Historicity of Jesus

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The historicity of Jesus is the question of whether Jesus historically existed (as opposed to being a purely mythological figure). The question of historicity was generally settled in scholarship in the early 20th century.[1][2][3][note 1] Today scholars agree that a Jewish man named Jesus of Nazareth did exist in the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and the subsequent Herodian tetrarchy in the 1st century AD, upon whose life and teachings Christianity was later constructed,[note 1] but a distinction is made by scholars between 'the Jesus of history' and 'the Christ of faith'.[note 2]

There is no scholarly consensus concerning most elements of Jesus's life as described in the Bible stories, and only two key events of the biblical story of Jesus's life are widely accepted as historical, based on the criterion of embarrassment, namely his baptism by John the Baptist and his crucifixion by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate (commonly dated to 30 or 33 AD).[4][5][6][7][8][9] The historicity of supernatural elements like his purported miracles and resurrection are deemed to be solely a matter of 'faith' or of 'theology', or lack thereof.[note 3]

The idea that Jesus was a purely mythical figure has been, and is still, considered an untenable fringe theory in academic scholarship for more than two centuries,[note 4] but according to one source it has gained popular attention in recent decades due to the growth of the Internet.[10]

Academic efforts in biblical studies to determine facts of Jesus's life are part of the "quest for the historical Jesus", and several criteria of authenticity are used in evaluating the authenticity of elements of the Gospel-story. The criterion of multiple attestation is used to argue that attestation by multiple independent sources confirms his existence. There are at least 14 independent sources from multiple authors within a century of the crucifixion on Jesus that survive.[11] The letters of Paul are the earliest surviving sources referencing Jesus and Paul documents personally knowing and interacting with eyewitnesses such as Jesus' brother James and some of Jesus closest disciples around 36 AD, within a few years of the crucifixion (30 or 33 AD).[note 5] Paul was a contemporary of Jesus and throughout his letters, a fairly full outline of the life of Jesus can be found.[12][13][14] Besides the gospels, and the letters of Paul, non-biblical works that are considered sources for the historicity of Jesus include two mentions in Antiquities of the Jews (Testimonium Flavianum, Jesus' own brother James) by Jewish historian and Galilean military leader Josephus (dated circa 93–94 AD) and a mention in Annals by Roman historian Tacitus (circa 116 AD). From just Paul, Josephus, and Tacitus alone, the existence of Jesus along with the general time and place of his activity can be adduced.[15][16] Additionally, multiple independent sources affirm that Jesus actually had siblings.[17]

  1. ^ Casey 2010, p. 33.
  2. ^ Johnson 2011, p. 4.
  3. ^ Van Voorst 2003, pp. 658, 660.
  4. ^ Davies, W. D.; Sanders, E.P. (2008). "20. Jesus: From the Jewish Point of View". In Horbury, William; Davies, W.D.; Sturdy, John (eds.). The Cambridge History of Judaism. Volume 3: The Early Roman period. Cambridge University Press. p. 623-625. ISBN 9780521243773.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference AmyJill4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Herzog 2005, pp. 1–6.
  7. ^ Powell 1998, pp. 168–173.
  8. ^ Dunn 2003, p. 339.
  9. ^ Crossan 1994, p. 145.
  10. ^ Gullotta 2017, pp. 313–314, 346.
  11. ^ Dark 2023, p. 150-151.
  12. ^ Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey by Craig L. Blomberg 2009 Baker Academic ISBN 0805444823 pp. 441-442
  13. ^ Eddy & Boyd 2007, p. 202,208-228.
  14. ^ Tuckett (2001, p. 125)
  15. ^ Davies, W. D.; Sanders, E.P. (2008). "20. Jesus: From the Jewish Point of View". In Horbury, William; Davies, W.D.; Sturdy, John (eds.). The Cambridge History of Judaism. Volume 3: The Early Roman period. Cambridge Univiversity Press. p. 621. ISBN 9780521243773.
  16. ^ Tuckett 2001, p. 124-125.
  17. ^ Ehrman 2012, p. 151.


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