, and Lessing did so between 1774 and 1778, publishing them as Die Fragmente eines unbekannten Autors ( The Fragments of an Unknown Author ). Over time, they came to be known as

7770-509: The historical Jesus is, in Meier's words, 'a modern abstraction and construct.'" Contemporary scholarship, representing the "third quest" and the "next quest" places Jesus firmly in the Jewish tradition. Jesus was a Jewish preacher who taught that he was the path to salvation , everlasting life, and the Kingdom of God. A primary criterion used to discern historical details in the "third quest"

7875-477: The historical Jesus. The book by Crossley and Robert J. Myles, Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict , is indicative of this new tendency. Others have criticized claims of a Fourth Quest and had a more measured response to critique of the criteria. The actual problem is arguably that critics use them inappropriately, trying to describe the history of minute portions of the Gospel text, rather than a true flaw in

7980-424: The historical logic of the criteria. According to Tucker Ferda, "...criticisms of the criteria have sometimes produced rather grandiose claims about their "uselessness," which do not seem justified when one looks at the kind of argument that those same critics will use when making positive claims about the historical Jesus...criticisms of the notion of "authenticity" or "historicity" can create the impression that there

8085-465: The historical reliability of the Gospels, scholars began looking for other criteria. Taken from other areas of study such as source criticism, the "criteria of authenticity" emerged gradually, becoming a distinct branch of methodology associated with life of Jesus research. The criteria are a variety of rules used to determine if some event or person is more or less likely to be historical. These criteria are primarily, though not exclusively, used to assess

8190-450: The historical writings associated with the era in which Jesus lived or on the evidence concerning his family. By the end of the twentieth century, scholar Tom Holmén writes that Enlightenment skepticism had given way to a more "trustful attitude toward the historical reliability of the sources ... [Currently] the conviction of Sanders, (we know quite a lot about Jesus) characterizes the majority of contemporary studies." Reflecting this shift,

8295-455: The historicity of Jesus include Jewish sources such as Josephus , and Roman sources such as Tacitus . The Pauline epistles are dated to between AD 50 and 60 ( i.e. , approximately twenty to thirty years after the generally accepted time period for the death of Jesus), and are the earliest surviving Christian texts that include information about Jesus. Although Paul the Apostle provides little biographical information about Jesus compared to

8400-472: The letter, given its uncertain date, and the ambiguity in the reference. Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". The primary goal of historical criticism is to discover the text's primitive or original meaning in its original historical context and its literal sense. Historical criticism began in

8505-504: The life of Jesus than the Synoptic Gospels. As James Crossley and Robert J. Myles explain, John "is of limited use for reconstructing the life of the historical Jesus." However, since the third quest, John's gospel is seen as having more reliability than previously thought or is sometimes seen as even more reliable than the synoptics. For example, certain sayings in John are as old as or older than their synoptic counterparts, his representation of

8610-422: The memories of the first disciples-not Jesus himself, but the remembered Jesus. The idea that we can get back to an objective historical reality, which we can wholly separate and disentangle from the disciples' memories...is simply unrealistic." According to Chris Keith, a historical Jesus is "ultimately unattainable, but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of the early Christians , and as part of

8715-482: The nature of life in Galilee and Judea during the time of Jesus. A further characteristic of the third quest has been the interdisciplinary and global nature of its scholarship. While the first two quests were mostly carried out by European Protestant theologians, a modern aspect of the third quest is the worldwide influx of scholars from multiple disciplines. More recently, historicists have focused their attention on

8820-471: The oral period before it was written in its current form, and may be seen as starting where textual criticism ends. Form criticism views Gospel writers as editors, not authors. Redaction criticism may be viewed as the child of source criticism and form criticism. and views the Gospel writers as authors and early theologians and tries to understand how the redactor(s) has (have) molded the narrative to express their own perspectives. When form criticism questioned

8925-416: The other hand, Maurice Casey and John P. Meier state that Jesus did predict his death, and this actually strengthened his followers' belief in his Resurrection. Mara bar Serapion is the only source from the ancient world that mentions the execution of Jesus for the charge of "King of the Jews". Bart Ehrman states that Jesus portrayed himself as the leader of the future Kingdom and that a number of criteria –

9030-501: The others. A number of scholars have argued that from biographic details from Paul, he likely suffered from some physical impediment such as vision loss or damaged hands and Paul does explicitly state, or even names, in multiple epistles that he used secretaries, which was a common practice in the Greco-Roman world; likely explaining the epistles that are seemingly non-Pauline. The Pauline epistles are usually placed between

9135-409: The painful death of their leader. Meier states that a number of other criteria – the criterion of multiple attestation (i.e., confirmation by more than one source), the criterion of coherence (i.e., that it fits with other historical elements) and the criterion of rejection (i.e., that it is not disputed by ancient sources) – help establish the crucifixion of Jesus as

9240-425: The phrase "quest for the historical Jesus" has largely been replaced by life of Jesus research. Since the late 1900s, concerns have been growing about the usefulness of the criteria of authenticity. According to Le Donne, the usage of such criteria is a form of " positivist historiography ". According to James DG Dunn , "What we actually have in the earliest retellings of what is now the Synoptic tradition...are

9345-478: The probability of Jesus having existed is so high, Ehrman says "virtually all historians and scholars have concluded Jesus did exist as a historical figure." Historian James Dunn writes: "Today nearly all historians, whether Christians or not, accept that Jesus existed". In a 2011 review of the state of modern scholarship, Ehrman wrote: "He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees." The Christ myth theory

9450-405: The recipients' copies. A collection of Paul's letters circulated separately from other early Christian writings and later became part of the New Testament. When the canon was established, the gospels and Paul's letters were the core of what would become the New Testament. Biblical scholar Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of

9555-454: The sayings and actions of Jesus. In view of the skepticism produced in the mid-twentieth century by form criticism concerning the historical reliability of the gospels, the burden shifted in historical Jesus studies from attempting to identify an authentic life of Jesus to attempting to prove authenticity. The criteria developed within this framework, therefore, are tools that provide arguments solely for authenticity, not inauthenticity. In 1901,

9660-461: The text on a deeper level. External criticism in the context of biblical studies involves understanding the who, what, and when of New Testament texts. It does not analyze within the text itself, which is referred to as internal criticism. External criticism focuses on the source and dates of text and what type of text it is (in the New Testament, that is mostly a gospel account or a letter to a church or person). Internal criticism focuses specifically on

9765-760: The textual basis of the Christian Old Testament (although with order rearranged and some books split into two), was written in Biblical Hebrew , although a few chapters were written in Biblical Aramaic . Deuterocanonical books removed from the Old Testament in some Protestant Christian Bibles are variously written in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek , with possible Aramaic undertones , as

9870-566: The third and next quests for the historical Jesus have constructed a variety of portraits and profiles for Jesus. However, there is little scholarly agreement on the portraits, or the methods used in constructing them. The portraits of Jesus that have been constructed in the quest for the historical Jesus have often differed from each other, and from the image portrayed in the gospel accounts. These portraits include that of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet , charismatic healer , Cynic philosopher , Jewish Messiah and prophet of social change , but there

9975-457: The topography around Jerusalem is often superior to that of the synoptics, his testimony that Jesus was executed before, rather than on, Passover, might well be more accurate, and his presentation of Jesus in the garden and the prior meeting held by the Jewish authorities are more historically plausible than their synoptic parallels. Historians often study the historical reliability of the Acts of

10080-550: The traditional view, biblical criticism asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources were used in its composition; and what message it was intended to convey. It varies slightly depending on whether the focus is on the Hebrew Bible , the Old Testament , the letters of New Testament or

10185-440: The twelve and others) along with numerous quotations referring to notable teachings and events found in the Gospels. The Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and of the religious movement he founded. These religious gospels – the Gospel of Matthew , the Gospel of Mark , and the Gospel of Luke  – recount the life, ministry , crucifixion and resurrection of

10290-542: The vast majority of ancient literature, has been lost but not before it was quoted by Sextus Julius Africanus ( c.  160  – c.  240 AD ), a Christian writer, in his History of the World ( c.  220 ). This book likewise was lost, but not before one of its citations of Thallos was taken up by the Byzantine historian George Syncellus in his Chronicle ( c.  800 ). There

10395-577: The very negative tone of Tacitus' comments on Christians makes the passage extremely unlikely to have been forged by a Christian scribe and the Tacitus reference is now widely accepted as an independent confirmation of Jesus's crucifixion. Other considerations outside Christendom include the possible mentions of Jesus in the Talmud. The Talmud speaks in some detail of the conduct of criminal cases of Israel whose texts were gathered together from 200 to 500 CE. Johann Maier and Bart D. Ehrman argue this material

10500-565: The work of Lessing and others culminated in the Protestant theologian David Strauss 's Das Leben Jesu ('The Life of Jesus', 1835), in which Strauss expresses his conclusion that Jesus existed, but that his godship is the result of "a historic nucleus [being] worked over and reshaped into an ideal form by the first Christians under the influence of Old Testament models and the idea of the messiah found in Daniel ." The enthusiasm shown during

10605-413: Was a Galilean Jew and living in a time of messianic and apocalyptic expectations. Some scholars credit the apocalyptic declarations of the gospels to him, while others portray his " Kingdom of God " as a moral one , and not apocalyptic in nature. The portraits of Jesus that have been constructed through history using these processes have often differed from each other, and from the image portrayed in

10710-572: Was based on previous pagan deities. Mentions of Jesus in extra-biblical texts exist and are supported as genuine by the majority of historians. Differences between the content of the Jewish Messianic prophecies and the life of Jesus undermine the idea that Jesus was invented as a Jewish Midrash or Peshar. The presence of details of Jesus' life in Paul, and the differences between letters and Gospels, are sufficient for most scholars to dismiss mythicist claims concerning Paul. Theissen says "there

10815-432: Was common to attribute at that point in history. Seven letters (with consensus dates) considered genuine by most scholars: The three letters on which scholars are about evenly divided: If these letters are inauthentic, then the consensus dates are probably incorrect. The letters thought to be pseudepigraphic by many scholars (traditional dating given): The content of these letters strongly suggests they were written

10920-484: Was poor, long-established historiographical approaches associated with the study of the poor in the past, such as microhistory , are relevant to the study of his life. Despite the significant differences among scholars on what constitutes a suitable portrait for Jesus, the mainstream views supported by a number of scholars may be grouped together based on certain distinct, primary themes. These portraits often include overlapping elements, and there are also differences among

11025-585: Was the first translation of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Septuagint or Greek Old Testament. Therefore, Hebrew, Greek and sometimes Aramaic continue to be taught in most universities, colleges and seminaries with strong programs in biblical studies. There are few original Old Testament/Hebrew Bible manuscripts, and while the ancient translations (such as the Septuagint) are available, there comes

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