In Search Of Jesus

What about non-Biblical references to Jesus Christ? How are they assessed? The works of Tacitus, Suetonius, Josephus, Pliny the Younger and a few other classical writers include numerous references to Jesus. Of them, The New Encyclopedia Britannica (1995) says: " These independant accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries."

Sadly, modern scholars, in their quest for the "real" or "historical" Jesus, seem to have hidden his true identity behind layers of baseless speculation, pointless doubts, and unfounded theorizing. In a sense, they are guilty of the mythmaking of which they falsely accuse the Gospel writers. Some are so eager to feed their own reputation and to link their name to a startling new theory that they fail to examine honestly the evidence about Jesus. In the process, they create a "Jesus" that amounts to a figment of scholarly imagination.

For those who want to find him, the real Jesus can be found in the Bible. Luke Johnson professor of New Testament and Christian origins at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, argues that most research on the historical Jesus misses the Biblical objective. He says that it may be interesting to examine the social, political, anthropological, and cultural contexts of Jesus' life and era. Yet, he adds that discovering what scholars call the historical Jesus " is hardly the point of Scripture," which is "more concerned with describing the character of Jesus, " his message, and his role as Redeemer. So, what was Jesus' true Character and message?

Continued-Next time: The Real Jesus