Jesus

More than a billion Christians around the world revere Jesus in a special way. Most regard him as the Son of God and consider him divine as well as human. No other person has had such claims made for him by so many. Most Christians believe that he lived, died, rose from the dead, and is an eternal presence. This entry cannot evaluate the validity of these beliefs but acknowledges that the influence of these beliefs on human society is profound.

More is known about the life of Jesus than about most other prominent figures of his time. Though it is occasionally suggested that Jesus is a mythical character, no serious scholar takes that view. Although no original manuscripts of the New Testament exist, that is true of all ancient writings: Save for the occasional inscription in stone or metal, the originals have all decayed, so that ancient works owe their transmission to medieval scribes. The written sources for the life of Jesus are both more numerous and older than those for other ancients. For example, of ancient classics, the eight manuscripts of Thucydides' Peloponnesian War date from 1,300 years after Thucydides' death (a few fragments are earlier); the oldest manuscript of Caesar's Gallic Wars dates from 900 years after Caesar's death. In comparison, in addition to fragments from about 100 years after Jesus' death, there are two manuscripts of the (almost) entire New Testament dating from about 300 years after his death and thousands of manuscripts from 400 years after his death. The canon (the list of the approved books) of the New Testament was first set in the second century and was fully established, with only a few changes, in its present form, in the period 367 to 382 CE.

[Page 622]The canonical books include the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; 21 letters by disciples (mostly by Paul); and the Book of Revelation. The Gospels seem to have roots in oral tradition. The original manuscripts of the New Testament have all decayed but are generally thought to date from about 40 CE to about 90 CE. In addition to the canonical sources, many other gospels and epistles originated from about 150 CE onward; these have received much attention lately, for example, the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Thomas. A “Secret Gospel of Mark” appears to have been forged in the 20th century. Non-Christian sources for the life of Jesus include the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman scholars Pliny, Tacitus, and Suetonius, though none provide more than a snippet of information.

Controversies about Jesus have been intense since the first century and remain intense in the 21st century, whereas the same could scarcely be said for Caesar or Thucydides. The only plausible reason that this should be so is that Jesus is presented as a character like no other—as the Son of God. Without that claim, his story would be like that of Claudius or Plato—of some interest but little concern. His followers also referred to him as the Christos or Messiah (Hebrew mashiach: “anointed one” or “king”). His most common title for himself was the mysterious “Son of Man,” or in nonsexist and accurate translation, “The Son of Humanity.”

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