The document discusses Jesus of Nazareth from both a religious and historical perspective. Historically, Jesus lived in Galilee under Roman rule during a time of unrest and many self-proclaimed messiahs. As a religious leader, Jesus performed miracles and taught about the coming Kingdom of God, which led to his crucifixion. His resurrection is a key event supporting the core beliefs of Christianity. The document examines Jesus in the context of his times to understand both religious significance and how he compares to other historical figures of the period.
The document discusses Jesus of Nazareth from both a religious and historical perspective. Historically, Jesus lived in Galilee under Roman rule during a time of unrest and many self-proclaimed messiahs. As a religious leader, Jesus performed miracles and taught about the coming Kingdom of God, which led to his crucifixion. His resurrection is a key event supporting the core beliefs of Christianity. The document examines Jesus in the context of his times to understand both religious significance and how he compares to other historical figures of the period.
The document discusses Jesus of Nazareth from both a religious and historical perspective. Historically, Jesus lived in Galilee under Roman rule during a time of unrest and many self-proclaimed messiahs. As a religious leader, Jesus performed miracles and taught about the coming Kingdom of God, which led to his crucifixion. His resurrection is a key event supporting the core beliefs of Christianity. The document examines Jesus in the context of his times to understand both religious significance and how he compares to other historical figures of the period.
The document discusses Jesus of Nazareth from both a religious and historical perspective. Historically, Jesus lived in Galilee under Roman rule during a time of unrest and many self-proclaimed messiahs. As a religious leader, Jesus performed miracles and taught about the coming Kingdom of God, which led to his crucifixion. His resurrection is a key event supporting the core beliefs of Christianity. The document examines Jesus in the context of his times to understand both religious significance and how he compares to other historical figures of the period.
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Zealot: The life and times of Jesus of Nazareth
Growing up we often hear a lot of folktales, myths, rumors, legends or stories about people in the past and how they did miraculous things. However when it comes to stories that pertains to religious beliefs, it tends to be more controversial and vigorously debated among religious leaders or researchers in religious studies. The story of a peasant named Jesus of Nazareth is also nonetheless one of the most debated persons in history. Jesus was born in an ancient land called Galilee as an ordinary person. However through his healings, preaches, ambitions, he led a movement that aspired to create the Kingdom of God, which eventually resulted in his crucification. While Christians believe that His death made a way for all people to have eternal life through His sacrifice for our sins and His resurrection, historians and other critics would argue that he was merely another “self-claimed messiah” during a chaotic time in history. As a topic of debate for this report, it is worthy explore the discrepancies between the religious beliefs versus the historical perspective of Jesus and express my personal opinion on this topic.
The first issue I would like to discuss here is context. I believe context is very important when looking at a certain event or a certain problem. Context helps you put things into perspective and understand the meaning behind why certain events took place or why people behaved a certain way. The lack of context may cause readers to get lost in what is happening in an isolated story or event. Aslan does a good job in portraying the background of the times of Jesus, when the Roman Empire ruled over the Promised Land; Jerusalem, and its neighboring places. Under the Roman Empire, the Jewish people were controlled by the Roman leaders and the high priests of the Temple. They were taxed heavily by corrupted leaders and corrupted high priests that leveraged their position to force the Jews to pay tributes. The dissatisfaction of such system led the Jewish people to develop a believe known as zeal, which implied “a strict adherence to the Torah and the Law, a refusal to serve any foreign master…and an uncompromising devotion to the sovereignty of God.” This belief wasn’t necessarily a violent belief, but it did lead to violent actions, as people with zealous ideals, known as zealots, would form massive groups in attempt to free the Jews from foreign rule and “cleanse the land in the name of Israel’s God.” These banditry and zealotry groups would often launch attacks on cities and causes chaos and civil unrest, resulting in Roman intervention. Since the core belief of zeal is to free the Jewish people, which is aligned with what the legendary Messiah’s role is, the leader of these revolutionary groups naturally assume the title messiah, and very often claiming that they are the messiah that would rebuild the Kingdom for Jews. From the perspective of the Roman leaders, this meant that their Empire would be struck down and overthrown. Consequently, anyone during this time claimed they were the messiah or led zealous groups were always captured and crucified for sedition. I think with this context, it helps Christians who are reading the Bible have a better understanding of why Jesus challenged the Temple and why he ended up being crucified. When I first received the message of the gospel, it did not make sense to me why the high priests could not understand the words Jesus was preaching or why it was against their belief. However the context of history puts things into perspective for me and helps understand the problems they were facing at that time. Jesus was also one of the leaders of these groups that believed the Kingdom of God was near and he would tear down the Temple to build a new one of the Jewish people. Therefore, as a historian, it is easy to say that Jesus of Nazareth could have very well been just another false prophet. But Jesus was special. Jesus was a healer and he performed miraculous deeds for people free of charge. He was able to heal the sick, help the bind see, help the deaf hear, cast out demons, and even raise the dead to life. He had the authority to forgive people’s sins once they were healed. He was also very special in the sense that he was not married, because most people at his age would have already been married, not to mention having kids. What was most significant was that Jesus would often deny his identity as the messiah, even though many people saw him at the messiah. I believe these are some very distinct traits that separates him from the other zealot leaders in his time, which is a big indication that he is truly the “Chosen One”.
As Jesus and his followers entered the Temple of Jerusalem, he continued his zealous actions by flipping tables over releasing animals for sacrifice. He also famously responded to the question of “Is it lawful to pay the tribute to Caesar or not?” with “…give back to Caesar the property that belongs to Caesar, and give back to God the property that belongs to God.” This response stirred controversy among Roman authorities but it also shows that Jesus place heavy emphasis on people focusing on God and not the earthly matters such as paying tribute.
When Jesus was brought out to the public and about to get crucified the Bible illustrated Pilate was very hesitant on prosecuting Jesus, as he might have believed he was truly the Son of God. He therefore asked the people weather to execute Jesus or another prisoner who was also arrested for zealous crimes. They chose Jesus and asked to crucify him. Once Jesus died on the cross, he was buried in a cave, unlike the others who were left to be eaten by eagles and wolves. Three days later, his body disappeared and his disciples saw him, as he rose from the dead. The fact that Jesus was able to conquer the grave is an important belief that hinges on the truth of the Christianity religion. This event in my opinion is the most important event that could indicate Jesus is the messiah and the Lord Savior.
Even after Jesus’s death, people such as Paul, James, Peter continued to spread the good news of Jesus. Although Paul and James differed in what they preached, they both talked about Jesus being the Lord and Savior of all people. Those who accepted him would have eternal life and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In conclusion, Aslan states that “the comprehensive study of historical Jesus should reveal that Jesus of Nazareth…is every bit as compelling, charismatic, and praiseworthy as Jesus the Christ. He is, in short, someone worth believing in.”
Jesus, Resurrected: Risk Analysis and Recovery of Nine Post-Crucifixion Encounters with Jesus in the Contemporary Setting of First-Century Palestine and Haunted Galilee
