Chapter 9 :

Tracing the Historical Life

of Jesus
One Solitary Life
While he did not do
or have any of the
things on which
modern society
measures success,
no human being
has ever affected
the world as much
as Jesus Christ.
 Even so, there are people today
who doubt that Jesus ever
existed, and others who say that,
after two thousand years, we can
have almost no reliable
information about Jesus’ life.

These are serious charges, because

the value of Christianity depends on
the historical reality of Jesus Christ
and the reliability of the Gospels.
 Ancient Testimony
About Jesus
Are there any
Since the Gospels historical sources
clearly make outside the Bible for
statements of Jesus’ existence ?
faith about Jesus,
they are often
rejected as
objective sources
of information.
 In fact, there are impartial
ancient sources that establish
the historical reality of Jesus.

Ancient historians like Tacitus,

Josephus, Pliny the Younger,
Suetonius, and others, as well as
texts such as the Babylonian Talmud
– many of which were actually
opposed to Christianity – record
information that helps us conclude
that Jesus was, indeed a real person.
Many of these ancient sources verify
that the beliefs and traditions of the
Christian community are consistent
with historical reality. Even though
the writers of this material were not
Christian themselves, they lend
credibility to the oral traditions
handed down within the Church.
 One aspect of the history of Christianity
that is verified by these writers is that
Christians were persecuted for practicing
their religion. Some of the Roman
emperors required their subjects to
worship them, and punished those who
refused with torture and death.
We continue even today to be faced with
the temptation to place worldly things at
the top of our list of priorities—where only
God should be. Whether it is money,
pleasure, drugs, sex, popularity, or any
other attractive thing—we must resist
those temptations and give only to God the
honor that belongs to him.
 The Gospels and
the Historical Jesus
It is from the
writings of the
Four Evangelists
that we receive
the most useful
written information
about Jesus.
 The word gospel means “good
news,” and the evangelists
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
wrote the four versions of the
story of Jesus that we have in the
New Testament.

While not strict biographies, the

Gospels present biographical
information about Jesus combined
with the authors’ beliefs about the
Son of God to convey that the
Kingdom of God is active in the world.
 Following the style of ancient
biographies, the Gospels present
brief accounts of Jesus’ life,
without the exhaustive detail we
see in modern biographies.
Like other ancient biographies, the
Gospels do not tell us much about Jesus’
youth or physical appearance. They all
focus on key events that tell us about the
true character of Jesus Christ. One
aspect of a person’s life that ancient
biographies usually pay attention to is
how a person died—and this is certainly
what we see in the Gospels.
Certain aspects
of the Gospels,
however, are
unique. Jesus
himself, is in the
Gospels—
Because the
Good News
proclaimed by
the Evangelists
IS Jesus Christ.
 The process that brought
about the written Gospels
took place in three stages:

1. The Historical Jesus

(4-6 BC – AD 30-33)
2. Oral Tradition
(AD 30-50)

3. New Testament Writings

(AD 50 – ca. 120)
 Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus the Carpenter

Jesus, son of Joseph

The Jesus proclaimed in the Gospels

is identified by a few different
“surnames.” In the ancient world,
people with the same first name were
identified by things like where they
came from, who their father was, or
what they did for a living.
 During the historical life of Jesus, his
actions formed the basis for his
disciples’ later proclamation about him.
Recognition
Jesus’ earlythatlife Jesus is at the
was spent in
center
Galileeof as
human
the sonhistory,
of a humble
caused
Christians
carpenter.to use the abbreviation
A.D., for Anno Domini, meaning
During his public ministry, he
“In the Year of Our Lord,” to
traveled the countryside
designate years from the time of
teaching, healing, and
Christ’s birth onward.
proclaiming God’s Kingdom.
B.C., meaning “Before Christ,”
At
camethetoend
referof to
hisany
public
yearlife, Jesus
thought
was
to bearrested
before theandbirth
crucified—only
of Christ.
to rise again after three days.
 Over the next twenty years, the
apostles obeyed Jesus’ command
to go out to all the world and
spread the Good News.

Approaching their
audience as people
who did not yet
possess faith in
Christ, the apostles
preached an outline
of basic truths
about Jesus called
the kerygma.
 Over the next twenty years, the
apostles obeyed Jesus’ command
to go out to all the world and
spread the Good News.

They put together an oral set

of essential teachings about
Jesus known as the didache,
which means “teaching.”
 Over the next twenty years, the
apostles obeyed Jesus’ command
to go out to all the world and
spread the Good News.

Early Christians also came to

reflect their beliefs about
Jesus in public worship, or
the liturgy. Celebration of the
Eucharist came to be the focal
point of the early Church’s
worship.
The final stage in the development
of proclaiming the Good News of
Jesus Christ was the actual writing
of the New Testament.
Three things caused the early Christians to
finally commit the Good News to writing:
1. The End of the World did not come as soon
as they had first expected it to.
2. Distortions to the apostles’ message needed
to be addressed and clarified.
3. Early Christians realized that people needed
to be instructed about the faith, and written
Gospels provided a good teaching tool.
The final stage in the development
of proclaiming the Good News of
Jesus Christ was the actual writing
of the New Testament.

The earliest New

Testament writings
are the letters of
St. Paul.
The final stage in the development
of proclaiming the Good News of
Jesus Christ was the actual writing
of the New Testament.
Next came the four
canonical Gospels.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
were recognized as Scripture
based on the fact that they were
connected to the apostles, they
had widespread acceptance in
the early Church, and they
reflected what the early Church
truly believed about Jesus.
The final stage in the development
of proclaiming the Good News of
Jesus Christ was the actual writing
of the New Testament.
Writings about Jesus that did
not meet these requirements
were called apocryphal gospels,
“Apocryphal” means “hidden.”

An example is the Protoevangelium

of James, which attempted to fill in
some details about Jesus’ early life,
but was neither historically accurate
nor true to Christian belief.
The final stage in the development
of proclaiming the Good News of
Jesus Christ was the actual writing
of the New Testament.
Certain writings in early
Christianity reflected various
heresies, or false beliefs.
One such belief was
Gnosticism, which claimed that
there is some secret knowledge
that is necessary for salvation.
The presence of heretical ideas
is a reason that some books
were not included in the Bible.
 The four canonical Gospels
present different perspectives,
and address their writings to
different audiences.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke

are so similar, they are called the Synoptic
Gospels. “Synoptic” comes from the Greek
word meaning “to see together.”

John’s Gospel is different. It was the last

one written and only about 10% of the
material in the Synoptics appears in John.
 Each Gospel stands
on its own, but all
four share the same
Good News about
Jesus Christ.

It is important to
realize that the picture
of Jesus is incomplete
until you have all
four Gospels together.
 The Reliability
of the Gospels
Scripture scholars
have developed
various ways of
investigating the
Gospels so that we
may have a better
understanding of
the Biblical texts.
 Biblical “criticism” refers to the
analysis, judgment, and
investigation of the written texts.

Historical Criticism uses our

Redaction
Textual
Form
SourceCriticism
Criticism
knowledge Criticism
looks
analyzes
studies
tries
of ancient attothethe
different
how the
determine
history,
author
Gospels
literary
what edited
forms
by archaeology,
sources
language, comparing
his
used
the material
in the
Gospel various
Gospels.
fortoaearly
writers
etc. used
particular
texts
to of theaudience.
compose
determine same
their
the passages.
works. accuracy of
historical
the Biblical texts.
 Through these various types of
criticism of the Gospel texts, we can
conclude that certain important
concepts are original to Jesus.

By “original,” scholars mean that

Jesus was the first to convey these
ideas—that he did not borrow them
from earlier thinkers or teachers.
 Abba
Jesus was the first
to invite us to refer
to God with this
Hebrew term that
means “Daddy.”
By this invitation,
he dramatically
changed the way
human beings
viewed God.
 Amen
Rather than using the
word “Amen” at the end
of a phrase to indicate
assent with the previous
statement, Jesus used it as
an introduction—
indicating that he spoke
with unusual authority
without quoting some
other teacher.
 Parables
Jesus told stories that
were unlike anything
heard before or since.
They were memorable,
unique, and contained
important insights into
the Kingdom of God.
Their existence proves
that there was a
remarkable person
who created them.
 Consistency
There are no Love
contradictions in the
words, stories, or
actions of Jesus.
Everything Jesus said
Forgiveness
and did is also of Sin
consistent with the
larger picture that arises
from the Gospels.
Sacrifice
 Linguistic
Analysis
Through studying
the language Jesus
used, scholars have
found a unique
and poetic quality
to his words.
Jesus was clearly
more than just
another teacher.
 The Church
and Martyrs
People who deny the
historical existence
of Jesus have a
difficult time
explaining how the
Catholic Church came
to be.
 The earliest disciples of Jesus
were so convinced about his
being the Son of God that they
gave up their lives to proclaim
him and his message. Most of
the apostles died as martyrs.

People who do not truly believe what they

are saying will not die to defend a lie.
The martyrs of the early Church provide us
a strong witness to the truth of the Gospel.
 Witness of
the Martyrs

The martyrs of
the Church had
nothing to gain
when they
proclaimed Jesus
as the Savior of
the world.
Nothing but
eternal life.