3.3. Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

Anthroplogy White Black Lamb

Roles of Jesus’ Ministry Described in PBS Frontline, From Jesus to Christ

Transcript available at pbs.org

Complete episodes available at pbs.org


Titles Given to Jesus


Sources About the Life of Jesus


Different Approaches to the Gospels


Reading Responses

Scientific evidence / modern historical methods

If there is no documentation that Jesus ever wrote, how do we know that he was a real person?

How come there are no documents about Jesus? Were there any documents? What happened with evidence of Jesus or any type of documents he did or made? This made me wonder if there is any evidence that Jesus did to prove his presence.

There is not a lot of scientific evidence when it comes to the origin of christianity. We see that Jesus gained his reputation by performing miracles and then died so that our sins could be forgiven. How is this known and where is the record?

We know that the New Testament was written quite awhile after Jesus' death and ascension. How do we know that some of those stories actually happen? For example, the gospels can tell the same story but all of them have a different ending.

(Like the movie 300 in which a story is embelished after the fact) it seems like Jesus was just another martyr, but they developed a story around him to make him more than that, a figure head to stand behind.

Role and Titles

What makes a messiah different from a prophet? Or, perhaps Jesus was both?

Was it just a coincidence that Jesus "fulfilled the scriptures"? or was it God?

Why wouldn't Jesus didn't want the people to know that he was the Messiah? Was it because he knew that they had these high expectations of what he was supposed to accomplish such as defeating the romans but he didn't do that?

What set Jesus apart from other charismatic healers at the time?

Inculturation

Why do so many picture Jesus with blue eyes, long brown hair and white skin?