is wisdom will be great. He will make atonement for all the children of His generation...His Word shall be as the Word of Heaven and His teaching shall be according to the will of God. His eternal sun shall burn brilliantly and its fire will give warmth to all the ends of the earth."      - The Words of Levi 4Q541 Frag. 9 1.2-4
Christ on the Cross Bartolome Esteban Murillo, c.1660-1682

The Jesus of Theology
325 C.E. marks a pivotal event in the history of Christianity. The Roman emperor Constantine I summoned more than 250 bishops to Nicea in Turkey to resolve a rancorous dispute which was threatening to disrupt the newly won peace of his empire. While all the bishops agreed that Jesus was the Son of God, they disagreed on whether he had existed with God before the beginning of time (as the Alexandrians believed); or had been created later and was subordinate to God (a position popularized by Arius of Antioch).
Constantine, still an unbaptized pagan at the time, decided in favor of the pre-existence of Jesus. In addition he demanded that the bishops add to the creed (drawn up by Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea) that Christ was "of one substance" (homoousion in Greek) with the Father. It was theologically necessary that God himself had become mortal in order to make the hope that mortals may obtain eternal life more believable. Under pressure of banishment, the council agreed with only two dissenting votes. The true nature of the Son of God was now an ineffable mystery beyond human understanding.

The Jesus of History
Through the intervening centuries between then and now, the Nicene creed has remained the basic and unassailable doctrine of Christian faith. Jesus' sacrificial death gave man the key to salvation and his teachings and deeds were of secondary importance. It is only in modern times that any serious attempts have been made to learn about the Jesus of history. Somewhere between the messianic expectations of the Jews and the high christology of Paul was a real person who breathed and ate and was concerned with the daily tasks of living like the rest of us. Yet he made a profound impact on others, enough to gain a devoted, even fanatical, following and to earn the enmity of those who would engineer his death.
The Real Jesus? is a critical examination into the life and times of Jesus. If we dare to look truthfully through the accumulated centuries of obfuscation and mystery, what will we uncover about Jesus the man? What did he really say and do? And, more importantly, is there anything we can learn from the historical Jesus that will give us a new perspective on our lives today?

Blue Letter Bible Concordance and Word Search Opens in a new window for quick reference

Table of Contents

*** Special Features*** Heavenly Journeys What were the secrets of the ancient Jewish mystics? The Deeper Truth Do ancient Egyptian artifacts enshrine the image of Christ? The Israelite Samaritans Who were these people and where are they today?

The Last Kingdom of the Judeans Ancient Traditions of the Messiah Where did the tradition of the Messiah come from? What did the prophesies predict? The Legacy of the Maccabees What inspired such heroic ideals of freedom and dark visions of the apocalypse? Discoveries by the Dead Sea New ruins have been excavated on the route to Qumran. What surprises do they reveal? The Messianic Elite A doomsday cult retreats to the desert - who were these people and what was their secret? Going Forth to Rule the World What were Herod the Great's plans? Why did the Zealots rise in a bloody rebellion? Preparing the Way Who was John the Baptist? Why was his program of baptism so politically explosive?

The Life and Death of a Son of Man Jesus - The Early Days What is the truth behind the Christmas story and Jesus' childhood? The Mission Begins Why was Jesus thought to be possessed and rejected by his own village? The Ministry of Jesus What made Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God so revolutionary? Surprising Works Did Jesus really perform miracles and consider himself the son of God? The New Gospel What lies at the heart of Jesus' teachings that so hard to accept today? Jesus in Jerusalem Did Jesus deliberately upset the Jewish officials and Roman authorities? Jesus' Final Days What can scholars tell us about the Last Supper, Jesus' arrest, and conviction? An Agonizing Death Was Jesus' Passion on the cross the creation of a Jewish sacred story teller?

The Planting Takes Root The Empty Tomb What was the controversy about the missing body back in the first century? The Resurrection Can the differing accounts of the risen Jesus be reconciled? The First Church Was the first Pentecost rooted in Jewish Merkavah mysticism? A Light for the Gentiles How did opposition to Paul in Jerusalem nearly cost him his life? The Early Christians Did Jesus accurately predict the fall of Jerusalem? What happened to his family?

The Emergence of a New Religion Writing the New Testament What does modern scholarship tell us about who wrote the first gospels and when? The Gospels and the Jewish Religious Calendar Were the gospels organized in accordance with the feast days of the Jews? The Riddle of the Four Faces: Solving an 1800-Year-Old Mystery Is there a relationship between the four faces of the cherubim and the canonical Gospels? Egyptian and Pagan Themes in Christian Tradition Did Egyptian and pagan cults have any influence on Christian practices and beliefs? Jesus Outside the New Testament What did Jewish and Roman sources have to say about Jesus and his followers? Early Christian Beliefs How did the Council of Nicaea change the course of Christianity for the next 1,500 years?

Real Jesus? Book Shelf See reviews of some of my favorite books. Order directly on-line from Amazon Books. Click here!

Is this what Jesus looked like? Check out The Shroud of Turin.

rshand@home.com

Recommended Sites Related to the Historical Jesus