Between Heaven and Earth: The Quest for the Historical Jesus
Between Heaven and Earth: The Quest for the Historical Jesus What can we know about the “historical Jesus”? Firstly, it must be explained what is meant by the term. The historical Jesus refers to the figure of Jesus of Nazareth as he existed in history, separate from the religious beliefs and doctrines that have developed around him. It is an attempt by scholars to reconstruct the life, teachings, and actions of the actual person who lived in the 1st century C.E. in ancient Palestine. I will assume that you have some background knowledge of what the four canonical Gospels are: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and why they will be useful in our quest. However, we need to truly examine these Gospels to determine how useful they are in seeing who Jesus truly was. One must question their historicity, authorship, dating, and examine what they say. It might be surprising to read that the oldest Gospel in the...