The scholarly quest for the historical Jesus has enjoyed a renaissance in the last twenty years. The work of these historians -- who draw on the literary evidence of the New Testament, as well as archaeology, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology -- is very much in the public eye these days and is affecting the faith of millions of Christians.

(Under Construction)

 

  • Basic facts we "think" we know about Jesus
  • Various scholarly portraits of who Jesus was
  • Teachings: What do scholars say about the teachings of Jesus?
  • Miracle Stories: Did Jesus actually work miracles?
  • The Crucifixion: Did it happen? Did it happen the way the Gospels say it happened? Why did it happen?
  • The Resurrection: Did it happen?
  • Non-canonical sources of Jesus information:
    -- "Q" Research
    -- The Gospel of Thomas
    -- The Jewish historian, Josephus
    -- Apocrypha
  • Book reviews
  • Jesus Scholarship Links

 

Crucifixion In Antiquity
By Joe Zias, Curator of Archaeology/Anthropology for the Israel Antiquities Authority from 1972 to 1997.

A well-referenced and sobering historical overview of crucifixion, "one of the cruelest and most humiliating forms of punishment in the ancient world."

Josephus' Reference To Crucifixion
By James D. Tabor

Josephus On 1st Century Roman Palestine
By James D. Tabor

Josephus On Jesus
By James D. Tabor

Josephus' Account Of Jesus
The Flavius Josephus Website

Josephus On John the Baptist
By James D. Tabor

Josephus On James, The Brother Of Jesus
By James D. Tabor

Basic Facts Regarding The Dead Sea Scrolls
By James D. Tabor

Twelve points outlining the history, content, and basic facts of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
 
Why Jews Don't Accept Jesus
By Rabbi David Wolpe

Where Was Jesus Born?
Biblical Archeological Society

Many New Testament scholars believe that Jesus was not born in Bethlehem but Nazareth. We asked Steve Mason of Toronto's York University to lay out the widely accepted view that Jesus was born in Nazareth, while Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem, takes a different tack, delving into the archaeological, extrabiblical and gospel evidence in support of the long-cherished Bethlehem tradition.

Jesus' Social Class
PBS: "From Jesus To Christ"

Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a village in the Galilee. Now the Galilee, by most of the traditional accounts, is always portrayed as a kind of bucolic backwater ... cherubic peasants on the hillsides. And yet, our recent archaeological discoveries have shown this not to be the case. Nazareth, itself, is a village ... a small village at that. But, it stands less than four miles from a major urban center, Sepphoris. Now, we see Jesus growing up, not in the bucolic backwater, not... in the rural outback, but rather, on the fringes of a vibrant urban life.

Did Jesus Exist?
All Sides To The Question
By B.A. Robinson