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Historicity of Jesus (view source)
Revision as of 00:29, September 17, 2025
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[[File:Hoffman Christ And The Rich Young Ruler.jpg|thumb|Christ And The Rich Young Ruler by Heinrich Hofmann (1824–1911), 1889.]]
[[File:Hoffman Christ And The Rich Young Ruler.jpg|thumb|Christ And The Rich Young Ruler by Heinrich Hofmann (1824–1911), 1889.]]
The '''historicity of Jesus''' focuses on whether [[Jesus Christ]] existed as a real historical person, or whether he is simply a mythological imagination. The evidence for the existence of Jesus is overwhelming, as is agreed upon by virtually every expert in every academic institution in every relevant field in the world.<ref>Ehrman, Bart D. Did Jesus exist?: The historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth. Harper Collins, 2012. Second introductory page.</ref> This consensus is acknowledged by non-Christian scholars, for example, atheist and agnostic scholars,<ref>Ehrman, Bart D. Did Jesus exist?: The historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth. Harper Collins, 2012. Second introductory page.</ref> Jewish scholars,<ref>Amy-Jill Levine. 2006. The Historical Jesus in Context. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691009926. page 4 "Most scholars agree that Jesus was baptized by John, debated with fellow Jews on how best to live according to God's will, engaged in healings and exorcisms, taught in parables, gathered male and female followers in Galilee, went to Jerusalem, and was crucified by Roman soldiers during the governorship of Pontius Pilate."</ref> and christ myth proponents as well.<ref>Richard Carrier. 2014. On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt. Sheffield Phoenix Press. ISBN 9781909697355 p.2,3 "..what is, after all, the near-universal consensus of well-qualified experts." and p. 21:"The historicity of Jesus Christ is currently the default consensus."</ref> In other words, for someone to argue that Jesus never existed (and thus is merely a [[Mythology|myth]]) is to place himself against not only the field of scholarship and the historical record, but even against reason and common sense.
The '''historicity of Jesus''' focuses on whether [[Jesus Christ]] existed as a real historical person, or whether he is simply a mythological imagination. The evidence for the existence of Jesus is overwhelming, as is agreed upon by virtually every expert in every academic institution in every relevant field in the world.<ref>Ehrman, Bart D. Did Jesus exist?: The historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth. Harper Collins, 2012. Second introductory page.</ref> This consensus is acknowledged by non-Christian scholars, for example, atheist and agnostic scholars,<ref>Ehrman, Bart D. Did Jesus exist?: The historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth. Harper Collins, 2012. Second introductory page.</ref> Jewish scholars,<ref>Amy-Jill Levine. 2006. The Historical Jesus in Context. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691009926. page 4 "Most scholars agree that Jesus was baptized by John, debated with fellow Jews on how best to live according to God's will, engaged in healings and exorcisms, taught in parables, gathered male and female followers in Galilee, went to Jerusalem, and was crucified by Roman soldiers during the governorship of Pontius Pilate."</ref> and christ myth proponents as well.<ref>Richard Carrier. 2014. On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt. Sheffield Phoenix Press. ISBN 9781909697355 p.2,3 "..what is, after all, the near-universal consensus of well-qualified experts." and p. 21:"The historicity of Jesus Christ is currently the default consensus."</ref> In other words, for someone to argue that Jesus never existed (and thus is merely a [[Mythology|myth]]) is to place himself against not only the field of scholarship and the historical record, but even against reason and common sense.
The existence of Jesus is well supported with more than 14 independent sources, many of which are from the first century AD from both supporters and opponents of Christianity.<ref>Ken Dark. 2023. Archaeology of Jesus' Nazareth. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192865397. Pages 150-152</ref> Some secular scholars estimate that there could be even more sources, perhaps 25 independent authors who wrote perhaps 30 independent sources if we look for internal evidence as well.<ref>Bart Ehrman. 2016. Bart Ehrman Blog. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230411080649/https://ehrmanblog.org/gospel-evidence-that-jesus-existed/ Gospel Evidence that Jesus Existed]. “By my count that’s something like twenty-five authors, not counting the authors of the sources (another six or seven) on which the Gospels were based (and the sources on which the book of Acts was based, which were different again)…. But how can you make a convincing case if we’re talking about thirty or so independent sources that know there was a man Jesus? These sources are not all living in the same village someplace so they are egging each other on. They didn’t compare notes. They are independent of one another and are scattered throughout the Mediterranean. They each have heard about the man Jesus from their own sources of information, which heard about him from their own sources of information. That must mean that there were hundreds of people at the least who were talking about the man Jesus. One of them was the apostle Paul, who was talking about Jesus by at least the year 32 CE, that is, two years after the date of Jesus’ death. Paul, as I will point out, actually knew, personally, Jesus’ own brother James and his closest disciples Peter and John.”</ref>
The [[Soviet Union]] practiced [[state atheism]] and was well-known for its propaganda. The only encyclopedia in world history to deny the historicity of Jesus Christ was ''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (Moscow, 1952). The ''Christian Courier'' indicates: "In our own time, The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Moscow, 1952), in a two-line entry under “Jesus,” states; “the name of the mythological founder of Christianity.” One scholar notes that this reveals more about the authors’ bias than their historical judgment (Metzger, 1965, 78)."<ref>[https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1527-false-ideas-about-jesus-christ False Ideas About Jesus Christ] by Wayne Jackson, Christian Courier</ref>
The [[Soviet Union]] practiced [[state atheism]] and was well-known for its propaganda. The only encyclopedia in world history to deny the historicity of Jesus Christ was ''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (Moscow, 1952). The ''Christian Courier'' indicates: "In our own time, The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Moscow, 1952), in a two-line entry under “Jesus,” states; “the name of the mythological founder of Christianity.” One scholar notes that this reveals more about the authors’ bias than their historical judgment (Metzger, 1965, 78)."<ref>[https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1527-false-ideas-about-jesus-christ False Ideas About Jesus Christ] by Wayne Jackson, Christian Courier</ref>