Theo 2 - The Historical Jesus

Historical Evidence

- Although Jesus is known to have been a great
teacher, he personally left no writings behind
- New Testament writings, especially the gospels,
prove Jesus’ existence while also noting
historical events and people
- Historical evidence of Jesus’ existence from both
Roman and Jewish independent sources include
writings from:
Historical Evidence
• Tacitus
• Suetonius
• Pliny the Younger
• Josephus


The Scriptures and Jesus

- The Primary source material about Jesus and
earliest followers is the New Testament:
• The New Testament contains 27 books
• Most important are the four gospels
• Composed over a period of about 70 years
• Testament means “covenant”
• Jesus Christ represents the new covenant shown
in the New Testament

-The covenant theme is central in the Old Testament:
• 46 books of inspired writings
• Began with the call to Abraham
• Many examples of God’s loving kindness
• Reveals how unfaithful the Chosen People were to the
covenant
• God’s covenant was to be a new testament sealed in the
blood of his Son - Jesus is the “New Testament”
• NT continues and fulfills the Old Testament

- God is the true author of the sacred scriptures
- Inspiration: Holy Spirit teaching truth through the Bible
without destroying the free and personal activity of
the human writer
• Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of the Bible
• Gospel - “Good News”
-Why are there four written versions of one gospel?
• God wanted four different perspectives of Jesus


- Canon of the Bible: official list of books the Church
considers its inspired writings
- 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books
In order to be included in the Canon the following
- Canon, criteria had to be met:
• Apostolic Origin
• Widespread Acceptance
• Conformity to the Rule of Faith



Formation of the Gospels

-Three stages involved in the formation of the gospels:
1.) Public life and teaching of Jesus
Formation of the Gospels
2.) Oral tradition and preaching by the apostles
and early disciples of Jesus
3.) Written gospels themselves

Stage 1: Public Life
- Apostles were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life and ministry
that helped to form and preserve the gospel in the
first stage

Stage 2: Oral Tradition
- Oral preaching took three forms:
1.) Kerygma - preaching to nonbelievers
2.) Didache - teachings
3.) Liturgy - worship of the Christians

Oral preaching had to be committed to writing for three
major reasons:
1 ) End of the world was not coming as quickly as the early
1.) Christians thought it would
2.) Distortions were setting in
3.) More instruction was needed

Stage 3: New Testament Writings
- Earliest New Testament writings are letters of St. Paul
- Gospels and various other writings such as Acts of the
Apostles and Revelations followed



Interpreting the New Testament

- The New Testament is the most important
collection of books ever written and
assembled
- Historical research looks to the customs and
ways of thinking at the time the events took
place and were written
-Literary criticism analyzes the writings themselves
-Analysts look to the Magisterium for final authority
in interpreting the scriptures

St. Jerome’s translation of the entire Bible into Latin
is the Vulgate - became the Church’s official
translation of the Bible
Interpreting the New Testament
- Two important Catholic translations of the Bible into
English are:
• The New American Bible
• New Jerusalem Bible