I’ve been thinking a lot about the social/cultural/economic/historical context of Jesus lately, and reading a good bit on what we know about Galilee from the time. I’ll be saying more about all that anon, but I thought this might be a good chance to cover some of the basics on the blog – what do we know about Jesus from the time he was born to the time he was baptized as an adult, which is how he begins his ministry in the Gospels.
For stories of his life before that, of course, all we have are
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I just ran into the idea that since King David started out as a no-account nobody from nowhere, it makes sense that Jesus was a practical nobody from nowhere as well. Perhaps it’s a bit of a tradition?
I like the idea that Jesus traveled to India, to Egypt, all over the Middle East, and even as far away as England. If he received an education by learning from different traditions, that makes him more like the rest of us, and I like that.
They say that a good manager is someone who knows how to collect different ideas and discern which ones to keep and which ones to throw out or put aside. Jesus likely had this talent/ability.
Any chance Jesus was a Samaritan? Nazareth and Galilee are right on the edge of Samaria. Samaritans only have the Torah which Jesus also emphasized. Samaritans had issue with the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was very comfortable amidst the Samaritans. The Woman at the Well calls him the Messiah which is not the same as the Jewish Messiah. There’s such an overlap with the Jews, the Samaritans even being considered a sect of the Jews, that is it possible there’s been misinterpretation over the centuries by Christians?
Interesting idea, but I’d say it seems highly unlikely. He almost certainly came from GAlilee for one thing, and the Gospels are filled with signs of animosity between the religion Jesus endorsed and that followed by Samaritans. I don’t think John 4 is historical and apart from that there’s not a lot of friendliness being shown.
Greetings to ajhuff. I propose that Jesus emerged as a protege of John the Baptist and managed the northern site on the Jordan River IN SAMARIA!!!! The social phenomenon known as JOHN’S BAPTISM invited the Samaritans to participate as fully fledged Children of Abraham. Acts 8:4-25 depicts another social phenomenon known as JESUS’S BAPTISM in Samaria. Then, Philip met the Ethiopian on the road to Jerusalem. Finally, Peter went to Cornelius the Centurion (Acts 10th Chapter) and was criticized for social contact with a Gentile. There was no criticism in the 8th chapter of Acts when Philip, Peter, and John went to Samaria. I agree with you that “Jesus was very comfortable amidst the Samaritans”. Also, I agree with your statement, “that it is possible there’s been misinterpretation over the centuries by Christians.” The scholar Cyrus H. Gordon is a source of ancient writings. It seems that Samaritans and Jews mingled in the Diaspora after the wars in 70 CE and 132 CE against Rome. It seems the alleged animosity lessened or dissipated after 132 CE. Perhaps Josephus wrote something about the alleged animosity? Have a good day.
Dr Ehrman,
Since the Romans had the census that Joseph and family had to comply to, and Rome hung the INRI sign above the cross doesn’t that confirm He was from Nazareth?
I don’t think the census can be historical; INRI certainly shows, I think, that he was konwon to have come from there.
Given that Matthew and Luke were both revisions of Mark, couldn’t their reference to Jesus being from Nazareth despite their discomfort with it simply be seen as a reluctance to depart too far from Mark, rather than qualifying as a meaningful example of the criterion of dissimilarity?
Could be — but you’d have to have some reasons for thinking so, especially since they both go out of their way to affirm it in ways completely alien to Mark. (And, of course, you’d have to figure out why Mark himself thinks so and why Mark, M, and L all emphasize it)
Hi Dr. Ehrman,
Let’s assume Jesus wasn’t resurrected. What do you think His disciples could have experienced to make them believe otherwise?
Also, I once by mistake called you Bart rather than Dr. Ehrman. You said it was cool. I was wondering if it’d be cool to call you Doc Ehrms or the Ehrmeister?
Much better than what *some* people call me. 🙂
In my book How Jesus Became God I lay out my views: I think some of the followers of Jesus said/believed they saw him after he wsa crucified. If he wsan’t resurrected, they may have had some kind of visionary experiences, or dreams they took to be real, or mistaken identities, or any of the other things that explain why we think we see things that are not really there. (Happens all the time!)
This whole thing about Jesus having to have been descended from the line of David.
With all the wives and concubines that David and Solomon both had, who wasn’t descended from the line of David?
Half of Israel, and a few outsiders as well, must have been descended from David in one way or another.
How far-fetched is it that Jesus could have been descended from David if that was what was required or what people needed to believe?
Right — it’s the patrilinear descent that would make it important — but there must have been tons who could claim that as well. And I agree with what I take to be the point of your question: I don’t think there’s any way a rural peasant in a small village of Galilee would have any idea what his genealogical line was past his great-grandfather….
Forgive my repeated comments. I don’t want to be flagged for “spamming”, but this opportunity must be seized. The Bethlehem Narrative was fabricated. The Flight to Egypt was fabricated. 12 y.o. Jesus in the Temple was fabricated. The actual “Lost Years of Jesus” is his apprenticeship under John the Baptist. When James, his younger brother, reached adulthood; Jesus went to John the Baptist. Soon, Jesus managed the northern location on the Jordan River in Samaria with staffers Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel.
Who fabricated the Synoptic Gospel accounts? Which Jews were interviewed by Luke, the Gentile, when Jews avoided social contact with Gentiles? (See the account of Cornelius the Centurion in ACTS and the account of Peter in Antioch in GALATIANS.) The “Q” source was not a document; it was the narrative of a community. (Already, the “Q” Community Hypothesis is proposed by some scholars. These scholars propose a community of Galilean Jews who avoided contact with Gentiles, so another “Q” community existed.)
The “Q” community witnessed the MIDDAY DARKNESS. All three Synoptic Gospels include the MIDDAY DARKNESS. In fact, it was the MIDDAY DARKNESS (and the EMPTY TOMB) that convinced these Jews to splinter from their secret community.
As always, much obliged
John the Baptist was probably a Nazarite. James, the brother of Jesus, was certainly a Nazarite. But Jesus was a Nazarene, being a native of Nazareth, so it is definitely possible that Jesus taught overt Torah violation when he taught the Eucharist (according to Paul, but not accepted by the disciples of Jesus who remained Torah compliant to the end).
I find the John/Jesus/James family ‘Torah compliance oscillation factor’ (on/off/on) to be a dubious claim. It wants it both ways. Christians famously do not comply with Torah regulations in contrast to Nazirs who amp it up a notch.
I think it’s possible that Nazarene sounds close enough to Nazarite that a word substitution might have been made to ‘muddy the water’ to distract the listener from the Torah commitment of Jesus. Jesus came from a tiny town named Nazareth and is still the only Jew who ever perfectly obeyed Torah. But, unlike his cousin and brother, Jesus could not have been a Nazirite. He was from Nazareth. That’s close enough to Sepphoris that Jesus might have been aligned with Rome, like Paul was. If I heard that word correctly. Maybe not though.