Jesus Christ c.6BC-c.30AD
The central figure of the Christian faith, believed to be both human and divine, and to have risen from the dead

Our knowledge of the life of Jesus Christ comes almost exclusively from the Gospel accounts and from other early Christian writing, including the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of St Paul. There are few references to him in other ancient sources, although Tacitus refers to his death and he is also mentioned by Pliny (but with no hint of his importance) and Josephus; he is also mentioned in some Hebrew sources. Of the Gospel accounts, Mark is now generally held to be the earliest (despite arguments for Matthew), and to be a source of the other three, Matthew, Luke and John, which also appear to have used another source not known to Mark (conventionally called 'Q'). John, which is the latest of the four and includes later material, presents the life of Jesus in a much more dramatic way than the others. There are two aspects to a life of Christ: the establishing of historical facts, and the identification of parts of his ministry which are the basis for the development of the Christian faith. This article, as a biography, concentrates necessarily on Jesus as a historical figure.

According to the accounts in Matthew and Luke, Jesus was the first-born child of Mary, of the tribe of Judah and descendant of David. At the time of his birth she was engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter. The birth took place in a stable at Bethlehem, where the family had travelled from Joseph's home town of Nazareth in order to comply with the regulations for a Roman population census, for 'there was no room for them at the inn'. According to Matthew, the child was born shortly before the death of Herod the Great (4BC), although the Roman census referred to by Luke did not take place before AD6.

Little is known of the early life of Jesus. He is believed to have followed Joseph's trade of carpentry (and Mark 6.3 calls him a carpenter); at the age of 12 his mother was moved to see him discussing learned matters with the scribes, and was assured by him that he was about his 'father's business'. After nearly 18 years of obscurity, he was baptized in the River Jordan by his cousin John the Baptist, who had been proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. Christ's baptism marks the beginning of his public life.

After 40 days in the wilderness struggling against temptation, he gathered around him 12 disciples (called apostles) and undertook two missionary journeys through Galilee, mainly in the villages and countryside rather than the towns and cities, and culminating in the miraculous feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6.30-52). The Gospels relate how he performed miraculous healings, exorcisms, and some 'nature' miracles such as the calming of the storm. Jesus taught mainly in the synagogues, bringing his message primarily to the Jews and only later to the Gentiles, and continued John the Baptist's message of a coming kingdom. This, seen through the eyes of Herod Antipas, John the Baptist's executioner, had dangerous political implications. Furthermore, Jesus' association with 'sinners', his apparent flouting of traditional religious practices, the performance of miracles on the Sabbath, the driving of the money-lenders from the temple and the whole tenor of his revolutionary Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-8), emphasizing love, humility, meekness and charity, alarmed the Pharisees.

Christ and his disciples sought refuge for a while in the Gentile territories of Tyre and Sidon, where he secretly revealed himself to them as the promised Messiah, and hinted at his coming passion, death and resurrection. According to Mark, he returned to Jerusalem in triumph, a week before the Passover feast. After the famous Last Supper with his disciples, he was betrayed in the garden of Gethsemane by Judas Iscariot, who kissed him to single him out to his enemies, and after a hurried trial was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin. The necessary confirmation of the sentence from Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect, was obtained on the grounds of political expediency and not through proof of treason implicit in any claim to territorial kingship by Christ.

Jesus was crucified, along with two criminals, early on the Passover or the preceding day (the 'preparation of the Passover'), although the precise chronology is uncertain. The year is thought to be AD30 or 33. He was buried on the same day. The following Sunday, Mary Magdalene, possibly accompanied by other women, visited the tomb and found it empty. Jesus himself appeared to her, and she told the disciples of her experiences. Jesus also appeared to groups of his disciples after his death, according to stories that are thought to be late insertions into the Gospel accounts (even in Mark). The story that Jesus ascended into heaven is described explicitly only twice, in Acts (1.9) and at the end of Mark (thought to be a 2nd-century insertion). The conclusion of Luke says only that Jesus parted from his disciples (24.50-53). According to the Acts of the Apostles, 50 days after Passover (10 days after Jesus' final appearance) the disciples were hiding in an upper room when the Holy Spirit descended on them, as Jesus had promised (John 14.15-16), enabling them to speak in tongues, and giving them the power to preach and prophesy, and to heal.

The cross, the instrument of the crucifixion, became the symbol of Christianity. The history of the church begins after the Resurrection with the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. The apostolic succession claimed by the Church begins with Christ's public declaration to Peter (Matthew 16.17-19) that on him and on his declaration of faith, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God', he would build his Church.

There has been much discussion, in both historical and theological terms, of what Jesus Christ claimed to be. He certainly regarded himself as a prophet (Mark 4.4; Luke 8.33), and he encouraged his disciples to say who they thought he was; Peter replied that he was the Christ or Messiah (Mark 8.27-30). Several titles are applied to him in the New Testament accounts, including Son of Man and Son of God (which may be simply a singular version of 'Sons of God', a common designation for the Jews).

Bibliography: E P Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (1993); A N Wilson, Jesus (1993); J D Crossan, The Historical Jesus (1991); H Kee, Jesus in History (1977).