The following "facts" about Jesus would be affirmed by most history scholars, Borg said:Thats all. Of course, I take issue with the last fact.
- Jesus was born sometime just before 4 B.C. He grew up in Nazareth, a small village in Galilee, as part of the peasant class. Jesus' father was a carpenter and he became one, too, meaning that they had likely lost their agricultural land at some point.
- Jesus was raised Jewish and he remained deeply Jewish all of his life. His intention was not to create a new religion. Rather, he saw himself as doing something within Judaism.
- He left Nazareth as an adult, met the prophet John and was baptized by John. During his baptism, Jesus likely experienced some sort of divine vision.
- Shortly afterwards, Jesus began his public preaching with the message that the world could be transformed into a "Kingdom of God."
- He became a noted healer, teacher and prophet. More healing stories are told about Jesus than about any other figure in the Jewish tradition.
- He was executed by Roman imperial authority.
- His followers experienced him after his death. It is clear that they had visions of Jesus as they had known him during his historical life. Only after his death did they declare Jesus to be "Lord" or "the Son of God."
Friday, April 10, 2009
Science!
Livescience posted this article. It might be worthy of discussion. I found it interesting the things they say are 'fact' about Jesus life.
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1 comment:
None of these facts constitute evidence of the Divinity of Christ. It isn't even clear how one could ever establish the nature of Christ in any rational way, since the fact is not operationally meaningful.
The line is interesting in that it is explicitly supernatural. But a reasonable person could easily conclude that the experiences of the post-Christ church are exaggerated and/or delusional. This is entirely consistent with human behavior.
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