I continue here with events from Jesus’ life before he started his public ministry that I think we can treat as historical.  (If you need some background on how I’m claiming this information is historical, see the previous post).

 

His Parents

In all our sources Jesus’ parents are assumed to be Jewish.  They, as we’ve seen, came from Nazareth, a small rural village in Galilee, the northern part of what we today think of as Israel.  They are consistently named Joseph and Mary in our sources (for example, independently, Matt. 1:16-18; Mark 6:3; Luke 2:5, 16; 3:23; John 1:45; even rabbinic sources call his mother “Miriam”).

In none of our traditions are there stories about

Unlock 4,000+ Articles Like This!

Get access to Dr. Ehrman's library of 4,000+ articles plus five new articles per week about the New Testament and early Christianity. It costs as little as $2.99/mth and every cent goes to charity!

Learn More!