Did Jesus Really Exist?

 HE WAS neither rich nor powerful. He did not even have a home that he could call his own. Yet, his teachings have influenced millions. Did Jesus Christ really exist? What do both modern and ancient authorities say? 

* Michael Grant. a historian and an expert on ancient classical civilization, noted:  "If we apply to the New Testament, was we should, the same sort of criteria ass we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned.

* Rudolf Bultmann, a professor of New Testament studies, stated: "The doubt as to whether Jesus really existed is unfounded and not worth refutation. No sane person can doubt that Jesus stands  as found behind the historical movement whose first distance stage is represented by the oldest Palestinian community [of Christians.] 

* Will Durant, a historian, writer, and philosopher, wrote:  "That a few simple men {the Gospel writers] should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty and ethic and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospels.

*Albert Einstein, a German-born Jewish physicist, stated:  "I a a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."  When  asked if he viewed Jesus  as a historical person, he responded:  "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus.  His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life." 

Next time: Does Jesus Really Exist? - What Does History Reveal?

From the j.w.org publications