How do historians know about the life and times of Jesus?

Answer 1

A:

Historians deal with independently verified facts. As they have no independently verified facts about the life of Jesus, they are generally reticent to say they 'know' about the life and times of Jesus, although most historians do not dispute his probable existence.

Answer 2

We know that Mark's Gospel was the first written, and that it was originally anonymous, only being attributed by the Church Fathers to the apostle whose name it now bears, later in the second century. It can also be demonstrated that the other three gospels, Matthew, Luke and John, were copied directly or indirectly from Mark. We learn as children that the disciples Matthew, Mark, Luke and John really wrote the four gospels, and Ian Wilson (Jesus: The Evidence) says that it can come as quite a shock to discover that no one can be sure who wrote the four gospels in the New Testament. They were not, as traditionally assumed, written by disciples of Jesus, or even associates of those disciples.

This means that to find where most information about Jesus came from, we have to look for the sources used by the author of Mark's Gospel.

Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says that Mark seems to depend on traditions (and perhaps already shaped sources) received in Greek. He also points out that parallels have been detected between Mark and Paul's letter to the Romans, written some years earlier. Brown points out that while the eucharist in Luke 22:19-20 is based on Mark, it also shows parallels with 1 Corinthians 11:24-25. In fact, Mark (verse 14:22-24) seems also to be based on 1 Corinthians, so that Luke has 1 Corinthians as an ultimate source, through Mark, as well as a direct source in its own right. So far, this suggests that the author of Mark could have taken key names and events from Paul's epistles, and added information apparently not known to Paul, who seemed not to have known Jesus to have been a person who lived in Palestine in the recent past.

Dennis R. MacDonald (The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark) goes further and finds persuasive evidence that much of the Gospel of Mark was inspired by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

There was also the 'Q' document, a hypothetical book of sayings attributed to Jesus, which was used by the authors of both Matthew and Luke, in addition to the material they took from Mark. However, Q seems to have been added to in four distinct stages, so, at most, only the sayings from the first stage are likely to have actually been spoken by Jesus.

The nativity accounts in Matthew and Luke did not come from Mark, but are so contradictory that neither is likely to be historically accurate, whatever the sources may have been.

The stories of the resurrection appearances did not come from Mark, which originally ended at verse 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and the fled, telling no one. Once again, the resurrection appearances in Matthew, Luke and John are so contradictory that none of them is likely to be historically accurate. The "Long Ending" (verses 16:9-25) were added much later to Mark to more or less harmonise it with Matthew and Luke.

AnswerMost of the information came from all four Gospel accounts. Each account fills in different information so that we can get the full picture of Christ. God planned it that way and directed Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in what they should write. One did not copy from another. That is a big mistake. In fact Matthew was unanimously agreed to by the early church fathers to be the first gospel written. This held until the 19th century. Why would Matthew copy Mark's gospel (not an eye witness to Jesus) when Matthew was an eye witness?

Answer 3

Historians are not satisfied that they know the facts with reasonable certainty unless they have at least two separate and independent sources of information on a subject, preferring contemporary accounts written by eyewitnesses. At this stage, they only have one source, which is the gospels. Apart from the gospels, there are only Christian accounts from later centuries and non-Christian sources which were probably reliant on Christian testimony. The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, briefly mentions Jesus but historians say that the two existing versions of this account, the Flavius Testimonium, have been altered by Christians and they are unsure what, if anything that Josephus actually wrote.

The gospels must be considered as one account, not four, and not as eyewitness accounts, because it has been established that Mark was not only the first New Testament gospel to be written, but also the main source directly (Matthew and Luke) or indirectly (John) for the later three New Testament gospels. All the New Testament gospels were originally anonymous until attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John later in the second century, but historians and biblical scholars say there is no good reason to accept those attributions. In particular, scholars say that none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed.

This places emphasis, from a historian's point of view, on establishing how historical Mark's account of the life of Jesus really is. Much research has gone into analysis of Mark in recent times, slowly bringing new facts to light. For example, it has been well established that Mark's Gospel originally ended at verse 16:8, with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled in terror, telling no one. The 'Long Ending' (verses 16:9-20) was added much later, after the other gospels had been written. Historians must dismiss the stories of the appearances of the risen Jesus, which in any case differ quite markedly from gospel to gospel.

Research that will be particularly useful to historians in the study of Mark's Gospel, by helping to establish the likelihood that certain events actually happened, is the discovery of a framework parallel structure that encompasses the entire gospel. A parallel structure is a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted by a second, parallel set that mirrors the first. Parallel structures were used in ancient times to add emphasis or to develop themes that were otherwise hidden. The structure of Mark is summarised below:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Answer 4

The Bible, more accurately, the New Testament, the Old Testament does too, but the story of Jesus' life on earth is mostly recorded in the new testament.