Existence of Jesus

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For more information, see the Wikipedia article:
There is little agreement as to what Jesus looked like.



Historical and mythical theories

For more information, see the Wikipedia article:

There are several theories about the origin of stories about Jesus:

  • Jesus was deified by later Christians: Jesus historically existed and was a minor preacher who possibly claimed to be a Messiah. This gained the attention of a few fanatical followers, such as Paul the Apostle, who founded Christianity and deified Jesus. This is the mainstream view of scholars but some historians are critical of the methods and evidence used to support it. This view accepts a historical Jesus existed but stories about Jesus are partially or entirely fictional. Proponents of this theory include:
  • Christ docetisc myth theory: Jesus was a spiritual (docetisc) being who some experienced in visions, or people pretended to have visions of Jesus. The gospels were an allegory of the spiritual person on Earth (i.e. Jesus was euhemerized). These myths were then taught as if they were true. Proponents of this theory include:
  • Christianity is based on pagan religion: The claim that Jesus never existed and the myths about him were taken from pagan religions, such as the god Mithras. While Christianity has clear pagan influences, saying it was primarily based on pagan myths is a fringe view.

Many bad arguments are made, both supporting and attacking the Christ myth theories. For this reason, some writers simply argue the evidence does not support the existence of Jesus, and therefore Jesus is ahistorical.

Literalist view

The view held by Biblical literalists, but no credible historians, is that the New Testament is a reliable source.





See also

External links

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