Jesus
Jesus Christ is the central object of attention and worship in Christianity. He is held by Christians and Messianic Jews to be the Messiah and Savior, as well as the physical incarnation of God, the Son of God. The vast majority of self-described Christians regard belief in the divinity of Jesus to be part of what defines Christianity. Moreover, according to some theologies, Jesus is one of the three persons of the Trinity, along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. See Christology.
The name "Jesus" was first used in Middle English. It was derived from the Late Latin Iesus, which in turn comes from the Greek Iesous, which derives from the Hebrew Yeshua, a short form of Yehoshua (Joshua), which means "the Lord is salvation" or "Jehovah saves".
Due to a mistaken calculation, it was long held that Jesus was born in the year 1 A.D. and died at age 33. It is now more often held that he was born on 4 or 5 B.C. Regardless, Christianity was of such importance to medieval Europe that the presumed birth of Jesus was used to mark the first year of the calendar (similarly, in modernity, Europe emerged to be of such political and economic importance in the world that most non-European countries have come to use the same calendar.) "A.D." stands for "Anno Domini," which means "in the year of our lord," or the number of years after the purported year of the birth of Jesus. Since many non-Christians have come to use this calendar, many have adopted the alternative notation, "C.E.," for the Common Era. (Since European domination often coincided with Christian domination, many people deem this to be the "Christian Era").
Christianity emerged from Judaism in the first century of the Common Era. Christians brought from Judaism its scriptures, and fundamental doctrines such as monotheism, and the belief in a messiah (English term for the Hebrew moshiach); this term is more commonly known as Christ (Greek Christos). Hence the name "Jesus Christ" means "Jesus the Christ" or "Jesus the Messiah"; since most Jews do not accept that Jesus is the messiah of Jewish scripture, they reject the use of the full (Christian) name. The Jewish conception of the messiah is a national one, viz., the deliverer of Israel, and has significant differences from how Christians understand the term.
Mainstream Christians believe Jesus was born after his virgin mother Mary (betrothed to Saint Joseph) was miraculously caused to conceive him by the Holy Spirit, and was thereby the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for. According to a prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 (a book in the Christian Old Testament, or the Jewish Tanach) a young woman (often translated as 'virgin'; the correctness of that translation is controversial) would conceive a child called Immanuel (meaning "God with us"). The New Testament states that the Isaiah prophecy refers to the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:22-23). Many Christians understand the Isaiah prophecy as refering to both the virgin Mary at the birth of Jesus, and also to a non-virgin young woman in the time of Isaiah. Others believe his "virgin birth" to have been only metaphorical in nature.
The Biblical account recounts little about Jesus' childhood or young adulthood. By the time he reached his early 30s, he became known as a religious teacher. After teaching as a wandering rabbi and performing miracles for three years, he was convicted by the occupying Roman government of claiming to be king of the Jews, and crucified. During this time period, many thousands of Jews were murdered by the Romans in this manner; the complete absence of this from the New Testament is a matter of controversy, although it may simply mean that the writers felt no need to write what was obvious to their readers. According to the Gospels (the first 4 books in the New Testament of the Bible), he rose from the dead on the third day and appeared to his disciples; forty days later he ascended into Heaven.
Jesus' teaching, as told in the Gospels, concentrates on benevolence towards other people and calls on its followers to abandon their worldly concerns, make disciples, and wait for the second coming of their Savior. According to the Gospels, believers are promised salvation, which has often been taken to mean that only those who accept Jesus as the Son of God will be resurrected from the dead and live forever in Heaven. However, "salvation" has been interpreted in many ways, and a wide spectrum of Christian viewpoints exist and have existed throughout the centuries.
The Islamic faith recognizes Jesus (Isa, in Arabic) as a wise man and a prophet, but not a savior or son of Allah, except in the sense that all mankind are children of Allah. That Mary was a virgin, and that Allah caused her to conceive, are accepted by the Qur'an. According to Islam Isa never died and he was not crucified; instead he was raised into heaven still physically alive, where he lives now. At the time appointed by Allah, Isa will physically return to the world, end all wars, and usher in an era of peace, a messianic era.
It has been suggested that there may be a Christian temple in Isa, in ?Western India, where Jesus studied in residence for part of his life. Documentation for this has yet to reach the realm of the scholarly.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes Jesus appeared in the Western Hemisphere after his resurrection and taught the ancestors of modern Native Americans, whom they believe to be one of the lost tribes of Israel.
Apart from the Gospels, there are very few contemporaneus accounts of the historical Jesus. The most famous reference is in Tacitus (see Tacitus on Jesus). Josephus is one of the non-biblical sources commonly mentioned (see Josephus on Jesus).
There are also numerous lines of thought that question the existence of Jesus Christ or suggest that he is merely the combination of numerous individuals who lived during that time period, or that aspects of his story were derived from earlier figures such as Isis and Horus (see Historicity of Jesus).
Nativity of Christ
- this was previously a seperate small article
According to the Christian Bible, the nativity or birth of Jesus took place as Joseph and Mary were visiting Bethlehem from their native Nazareth.
Of the four Gospels, the Nativity is mentioned only in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and these two evangelists wrote independently of each other. Certain details of the two accounts cannot be reconciled: Only Luke reports that the parents lived at Nazareth; according to Matthew they settled in Nazareth only after their return from Egypt - an event which Luke does not mention.
The exact year or month or day of Jesus' birth cannot, however, now be exactly ascertained. Most chronologists are of the opinion that the year 4 before the Christian era was the most likely year of Christ's nativity, and consequently that he was about four years old in the year 1 A.D.
While Christmas, in December, celebrates the birth of Jesus, the textual evidence--namely that shepherds were watching their flocks at night--suggests that the event actually took place in the Spring.
See also: