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Paper on the life of Jesus
Paper on the life of Jesus
Secularization of christianity essay
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Essay: The Bible says Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher who used miracles to help people. In reality he was a wandering man whose simple tricks and healing remedies were mistaken for miracles. He wandered Judea preaching about the validity of the jewish laws. This gained him a large following. Roman officials caught wind of this and were scared of an uprising. So they had him executed; however this had the opposite effect. The jewish sect that followed Jesus was pacified for some time but emerged again as Christianity, with a larger following than before. Eventually, and ironically, it ended up surviving the Roman Empire.
Thesis: the historical Jesus was a Galilean man who who lived during the first Century A.D. and gained fame through chicanery and tricks, which ensured him as the basis of modern day Christianity.
P1: Secular evidence
Ts: Jesus was a wandering teacher in Judea who amassed a large following.
The roman historian Tacitus(56 A.D.-176 A.D.) was a well known skeptic who consistently criticized Christianity. He researched the historicity of Jesus Christ and came to the conclusion that he was a real man. "Christus, the founder of the [Christian] name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea... through Judea, where the mischief originated.”This quote, from the works of Tacitus, appears in every known copy, downplaying the idea of tampering by Christians. From this quote we can discern that Jesus was a jewish man who wandered Judea preaching. He eventually gained a massive following. This gained the attention of roman officials. another man who confirms these notions in his writings is Lucian of Samosata(120 - ~180 A.D.). He wrote “The Christians... worship a man to this day- ... who introduced their ...
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..... by the use of incantations.” Celsus says that Jesus learned tricks and skills in egypt that would of seemed foreign to the people of Judea. they would then interpret his skills as magic, miracles, or even witchcraft, which he was accused of in the Bible. In his writings Celsus also deals with the idea of a virgin birth. He says that mary was “turned out by her husband... on being convicted of adultery[with a roman soldier].” this explains why she would claim to be a virgin and how jesus might have been thought to not have a father. Celsus also explains that Jesus was real, because Christians would never make up the story of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. He brings up that John the baptist was jewish and would have absolved a sinless man of his sins. Both of these Contradict the church’s ideology making it unlikely that they would fabricate this story.
Gerhard Lohfink, in his book, “Jesus of Nazareth” believes that Jesus’ person and ministry are intertwined, or actually one and of the same. After Lohfink clarifies the difference between the "reign of God" as distinct from the “Kingdom of God,” he asserts that in Jesus, there is this active, ongoing reign which is not only revealed, but is manifested in all He says and does. Lohfink states, that Jesus is “not just preaching about the reign of God, but He is announcing it,” going on to indicating that Jesus is manifesting this reign in His own self disclosure and the actions of His ministry. Jesus ways of teaching and interactions with others, is shown as compassionate, gentle, direct and personal, as well as definitive and bold. As we also find in Ch. 3, “All that is happening before everyone’s eyes. The reign of God is breaking forth in the midst of the world and not only within people.” (51) And for Lohfink, this is taking place in the actual preaching, actions and life of Jesus Christ. Simply, we are personally and collectively and actively a part of establishing this “reign” right here, right now. A “reign” of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, self-giving, sacrificial love, as well as of justice and peace.
Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973.
Christianity and Judaism are major world religions which, though they worship the same God, have marked differences which have caused two thousand years of strife and animosity between the two religions. In his book We Jews and Jesus, Samuel Sandmel likens the link between Judaism and Christianity to a type of parent-child relationship, saying, “Early Christianity was a Judaism; within a century after the death of Jesus it was a separate religion. It was critical of its parent, and hostile to it, and elicited from its parent reciprocal criticism and hostility.”1 Opposing views of Jesus Christ caused the initial rift between Judaism and Christianity and is the primary source of the tension between the two religions which has continued for the last two millennia. Therefore, in order to understand how Judaism and Christianity relate to one another, it is essential to understand the way Jesus is perceived in each religion. The way that Christians view Jesus is quite well known, but Judaism’s view of him is much lesser known, so it is important to explore Judaism’s perceptions of Jesus, beginning with New Testament times, and to examine the ways in which these feelings and opinions have changed over time.
Christianity developed with Jesus of Nazareth (6 BCE- 29 CE). He was born during the reign of Augustus Caesar. He practiced Christianity from 26 CE to 29 CE. He was the Son of God and the Redeemer of all Mankind. The Romans viewed him as someone “rocking the boat” with what was already a nation of the religiously obsessed. Eventually h...
The most important historical fact of Christianity is the life of Jesus, the prophet that the faith of Christians is centered around. The historical Jesus grew up in Nazareth where John the Baptist baptized him, thus beginning his career as a teacher and healer of God. Little is known about where Jesus came from or what he looks like, only his personality through actions and words. Like most prophets, Jesus looked to the spiritual world to find answers to remove the suffering; John was the prophet to open Jesus’ eyes to heaven, leading him into a state solitude until he became empowered by the Spirit. The actions that speak for his personality are of power to heal sickness, cast away evil, and perform miracles, all that the prophets gave credit to Jesus, but this what not the focus of his ministry. What drew people into Jesus was his hope to heal humanity, not just people; he urged peace and loving of the enemies, which created ties with the Pharisees. However, the Pharisees did not see God as compassion, so they created categories of clean and unclean people. Christianity is originally created for the undesirables, so Jesus felt that the boundaries were not exemplifying His compassion, thus he set out to change the system. This did not sit well with the Pharisees, so Jesus began to compiled enemies of Rome, which would lead to his crucifixion. It was the death of Jesus that began the Christianity faith, but his words and deeds that empowered the people. Jesus had no new teachings that were different from those before him, but he had a weight of meaning to his words. Christ’s teachings were mostly in the forms of stories where lessons of the heart lay behind the message. Not only did he speak with authority, but he spoke out ag...
Jesus was created by God and deemed to be his son. He preached Jewish reform to all who would listen. In addition, he was known to heal the sick and cast away evil demons. Jesus was always able to control, but not create. He didn’t create any defense for himself when he was about to be killed, but he did make a martyr of himself. The death of Jesus creates a completely separate religion from Judaism. This split God’s people into two different sections. Later, one began persecuting the other, and in some places, hasn’t stopped to this day. This is not the outcome that God would’ve wanted.
Moreland, J.P., and Wilkins, Michael, ed. Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.
If the factions of Christianity are joined by belief in Jesus, they have been divided since the beginning in understanding who this man is. One of the very first questions the early church had to answer as the fledgling religion distinguished itself centered around the identity of their savior. Was he human or divine or some odd combination? Thinkers such as Arius argued that he was fully human, “pre-eminent in rank within the created order, yet someone who was created rather than being divine” (McGrath 56). However, several immediate problems with this theory arose, pointed out by critics such as Ath...
The life of Jesus is one that is often discussed and debated among scholars and authors since the time Jesus walked this earth. Gerd Theissen’ s work, Shadow of the Galilean, takes the unique perspective of a grain merchant who has been enlisted by Pilate to find out information on various religious sects and report back to him. After Andreas, the grain merchant’s, first report he is given the task of finding out more about this Jesus who is gaining quite a following. Pilate and the Romans want to know if he is a threat to them. This book follows Andreas as he goes on a journey to find out more about Jesus from various sources for his report to the Romans.
Jesus preformed a series of miracles during his time on Earth that affirmed he was the Messiah and Son of God. The miracles in the Gospels involve various acts of healing, exorcism, restoration of life, and nature. In The Healer from Nazareth, Eric Eve analyzes Jesus’s miracles through both historical and contemporary lenses to assess their accuracy and question the Gospel accounts. The book describes that historians and theologians of the modern world extensively analyze the legitimacy of Jesus and his acts of power through his miracles. It is necessary to evaluate Jesus’s miracles through a historical context because modern day science and medicine was not present in the ancient world to prove or disprove that he preformed these acts of
•The execution of “this Christ” suppressed the “dangerous religious movement” of the Christians for a time, but then it quickly broke out again, first in Judea, but then spreading rapidly as far as Rome
Later Josephus writes: “But the younger Ananus…followed the party of the Sadducees, who are severe in judgment above all the Jews…assembled a council of judges, and brought before it the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some others, and having accused them as law-breakers, he delivered them over to be stoned.” Josephus considered one of the greatest historians of antiquity, and again, independently provides proof and evidence that Jesus was a real person who did exist and also confirms the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross under the orders of Pontius Pilate, thus confirming the Biblical account as well.
Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, performed numerous miracles, founded the church,
The establishment of Christianity began in Palestine by followers of Jesus of Nazareth (Bryan, 2007, p. 38). Jesus professed to be the Son of God, the promised Messiah who would establish the kingdom of God and remove all wickedness. His work and the results of his ministry were opposed by the Jewish clergy whom he exposed as false teachers (King James Version, Matthew 23). The Jewish religious leaders charged Jesus with crimes against Rome, the ruling power over Palestine, and Pontius Pilate acting as governor pronounced the death sentence in 36 C.E. Jesus followers used the scriptures to preach about his death, resurrection and future kingdom and began a campaign to spread the faith. That faith was called “the Way” by early Christians who believed Jesus death was for their sins and that blessings that would come under his rulership (American Standard Version, Acts 19:9). Many people became followers of Jesus and the faith spread over the Middle East area. Others viewed Jesus as special, such as first century historian Flavius Josephus, who recorded the following:
Jesus Christ was, as the Christians believe, the supposed Messiah, or anointed one. This differentiated them from the Jews who do believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. Around 30 CE, Jesus Christ was killed, and rose three days later. To many this act sealed him as the Messiah, son of God. The religion spread due to the expansion of Christian empires, the crusades, and the religious teaching of Peter and Paul, who took it upon themselves to travel around the world and spread the teachings and miracles of Jesus Christ. The Christian faith celebrates Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, Easter, the day he rose from the dead, and Saints’ Days, which celebrates the lives of saints such as Patrick and Valentine. Christianity originated in the Southern Levant, like Judaism (“Just”). Through the conversion of emperors, Christianity set up a geographic stronghold within the expanses of the Roman Empire and then later the Byzantine Empire (“Rome”). The social conditions surrounding the birth and spread of Christianity were of war. A massive philosophical uprising took place. The majority of the world at the time did not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, so tens of thousands of devout men took it upon themselves to spread his influence and to kill those who did not accept him as their savior. Christianity evolved through the rapid expansion of its community. Those who preached against him were persecuted and killed. Through trade routes and expansion of Christian empires, Christianity