Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy
Famous as Novelist and Poet
Born on 28 August 1828
Born in Russia
Died on 20 Novomber 1910
Nationality Russian Federation
Works & Achievements War and Peace and Anna Karenina


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Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy was a Russia born writer and poet and is regarded as the world's greatest poet and novelist. The one of the legacies of the poet is the culmination of the Realist Fiction that he achieved with the publication of his two masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina. In his later life, Leo explored many talents and emerged as an essayist, education reformer and an excellent dramatist and gained reverence as the most influential member of the noble Tolstoy family. His ideas on non-violence made him a devoted Christian anarchist and pacifist and he renounced the authority of Orthodox Church in 1901. Though he never called himself an anarchist, his later teachings can be classified as Christian anarchism. His much acclaimed book The Kingdom of God is Within You which came in 1893, is a mirror of his religious and ethical teachings.

Childhood & Early Life
Leo Tolstoy was born on 28 August 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana in Central Russia in a noble Russian family. He was the fourth child of Maria Volkonsky and Nicolay Ilvich Tolstoy. His mother died when he was two. Tolstoy further lost his father at the age of nine and went on to stay with his aunt Madame Ergolsky. In 1844, he enrolled into Kazan University to study Turco-Arabic literature, but dropped out in the middle of a term in 1847. According to his auto biography, he was frustrated and committed every crime of drinking, gambling and visiting brothels in his pursuit for pleasure. Addicted to gambling, he had to sell out most of his father’s inheritance.

He returned to his birth place at Yasnaya Polyana in a hope to educate and help the peasants working in his estates. It did not amuse him for long and in 1851; he accompanied his elder brother Nikolay to Chechnya to join the military service where he joined an artillery unit battalion in Chechnya as a volunteer of private rank. While serving in the army, Tolstoy began writing short stories and had faced several rejections before his first novel Childhood was published in 1852. The book proved to be an immediate success and catapulted him in the front row of Russian writers. Encouraged by the success of Childhood, which was a reflection of his own childhood, he continued with Boyhood and Youth. He further wrote the battlefield observation based on his experience in the army.

Evolution as a Writer
With his growing success as a writer, Tolstoy became a renowned name in the literary world. He left army in 1855 and between the years 1856-1861, he traveled to many foreign countries. In 1857, he again traveled to European countries and wrote his experience there in his book Lucerne and Three Deaths and Kholstomer. During this period he emerged as an education reformer and in 1859, Tolstoy established a school for peasants’ children at Yasnaya. He also wrote several stories for them and took a keen interest in teaching these unprivileged people.

However, a turning point came in his life when his elder brother died on 20 September 1860, which shattered him. Tolstoy described the incident as devastating and his first encounter with the preordained reality of death. Deeply profound by his brother’s death, Tolstoy began to lose his mental stability and often confessed his remorse in his personal diary. This state continued for at least one year till 1861. After getting over his shock and grieves, Tolstoy accepted the honorary post of Justice of the Peace in 1861.

Marriage & Family Life
At the age of thirty four, Tolstoy fell in love and married Sofia Andreyevna Behrs on 24 September 1862. During their courtship, Tolstoy gave his personal diaries to Sofia as he wanted her to learn of his faults before they married. Though she consented to the marriage, she could not get over the shocking content of the diaries for the rest of her life.

However in other matter, Sofia proved a good wife and a great help to his literary work. She assisted him with business correspondence, writing drafts and organizing his rough notes. His marriage gave him a moral stability and for the next fifteen years he remained in what he called, ‘a natural state’. The couple had 12 children, five of whom died in their childhood.

Major Writing Works
Tolstoy began to write his masterpiece War and Peace in 1862 and six volumes of the book were published between the year 1863 and 1869. His started his next classic Anna Karenina in 1873, which was a reflection of his own married life, and was first published in the Russian Herald in 1876. Throughout his life, Tolstoy felt an insatiable thirst for a realistic and moral justification of life and it remained the centre of his literary works. During this period he experienced his deepest fear of self questioning and self criticizing as father and husband.

He harshly disparaged himself for his egoistical concerns and self interest. These thoughts left him in depths of despair and a state of moral crisis. Overwhelmed by the bouts of remorse and grief upon his previous life, he wrote his Confession in 1879. He further wrote a number of books, criticizing the Orthodox Church and government. Moving on to philosophical and spiritual topics, he authored books such as A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology (1880), A Short Exposition of the Gospels’ (1881), What I Believe (1882), and What Then Must We Do? (1886).

Conversion and Last Days of Tolstoy
In his later life, Tolstoy preached non-violence, vegetarianism and chastity. He himself gave up meat, alcohol and tobacco, and embraced the teaching of Jesus. His book The Kingdom of God is Within You which came in 1893, is a mirror of his religious and ethical teachings. Tolstoy renounced the authority of Orthodox Church in 1901, and though he never called himself an anarchist, his later teachings can be classified as Christian anarchism.

By this time, he had become increasingly interested in the subject of life and death and authored books such as How much land does a man need, War and Peace and Kholstomer, examining the complexity of relationship between life and death. After his excommunication in 1901, he became known as a Christian anarchist, and his teaching were somehow related to communism. As his reputation grew immensely, he began to attract followers from across the country and people began to preach Tolstoy’s religious doctrines known as ‘Tolstoyaism’.

Death

Tolstoy renounced his father’s inheritance and surrendered all his land assets to his wife, who refused to give up her possessions. While his own life had become extremely bitter and painful with his wife Sofia, the only member who did not show hostility towards his teachings, was his youngest daughter Alexandera. In a hope to start a new life away from his wife, Tolstoy left home with his daughter Alexandra on 28 October 1910 and headed for a convent where his sister lived. The journey was cut short as he fell ill on the way near a train station and eventually died on 20 November 1910. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried in a simple coffin near Yasnaya Polyana.

Timeline:
1828- Leo Tolstoy was born on 28 August.
1844- He enrolled into Kazan University.
1847- He dropped out of the University.
1851- He went to Chechnya to join the military service.
1852- His first novel Childhood was published.
1855- He left army.
1859- Tolstoy established a school for peasants’ children at Yasnaya.
1860- His elder brother Nikolay died on 20 September.
1861- Tolstoy became Justice of the Peace.
1862- He married Sofia Andreyevna Behrs on 24 September.
1863- His masterpiece War and Peace was first published.
1876- Anna Karenina was first published in the Russian Herald.
1879- He wrote his confession.
1893- The Kingdom of God is Within You was published.
1901- Tolstoy renounced the authority of Orthodox Church.
1910- Tolstoy left home with his daughter Alexandra on 28 October.
1910- He died on 20 November.
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Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore
Famous as Poet and Author
Born on 07 May 1861
Born in Calcutta (Kolkata), India
Died on 07 August 1941
Nationality India
Works & Achievements Nobel Prize in Literature (1913); Gitanjli, Ghare-Baire and The Gardener












A Bengali mystic and artist, Rabindranath Tagore was a great poet, philosopher, music composer and a leader of Brahma Samaj, who took the India culture and tradition to the whole world and became a voice of the Indian heritage. Best known for his poems and short stories, Tagore largely contributed to the Bengali literature in the late 19th and early 20th century and created his masterpieces such as Ghare-Baire, Yogayog, Gitanjali, and Gitimalya. The author extended his contribution during the Indian Independence Movement and wrote songs and poems galvanizing the movement, though he never directly participated in it. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1913 and became the Asia's first Nobel Laureate. Two famous songs composed by him Amar Shonar Bangala and Jana Gana Mana became a part of the national anthem of Bangladesh and India respectively after their independence. He was the only person to have written the national anthems of two countries. Aside from this, the greatest legacy of the poet to his country remains the world renowned institution he founded known as Visva-Bharati University.
Childhood & Education
Born on 7 May 1861 in a wealthy and prominent Brahmin family of Bengal (Calcutta), Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest of thirteen children of his father Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. The Tagore family was a leading follower of Brahma Samaj, a new religious sector in the 19th century. Rabindranath Tagore develop an early love for literature, and had begun reading biographies, poems, history, Sanskrit and several others by the age of 12. He also studies the classical poetry of Kalidasa, the father of poetry in India. In 1877, he wrote his first poem, which was composed in a Maithili style. His early works include Bhikharani (The beggar woman) - the first short story in Bengali, Sandhya Sangit which he wrote in 1882 and a poem Nirjharer Swapnabhanga. Nirjharer Swapnabhanga was his first poem which gained him a remarkable success and established him as a poet.

Initially wanting to become a barrister, Tagore took admission at a public school in Brighton, England in 1878. Although he was later sent to study law at University College London, he never finished his degree there and returned home in 1880. In 1883, he married his wife Mrinalini and the couple had five children, among which only three could survive into their adulthood. Rabindranath Tagore took the responsibility of his father’s large states in Shilaidaha in 1890, and began running the family business there. As a part of it, he traveled to many adjacent villages and formed a sympathetic bond with the villagers, who clearly took honor in his company. The duration between 1891 and 1895, which is known as his ‘Sadhna Period’, witnessed some great works of the poet, among which Galpaguchchha was the most popular.

Early Life & Work
Tagore moved to Santiniketan, West Bengal in 1901 and set up an ashram there which included an experimental school, garden and a library. His wife Mrinalini and his two children succumbed to death during this period. After his father’s death in 1905, he became heir to his large estates which made him financially sound and stable. He also received income from the sale of his family’s jewelry and royalties from his works. By this time, Tagore had written more than thirty poems, drama and fictions, including his major works such as Manasi (1890), Gitanjali (1910), Gitimalya (1914) and many English and Bengali playa. Gitanjli was his most acclaimed work.

In year 1913, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for his exceptional contribution to the Indian and world literature. Further, he received the title Knighthood from the British government in 1915, which he abandoned aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 as a protest against the British rule in India. In 1921, Tagore founded an Institute for Rural Reconstruction- which he later renamed as Shriniketan- and appointed scholars from many places to share their knowledge with the students. As education reformer, he introduced Upanishad ideals of education and widely contributed towards uplifting the ‘untouchables’.

Notable Work
Rabindranath Tagore wrote eight novels and a number of poems and most of his creations are in the Bangla language. His most acclaimed works in novel genre are Ghare Baire, Shesher Kobita, Char Odhay, Gora, Jogajog, and Dak Ghar. Aside from fictions and autobiographical works, he also wrote essays, lectures and short stories on various topics ranging from history to science and arts. As a prolific musician, Tagore influenced the style of such musician such as Amjad Ali Khan and Vilayat Khan. He composed the words and music of the Indian national anthem Jana Gana Mana, which was accepted as the national anthem in 1950.

His song has been accepted as the national anthem of Bangladesh as well, thus making him the first ever person to have written the national anthems of two countries. Tagore discovered his talent as a painter in his early sixties, when his first exhibition was held in Paris. Tagore was credited with the culmination of writing short stories as an art, especially in Bengali. “The fruit seller from Kabul” is considered one of the best creations among at least eighty four stories written by him. Based upon his early experience with villagers, he wrote stories which give a glimpse of the life most Bengali live. Though Tagore wrote vividly in every genre of literature, he was a poet first of all. His poets are an inseparable part of every Bengali family where his poems are recited on all important occasions. His best collection of poems is Gitanjali, which gained him the Nobel Prize in literature in 1913.

Political Views & Death
Tagore’s political views were somehow at odds with that of Mahatma Gandhi, though the two shared a good rapport and a moderate friendship. However, Tagore denounce the Swadeshi Movement in his acerbic essay The Cult of the Charka in 1925, he continued to support Indian nationalist movement in his own non-sentimental and visionary way. He wrote songs and poems galvanizing the Indian Independence movement. After the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in 1919, he renounced the knighthood awarded by the British government as a protest against it. His most acclaimed work Jana Gana Mana became the national anthem of India after its declaration as a Republic in 1950.

Tagore’s extensive travel and increasingly hectic work began to take its toll in his later years and he suffered from relentless pain and two long periods of illness. The second phase of illness proved to be fatal as he never recovered from that. He first lost his consciousness in 1937 and had the same experience for the second and last time in late 1940, and died after soon on 7 August 1941. The day is mourned upon across his native Bengal, India and Bengali-speaking world for which he still remains alive in his poems and songs.

Timeline:
1861- Rabindarnath Tagore was born on 7 May 1861.
1877- He wrote his first poem, which was composed in a Maithili style.
1878- Tagore took admission at a public school in Brighton, England in 1878.
1880- He dropped out in middle and returned home in 1880.
1883- He married Mrinalini in 1883.
1890- Rabindranath Tagore took the responsibility of his father’s large estates.
1901- Tagore moved to Santiniketan, West Bengal in 1901.
1905- His father died in 1905.
1913- Rabindarnath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.
1915- He received the title Knighthood from the British government in 1915.
1921- Tagore founded an Institute for Rural Reconstruction, Shriniketan.
1937- He first lost his consciousness in 1937.
1940- His second phase of illness began in 1940.
1941- Rabindranath Tagore died on 7 August 1941.

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Christopher Columbus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See also: Origin theories of Christopher Columbus
It is commonly, although not universally, believed that Christopher Columbus was born between 25 August and 31 October 1451 in Genoa, part of modern Italy.[8] His father was Domenico Colombo, a middle-class wool weaver, who later also had a cheese stand where Christopher was a helper, working both in Genoa and Savona. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa. Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino and Giacomo were his brothers. Bartolomeo worked in a cartography workshop in Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood.[9]
Columbus never wrote in his native language, but it may be assumed this was the Genoese variety of Ligurian. In one of his writings, Columbus claims to have gone to the sea at the age of 10. In 1470 the Columbus family moved to Savona, where Domenico took over a tavern. In the same year, Columbus was on a Genoese ship hired in the service of René I of Anjou to support his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples.
In 1473 Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro and Spinola families of Genoa. Later he allegedly made a trip to Chios, a Genoese colony in the Aegean Sea. In May 1476, he took part in an armed convoy sent by Genoa to carry a valuable cargo to northern Europe. He docked in Bristol, England[10]; Galway, Ireland and was possibly in Iceland in 1477. In 1479 Columbus reached his brother Bartolomeo in Lisbon, while continuing trading for the Centurione family. He married Filipa Moniz Perestrello, daughter of the Porto Santo governor and Portuguese nobleman of Genoese origin Bartolomeu Perestrello. In 1479 or 1480, his son Diego Columbus was born. Some records report that Felipa died in 1485. It is also speculated that Columbus may have simply left his first wife. In either case Columbus found a mistress in Spain in 1487, a 20-year-old orphan named Beatriz Enriquez de Arana.[11]
Voyages
Main article: Voyages of Christopher Columbus
Navigation plans


Voyages of Christopher Columbus


"Columbus map", drawn ca. 1490 in Lisbon workshop of Bartolomeo and Christopher Columbus[12]


Columbus's geographical concepts
Europe had long enjoyed a safe land passage to China and India— sources of valued goods such as silk, spices, and opiates— under the hegemony of the Mongol Empire (the Pax Mongolica, or Mongol peace). With the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the land route to Asia became more difficult. In response to this the Columbus brothers had, by the 1480s, developed a plan to travel to the Indies, then construed roughly as all of south and east Asia, by sailing directly west across the "Ocean Sea," i.e., the Atlantic.
Washington Irving's 1828 biography of Columbus popularized the idea that Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan because Europeans thought the Earth was flat.[13] In fact, the primitive maritime navigation of the time relied on the stars and the curvature of the spherical Earth.[citation needed] The knowledge that the Earth was spherical was widespread, and the means of calculating its diameter using an astrolabe was known to both scholars and navigators.[14] A spherical Earth had been the general opinion of Ancient Greek science, and this view continued through the Middle Ages (for example, Bede mentions it in The Reckoning of Time). In fact Eratosthenes had measured the diameter of the Earth with good precision in the second century BC.[15] Where Columbus did differ from the generally accepted view of his time was in his (incorrect) arguments that assumed a significantly smaller diameter for the Earth, claiming that Asia could be easily reached by sailing west across the Atlantic. Most scholars accepted Ptolemy's correct assessment that the terrestrial landmass (for Europeans of the time, comprising Eurasia and Africa) occupied 180 degrees of the terrestrial sphere, and dismissed Columbus's claim that the Earth was much smaller, and that Asia was only a few thousand nautical miles to the west of Europe. Columbus's error was put down to his lack of experience in navigation at sea.[16]
Columbus believed the (incorrect) calculations of Marinus of Tyre, putting the landmass at 225 degrees, leaving only 135 degrees of water. Moreover, Columbus believed that one degree represented a shorter distance on the Earth's surface than was actually the case. Finally, he read maps as if the distances were calculated in Italian miles (1,238 meters). Accepting the length of a degree to be 56⅔ miles, from the writings of Alfraganus, he therefore calculated the circumference of the Earth as 25,255 kilometers at most, and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan as 3,000 Italian miles (3,700 km, or 2,300 statute miles). Columbus did not realize Alfraganus used the much longer Arabic mile (about 1,830 m).


Columbus's notes in Latin edition of The Travels of Marco Polo
The true circumference of the Earth is about 40,000 km (25,000 mi), a figure established by Eratosthenes in the second century BC,[15] and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan is 19,600 km (12,200 mi). No ship that was readily available in the 15th century could carry enough food and fresh water for such a journey. Most European sailors and navigators concluded, probably correctly, that sailors undertaking a westward voyage from Europe to Asia non-stop would die of thirst or starvation long before reaching their destination. Catholic Monarchs, however, having completed an expensive war in the Iberian Peninsula, were desperate for a competitive edge over other European countries in trade with the East Indies. Columbus promised such an advantage.
While Columbus's calculations underestimated the circumference of the Earth and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan by the standards of his peers as well as in fact, Europeans generally assumed that the aquatic expanse between Europe and Asia was uninterrupted.[citation needed]
There was a further element of key importance in the plans of Columbus, a closely held fact discovered, or otherwise learned, by Columbus: the trade winds. A brisk wind from the east, commonly called an "easterly", propelled Santa María, La Niña, and La Pinta for five weeks from the Canaries. To return to Spain eastward against this prevailing wind would have required several months of an arduous sailing technique, called beating, during which food and drinkable water would have been utterly exhausted. Columbus returned home by following prevailing winds northeastward from the southern zone of the North Atlantic to the middle latitudes of the North Atlantic, where prevailing winds are eastward (westerly) to the coastlines of Western Europe, where the winds curve southward towards the Iberian Peninsula.[17] In fact, Columbus was wrong about degrees of longitude to be traversed and wrong about distance per degree, but he was right about a more vital fact: how to use the North Atlantic's great circular wind pattern, clockwise in direction, to get home.[18][19]
Funding campaign
In 1485, Columbus presented his plans to John II, King of Portugal. He proposed the king equip three sturdy ships and grant Columbus one year's time to sail out into the Atlantic, search for a western route to the Orient, and return.


~ Flagship of Columbus ~ Fleet of Columbus ~
~ 500th Anniversary Issues of 1992 ~
No one really knows for sure what any of Columbus's three ships really looked like. But historians do know what similar ships looked like during the 1400s and 1500s as historical accounts of the exact appearance of Columbus's fleet vary. The depictions in these issues are largely the accepted version though some historians, naturally, contest their accuracy. (The above images are reprints made from the dies of the original issues of 1892.) The Santa Maria was a nao, the flagship of the Columbus fleet. It was a merchant ship, between 400 and 600 tons. The boat's length was 75 feet with a wide beam, 25 feet. This allowed it to carry more people and cargo. She had a deep draft, 6 feet. The vessel had three masts: a mainmast, a foremast, and a mizzenmast. Five sails altogether were attached to these masts. Each mast carried one large sail. The foresail and mainsail were square; the sail on the mizzen was a triangular sail known as a lateen mizzen. The ship had a smaller topsail on the mainmast above the mainsail and on the foremast above the foresail. In addition, the ship carried a small square sail, a spritsail, on the bowsprit.[20][21]

Columbus also requested he be made "Great Admiral of the Ocean", appointed governor of any and all lands he discovered, and given one-tenth of all revenue from those lands. The king submitted the proposal to his experts, who rejected it. It was their considered opinion that Columbus's estimation of a travel distance of 2,400 miles (3,860 km) was, in fact, far too short.[16]


Arms of Columbus
In 1488 Columbus appealed to the court of Portugal once again, and once again John invited him to an audience. It also proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartholomeu Dias returned to Portugal following a successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa. With an eastern sea route now under its control, Portugal was no longer interested in trailblazing a western route to Asia.
Columbus travelled from Portugal to both Genoa and Venice, but he received encouragement from neither. Previously he had his brother sound out Henry VII of England, to see if the English monarch might not be more amenable to Columbus's proposal. After much carefully considered hesitation, Henry's invitation came too late. Columbus had already committed himself to Spain.
He had sought an audience from the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, who had united many kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying, and were ruling together. On 1 May 1486, permission having been granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, referred it to a committee. After the passing of much time, these savants of Spain, like their counterparts in Portugal, reported back that Columbus had judged the distance to Asia much too short. They pronounced the idea impractical, and advised their Royal Highnesses to pass on the proposed venture.


Columbus and Queen Isabella. Detail of the Columbus monument in Madrid (1885).
However, to keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the Catholic Monarchs gave him an annual allowance of 12,000 maravedis and in 1489 furnished him with a letter ordering all cities and towns under their domain to provide him food and lodging at no cost.[22]
After continually lobbying at the Spanish court and two years of negotiations, he finally had success in 1492. Ferdinand and Isabella had just conquered Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian peninsula, and they received Columbus in Córdoba, in the Alcázar castle. Isabella turned Columbus down on the advice of her confessor, and he was leaving town by mule in despair, when Ferdinand intervened. Isabella then sent a royal guard to fetch him and Ferdinand later claimed credit for being "the principal cause why those islands were discovered".
About half of the financing was to come from private Italian investors, whom Columbus had already lined up. Financially broke after the Granada campaign, the monarchs left it to the royal treasurer to shift funds among various royal accounts on behalf of the enterprise. Columbus was to be made "Admiral of the Seas" and would receive a portion of all profits. The terms were unusually generous, but as his son later wrote, the monarchs did not really expect him to return.
According to the contract that Columbus made with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, if Columbus discovered any new islands or mainland, he would receive many high rewards. In terms of power, he would be given the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and appointed Viceroy and Governor of all the new lands. He had the right to nominate three persons, from whom the sovereigns would choose one, for any office in the new lands. He would be entitled to 10% of all the revenues from the new lands in perpetuity; this part was denied to him in the contract, although it was one of his demands. Additionally, he would also have the option of buying one-eighth interest in any commercial venture with the new lands and receive one-eighth of the profits.
Columbus was later arrested in 1500 and supplanted from these posts. After his death, Columbus's sons, Diego and Fernando, took legal action to enforce their father's contract. Many of the smears against Columbus were initiated by the Castilian crown during these lengthy court cases, known as the pleitos colombinos. The family had some success in their first litigation, as a judgment of 1511 confirmed Diego's position as Viceroy, but reduced his powers. Diego resumed litigation in 1512, which lasted until 1536, and further disputes continued until 1790.[23]
First voyage
First voyage

Departure of the first voyage from the port of Palos, by Evaristo Dominguez, in the municipality of Palos de la Frontera.

Replica of Santa Maria



Columbus claims the New World in a chromolithograph by the Prang Education Company, 1893
Captain's Ensign of Columbus's Ships



First voyage
On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships; one larger carrack, Santa María, nicknamed Gallega (the Galician), and two smaller caravels, Pinta (the Painted) and Santa Clara, nicknamed Niña after her owner Juan Niño of Moguer.[24] They were property of Juan de la Cosa and the Pinzón brothers (Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez), but the monarchs forced the Palos inhabitants to contribute to the expedition. Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands, which were owned by Castile, where he restocked the provisions and made repairs. On 6 September he departed San Sebastián de la Gomera for what turned out to be a five-week voyage across the ocean.
Land was sighted at 2 a.m. on 12 October 1492, by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana (also known as Juan Rodríguez Bermejo) aboard Pinta.[25] Columbus called the island (in what is now The Bahamas) San Salvador; the natives called it Guanahani. Exactly which island in the Bahamas this corresponds to is an unresol

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CONFUCIUS

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Analects (論語), Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing".[7] He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study,[10][11] and it is the Chinese character for study (or learning) that opens the text. In this respect, he is seen by Chinese people as the Greatest Master.[12] Far from trying to build a systematic theory of life and society or establish a formalism of rites, he wanted his disciples to think deeply for themselves and relentlessly study the outside world,[13] mostly through the old scriptures and by relating the moral problems of the present to past political events (like the Annals) or past expressions of feelings by common people and reflective members of the elite, preserved in the poems of the Book of Odes (詩經).[14][15]
In times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven (天命) that could unify the "world" (天下, all under Heaven) and bestow peace and prosperity on the people.[16] Because his vision of personal and social perfections was framed as a revival of the ordered society of earlier times, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism, but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used (and perhaps twisted) past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: a revival of a unified royal state, whose rulers would succeed to power on the basis of their moral merits instead of lineage;[17][18] these would be rulers devoted to their people, striving for personal and social perfection.[19] Such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and rules.[20]
One of the deepest teachings of Confucius may have been the superiority of personal exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. His moral teachings emphasized self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules, Confucius's ethics may be considered a type of virtue ethics. His teachings rarely rely on reasoned argument, and ethical ideals and methods are conveyed more indirectly, through allusions, innuendo, and even tautology. This is why his teachings need to be examined and put into proper context in order to be understood.[21][22] A good example is found in this famous anecdote:
廄焚。子退朝，曰：“傷人乎？” 不問馬。
When the stables were burnt down, on returning from court, Confucius said, 'Was anyone hurt?' He did not ask about the horses.
Analects X.11, tr. Arthur Waley
The passage conveys the lesson that by not asking about the horses, Confucius demonstrated that a sage values human beings over property; readers of this lesson are led to reflect on whether their response would follow Confucius's, and to pursue ethical self-improvement if it would not. Confucius, an exemplar of human excellence, serves as the ultimate model, rather than a deity or a universally true set of abstract principles. For these reasons, according to many Eastern and Western commentators, Confucius's teaching may be considered a Chinese example of humanism.[23]
Perhaps his most famous teaching was the Golden Rule stated in the negative form, often called the Silver Rule:
子貢問曰：“有一言而可以終身行之者乎”？子曰：“其恕乎！己所不欲、勿施於人。”
Zi gong (a disciple of Confucius) asked: "Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?"
The Master replied: "How about 'shu' [reciprocity]: never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself?"
Analects XV.24, tr. David Hinton
Confucius's teachings were later turned into an elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers who organized his teachings into the Analects. In the centuries after his death, Mencius (孟子)[24] and Xun Zi (荀子)[25] both composed important teachings elaborating in different ways on the fundamental ideas associated with Confucius. In time, their writings, together with the Analects and other core texts came to constitute the philosophical corpus known in the West as Confucianism. After more than a thousand years, the scholar Zhu Xi (朱熹) created a very different interpretation of Confucianism which is now called Neo-Confucianism, to distinguish it from the ideas expressed in the Analects. Neo-Confucianism held sway in China, Korea, and Vietnam[26] until the 1800s.
Names


The tomb of Confucius in Qufu
• Michele Ruggieri, and other Jesuits after him, while translating Chinese books into Western languages, translated 孔夫子 as Confucius. This Latinised form has since been commonly used in Western countries.
• In systematic Romanisations:
o Kǒng Fūzǐ (or Kǒng fū zǐ) in pinyin.
o K'ung fu-tzu in Wade-Giles (or, less accurately, Kung fu-tze).
 Fūzǐ means teacher. Since it was disrespectful to call the teacher by name according to Chinese culture, he is known as just "Master Kong", or Confucius, even in modern days.
 The character 'fu' is optional; in modern Chinese he is more often called Kǒng Zi(孔子).
• His actual name was 孔丘, Kǒng Qiū. Kǒng is a common family name in China.
(In Wade-Giles translation by D. C. Lau, this name appears as Kung Ch'iu.)
• His courtesy name was 仲尼, Zhòng Ní.
• In 1 C.E. (first year of the Yuanshi Era of the Han Dynasty), he was given his first posthumous name: 褒成宣尼公, Lord Bāochéngxūanni, which means "Laudably Declarable Lord Ni."
• His most popular posthumous names are
o 至聖先師,Zhìshèngxiānshī, lit. "The Most Sage Venerated Late Teacher" (comes from 1530, the ninth year of the Jianing period of the Ming Dynasty);
o 至聖, Zhìshèng, "the Greatest Sage";
o 先師, Xiānshī, literally meaning "first teacher". It has been suggested that '先師' can be used, however, to express something like, "the Teacher who assists the wise to their attainment".[27]
• He is also commonly known as 萬世師表，Wànshìshībiǎo, "Role Model for Teachers through the Ages".
Philosophy
Main article: Confucianism


The Dacheng Hall, the main hall of the Temple of Confucius in Qufu
Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, arguments continue over whether it is a religion. Confucianism does not lack an afterlife, the texts express simple views concerning Heaven, and is relatively unconcerned with some spiritual matters often considered essential to religious thought, such as the nature of the soul.
Confucius' principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong familial loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children (and, according to later interpreters, of husbands by their wives), and the family as a basis for an ideal government. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself" (One of the earliest versions of the Golden Rule). He also looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples.
Because no texts survive that are demonstrably authored by Confucius, and the ideas most closely associated with him were elaborated in writings that accumulated over the period between his death and the foundation of the first Chinese empire in 221 BCE, many scholars are very cautious about attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself.
Ethics
The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in Lǐ (禮) is based on three important conceptual aspects of life: ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, social and political institutions, and the etiquette of daily behavior. It was believed by some that lǐ originated from the heavens. Confucius's view was more nuanced. His approach stressed the development of lǐ through the actions of sage leaders in human history, with less emphasis on its connection with heaven. His discussions of lǐ seem to redefine the term to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society, rather than those simply conforming with canonical standards of ceremony. In the early Confucian tradition, lǐ, though still linked to traditional forms of action, came to point towards the balance between maintaining these norms so as to perpetuate an ethical social fabric, and violating them in order to accomplish ethical good. These concepts are about doing the proper thing at the proper time, and are connected to the belief that training in the lǐ that past sages have devised cultivates in people virtues that include ethical judgment about when lǐ must be adapted in light of situational contexts.
In early Confucianism, yì (義) and lǐ are closely linked terms. Yì can be translated as righteousness, though it may simply mean what is ethically best to do in a certain context. The term contrasts with action done out of self-interest. While pursuing one's own self-interest is not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one based one's life upon following a path designed to enhance the greater good, an outcome of yì. This is doing the right thing for the right reason. Yì is based upon reciprocity.
Just as action according to Lǐ should be adapted to conform to the aspiration of adhering to yì, so yì is linked to the core value of rén (仁). Rén is the virtue of perfectly fulfilling one's responsibilities toward others, most often translated as "benevolence" or "humaneness"; translator Arthur Waley calls it "Goodness" (with a capital G), and other translations that have been put forth include "authoritativeness" and "selflessness." Confucius's moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. To develop one's spontaneous responses of rén so that these could guide action intuitively was even better than living by the rules of yì. To cultivate one's attentiveness to rén one used another Confucian version of the Golden Rule: one must always treat others just as one would want others to treat oneself. Virtue, in this Confucian view, is based upon harmony with other people, produced through this type of ethical practice by a growing identification of the interests of self and other.
In this regard, Confucius articulated an early version of the Golden Rule:
• "What one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognises as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others." (Confucius and Confucianism, Richard Wilhelm)
Politics
Confucius' political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argues that the best government is one that rules through "rites" (lǐ) and people's natural morality, rather than by using bribery and coercion. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: 1. "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good." (Translated by James Legge) in the Great Learning (大學). This "sense of shame" is an internalisation of duty, where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism.
While he supported the idea of government by an all-powerful sage, ruling as an Emperor, probably because of the chaotic state of China at his time, his ideas contained a number of elements to limit the power of rulers. He argued for according language with truth; thus honesty was of paramount importance. Even in facial expression, truth must always be represented. In discussing the relationship between a king and his subject (or a father and his son), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the inferior must give advice to his superior if the superior was considered to be taking the wrong course of action. This was built upon a century after Confucius's death by his latter day disciple Mencius, who argued that if the king was not acting like a king, he would lose the Mandate of Heaven and be overthrown. Therefore, tyrannicide is justified because a tyrant is more a thief than a king. Other Confucian texts, though celebrating absolute rule by ethical sages, recognise the failings of real rulers in maxims such as, "An oppressive government is more feared than a tiger."
Some well known Confucian quotes:
• "To know your faults and be able to change is the greatest virtue."
知錯能改，善莫大焉
• "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
己所不欲，勿施於人。
• "With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my crooked arm for a pillow - is not joy to be found therein? Riches and honors acquired through unrighteousness are to me as the floating clouds."
疏食飲水，曲肱而枕，樂在其中矣。不義而富貴，於我如浮雲。
• "Knowledge is recognizing what you know and what you don't."
知之為知之，不知為不知，是知也.
• "Reviewing the day's lessons. Isn't it joyful? Friends come from far. Isn't it delightful? One has never been angry at other's misunderstanding. Isn't he a respectable man?"
學而時習之，不亦說乎？有朋自遠方來，不亦樂乎?人不知而不慍，不亦君子乎？
The last quote was chanted by the numerous drummers in the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Disciples and legacy
Main article: Disciples of Confucius
Confucius' disciples and his only grandson, Zisi, continued his philosophical school after his death. These efforts spread Confucian ideals to students who then became officials in many of the royal courts in China, thereby giving Confucianism the first wide-scale test of its dogma. While relying heavily on Confucius' ethico-political system, two of his most famous later followers emphasized radically different aspects of his teachings. Mencius (4th century BCE) articulated the innate goodness in human beings as a source of the ethical intuitions that guide people towards rén, yì, and lǐ, while Xun Zi (3rd century BCE) underscored the realistic and materialistic aspects of Confucian thought, stressing that morality was inculcated in society through tradition and in individuals through training.
This realignment in Confucian thought was parallel to the development of Legalism, which saw filial piety as self-interest and not a useful tool for a ruler to create an effective state. A disagreement between these two political philosophies came to a head in 223 BCE when the Qin state conquered all of China. Li Ssu, Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty convinced Qin Shi Huang to abandon the Confucians' recommendation of awarding fiefs akin to the Zhou Dynasty before them which he saw as counter to the Legalist idea of centralizing the state around the ruler. When the Confucian advisers pressed their point, Li Ssu had many Confucian scholars killed and their books burned - considered a huge blow to the philosophy and Chinese scholarship.
Under the succeeding Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, Confucian ideas gained even more widespread prominence. Under Wudi, the works of Confucius were made the official imperial philosophy and required reading for civil service examinations in 140 BCE which was continued nearly unbroken until the end of the 19th Century. As Moism lost support by the time of the Han, the main philosophical contenders were Legalism, which Confucian thought somewhat absorbed, the teachings of Lao-tzu, whose focus on more mystic ideas kept it from direct conflict with Confucianism, and the new Buddhist religion, which gained acceptance during the Southern and Northern Dynasties era.
During the Song Dynasty, the scholar Zhu Xi (1130-1200 CE) added ideas from Daoism and Buddhism into Confucianism. In his life, Zhu Xi was largely ignored, but not long after his death his ideas became the new orthodox view of what Confucian texts actually meant. Modern historians view Zhu Xi as having created something rather different, and call his way of thinking Neo-Confucianism. Both Confucian ideas and Confucian-trained officials were relied upon in the Ming Dynasty and even the Yuan Dynasty, although Kublai Khan distrusted handing over provincial control. In the modern era Confucian movements, such as New Confucianism, still exist but during the Cultural Revolution, Confucianism was frequently attacked by leading figures in the Communist Party of China. This was partially a continuation of the condemnations of Confucianism by intellectuals and activists in the early 20th Century as a cause of the ethnocentric close-mindedness and refusal of the Qing Dynasty to modernize that led to the tragedies that befell China in the 19th Century.
In modern times, Asteroid 7853, "Confucius," was named after the Chinese thinker.
Quote: "Respect yourself and others will respect you."
Quote: "Today I have seen Lao-tzu and can only compare him to the dragon."[28]
Memorial ceremony of Confucius
The Chinese have a tradition of holding spectacular memorial ceremonies of Confucius (祭孔) every year, using ceremonies that supposedly derived from Zhou Li (周禮) as recorded by Confucius, on the date of Confucius' birth. This tradition was interrupted for several decades in mainland China, where the official stance of the Communist Party and the State was that Confucius and Confucianism represented reactionary feudalist beliefs which held that the subservience of the people to the aristocracy is a part of the natural order. All such ceremonies and rites were therefore banned. Only after the 1990s, did the ceremony resume. As it is now considered a veneration of Chinese history and tradition, even Communist Party members may be found in attendance.
In Taiwan, where the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) strongly promoted Confucian beliefs in ethics and behavior, the tradition of the memorial ceremony of Confucius (祭孔) is supported by the government and has continued without interruption. While not a national holiday, it does appear on all printed calendars, much as Father's Day does in the West.
Influence in Asia and Europe


"Life and works of Confucius", by Prospero Intorcetta, 1687.
Confucius's works are studied by many scholars in many other Asian countries, particularly those in the Sinosphere, such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Many of those countries still hold the traditional memorial ceremony every year.
The works of Confucius were translated into European languages through the agency of Jesuit scholars stationed in China.[29] Matteo Ricci started to report on the thoughts of Confucius, and father Prospero Intorcetta published the life and works of Confucius into Latin in 1687.[30] It is thought that such works had considerable importance on European thinkers of the period, particularly among the Deists and other philosophical groups of the Enlightenment who were interested by the integration of the system of morality of Confucius into Western civilization.[31][32]
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believes Confucius was a Divine Prophet of God, as was Lao-Tzu and other eminent Chinese personages.[33]
Visual portraits
No contemporary painting or sculpture of Confucius survives, and it was apparently only during the Han Dynasty that he was portrayed visually. Carvings often depict his legendary meeting with Laozi. In 2007 a Han dynasty fresco depicting this meeting was found in Dongping County. Since that time there have been many portraits of Confucius as the ideal philosopher. In former times it was customary to have a portrait in Confucius Temples; however, during the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Ming dynasty it was decided that the only proper portrait of Confucius should be in the temple in his hometown, Qufu. In other temples Confucius is represented by a memorial tablet. In 2006, the China Confucius Foundation commissioned a standard portrait of Confucius based on the Tang dynasty portrait by Wu Daozi.
Home town
Soon after Confucius' death, Qufu, his hometown in the state of Lu and now in present-day Shandong Province, became a place of devotion and remembrance. It is still a major destination for cultural tourism, and many people visit his grave and the surrounding temples. In pan-China cultures, there are many temples where representations of the Buddha, Laozi and Confucius are found together. There are also many temples dedicated to him, which have been used for Confucianist ceremonies.
In November 1966, during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Qufu Confucian monuments suffered much damage and 6000 artifacts were destroyed.[34] The area was later restored.
Descendants
Confucius' descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments with titles of nobility and official posts. They were honored with the rank of a marquis thirty-five times since Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, and they were promoted to the rank of duke forty-two times from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang first bestowed the title of "Duke Wenxuan" on Kong Suizhi of the 35th generation. In 1055, Emperor Renzong of Song first bestowed the title of "Duke Yansheng" on Kong Zongyuan of the 46th generation.
Despite repeated dynastic change in China, the title of Duke Yansheng was bestowed upon successive generations of descendants until it was abolished by the Nationalist Government in 1935. The last holder of the title, Kung Te-cheng of the 77th generation, was appointed Sacrificial Official to Confucius. Te-cheng died in October 2008, and his son, Kung Wei-yi, the 78th lineal descendant, had died in 1989. Kung Te-cheng's grandson, Kung Tsui-chang, the 79th lineal descendant, was born in 1975; his great-grandson, Kung Yu-jen, the 80th lineal descendant, was born in Taipei on January 1, 2006. Te-cheng's sister, Kong Demao, lives in mainland China and has written a book about her experiences growing up at the family estate in Qufu. Another sister, Kong Deqi, died as a young woman.[35]
Confucius's family, the Kongs, has the longest recorded still extant pedigree in the world today. The father-to-son family tree, now in its 83rd generation,[36] has been recorded since the death of Confucius. According to the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee, he has 2 million known and registered descendants, and there are an estimated 3 million in all.[37] Of these, several tens of thousands live outside of China.[37] In the 1300s, a Kong descendant went to Korea, where an estimated 34,000 descendants of Confucius live today.[37] One of the main lineages fled from the Kong ancestral home in Qufu during the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s, and eventually settled in Taiwan.[35]
Because of the huge interest in the Confucius family tree, there was a project in China to test the DNA of known family members.[38] Among other things, this would allow scientists to identify a common Y chromosome in male descendants of Confucius. If the descent were truly unbroken, father-to-son, since Confucius's lifetime, the males in the family would all have the same Y chromosome as their direct male ancestor, with slight mutations due to the passage of time.[39] However, in 2009, the family authorities decided not to agree to DNA testing.[40] Bryan Sykes, professor of genetics at Oxford University, understands this decision: "The Confucius family tree has an enormous cultural significance,” he said. “It’s not just a scientific question."[40] The DNA testing was originally proposed to add new members, many of whose family record books were lost during 20th-century upheavals, to the Confucian family tree.[41]
The fifth and most recent edition of the Confucius genealogy was printed by the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee (CGCC). It was unveiled in a ceremony at Qufu on September 24, 2009.[42][43] Women are now included for the first time.[44]

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SIDARTA GAUTAMA

Life
Sumber: wilkpedia
The primary sources of information regarding Siddhārtha Gautama's life are the Buddhist texts. According to these, the Buddha and his monks spent four months each year discussing and rehearsing his teachings, and after his death his monks set about preserving them. A council was held shortly after his death, and another was held a century later. At these councils the monks attempted to establish and authenticate the extant accounts of the life and teachings of the Buddha following systematic rules. They divided the teachings into distinct but overlapping bodies of material, and assigned specific monks to preserve each one.[17] In some cases, essential aspects of teachings attributed to the Buddha were incorporated into stories and chants in an effort to preserve them accurately.[18]
From then on, the teachings were transmitted orally. From internal evidence it seems clear that the oldest texts crystallized into their current form by the time of the second council or shortly after it. The scriptures were not written down until three or four hundred years after the Buddha's death. By this point, the monks had added or altered some material themselves, in particular magnifying the figure of the Buddha.[17]
The ancient Indians were generally not concerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. The Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Shakyamuni may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist.[19] According to Michael Carrithers, there are good reasons to doubt the traditional account, though, according to Carrithers, the outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.[20]
Conception and birth


Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal.


Birth of Buddha at Lumbini. Picture of a painting in a Laotian Temple.


Prince Siddhartha Gautama, Musée Guimet, Paris
Siddhartha was born in Lumbini[21] and raised in the small kingdom or principality of Kapilvastu, both of which are in modern day Nepal[22]. At the time of the Buddha's birth, the area was at or beyond the boundary of Vedic civilization, the dominant culture of northern India at the time; it is even possible that his mother tongue was not an Indo-Aryan language.[23] The early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious search, which was motivated by an existential concern with the human condition.[24] At the time, a multitude of small city-states existed in Ancient India, called Janapadas. Republics and chiefdoms with diffused political power and limited social stratification, were not uncommon amongst them, and were referred to as gana-sanghas.[25] The Buddha's community does not seem to have had a caste system. It was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic.[26] The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the Shramana type Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.[27]
According to the traditional biography, the Buddha's father was King Suddhodana, the leader of Shakya clan, whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime; Gautama was the family name. His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. On the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side,[28] and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, she gave birth on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.
The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak.[29] Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhatta), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man.[30] This occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.[30] Kaundinya (Pali: Kondanna), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant other than the Buddha, was the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.[31]
While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Solar Dynasty of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars believe that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.
Early life and marriage
Siddhartha, said to have been destined to a luxurious life as a prince, had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) especially built for him. His father, King Śuddhodana, wishing for Siddhartha to be a great king, shielded his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human suffering. Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati.[32]
As the boy reached the age of 16, his father arranged his marriage to Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā), a cousin of the same age. According to the traditional account, in time, she gave birth to a son, Rahula. Siddhartha spent 29 years as a Prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Siddhartha felt that material wealth was not the ultimate goal of life.[32]
Departure and Ascetic Life


The Buddha travelled the plain of the Ganges river, where his philosophy attracted followers.


The Great Departure. Gandhara, 2nd century.


Prince Siddharta shaves his hair and become an ascetic. Borobudur, 8th century.
At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace in order to meet his subjects. Despite his father's effort to remove the sick, aged and suffering from the public view, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man[citation needed]. Disturbed by this, when told that all people would eventually grow old by his charioteer Channa, the prince went on further trips where he encountered, variously, a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. Deeply depressed by these sights, he sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic[citation needed].
Siddhartha escaped his palace, accompanied by Channa aboard his horse Kanthaka, leaving behind this royal life to become a mendicant. It is said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods"[33] to prevent guards from knowing of the Bodhisatta's departure. This event is traditionally called "The Great Departure". Siddhartha initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. Having been recognised by the men of King Bimbisara, Bimbisara offered him the throne after hearing of Siddhartha's quest. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.
Siddhartha left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), Siddhartha was asked by Kalama to succeed him, but moved on after being unsatisfied with his practices. He then became a student of Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra), but although he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness and was asked to succeed Ramaputta, he was still not satisfied with his path, and moved on.[34]


Gandhara Buddha. 1st–2nd century CE, Tokyo National Museum.
Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya then set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through near total deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's plowing. Looking near his feet he noticed the insects that lived there and realized that they would die or be displaced by the plowing. He then realized that all life is connected. With this revelation he attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.
Enlightenment
After asceticism and concentrating on meditation and Anapana-sati (awareness of breathing in and out), Siddhartha is said to have discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He accepted a little milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata, who wrongly believed him to be the spirit that had granted her a wish, such was his emaciated appearance. Then, sitting under a pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth. Kaundinya and the other four companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After 49 days meditating, at the age of 35, he attained Enlightenment; according to some traditions, this occurred approximately in the fifth lunar month, and according to others in the twelfth. Gautama, from then on, was known as the Buddha or "Awakened One." Buddha is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One." Often, he is referred to in Buddhism as Shakyamuni Buddha or "The Awakened One of the Shakya Clan."
At this point, he is believed to have realized complete awakening and insight into the nature and cause of human suffering which was ignorance, along with steps necessary to eliminate it. This was then categorized into 'Four Noble Truths'; the state of supreme liberation—possible for any being—was called Nirvana. He then allegedly came to possess the Ten Characteristics, which are said to belong to every Buddha.
According to one of the stories in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1), a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons, immediately after his Enlightenment, the Buddha was wondering whether or not he should teach the Dharma to human beings. He was concerned that, as human beings were overpowered by greed, hatred and delusion, they would not be able to see the true dharma, which was subtle, deep and hard to understand. However, Brahmā Sahampati interceded and asked that he teach the dharma to the world, as "there will be those who will understand the Dharma". With his great compassion to all beings in the universe, the Buddha agreed to become a teacher.
Formation of the sangha


Painting of the first sermon depicted at Wat Chedi Liem in Thailand.
After becoming enlightened, two merchants whom the Buddha met, named Tapussa and Bhallika became the first lay disciples. They are given some hairs from the Buddha's head, which are believed to now be enshrined in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta to explain his findings, but they had already died.
The Buddha thus journeyed to Deer Park near Vārāṇasī (Benares) in northern India, he set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment. They, together with the Buddha, formed the first saṅgha, the company of Buddhist monks, and hence, the first formation of Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) was completed, with Kaundinya becoming the first stream-enterer. All five soon become arahants, and with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of arahants swelled to 60 within the first two months. The conversion of the three Kassapa brothers and their 200, 300 and 500 disciples swelled the sangha over 1000, and they were dispatched to explain the dharma to the populace.
It is unknown what the Buddha's mother tongue was, and no conclusive documentation has been made at this point. It is likely that he preached and his teachings were originally preserved in a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.
Travels and teaching


Buddha with his protector Vajrapani, Gandhara, 2nd century CE, Ostasiatische Kunst Museum
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching his doctrine and discipline to an extremely diverse range of people— from nobles to outcaste street sweepers, mass murderers such as Angulimala and cannibals such as Alavaka. This extended to many adherents of rival philosophies and religions. The Buddha founded the community of Buddhist monks and nuns (the Sangha) to continue the dispensation after his Parinirvāna (Pāli: Parinibbāna) or "complete Nirvāna", and made thousands of converts. His religion was open to all races and classes and had no caste structure. He was also subject to attack from opposition religious groups, including attempted murders and framings.
The sangha travelled from place to place in India, expounding the dharma. This occurred throughout the year, except during the four months of the vassana rainy season. Due to the heavy amount of flooding, travelling was difficult, and ascetics of all religions in that time did not travel, since it was more difficult to do so without stepping on submerged animal life, unwittingly killing them. During this period, the sangha would retreat to a monastery, public park or a forest and people would come to them.
The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was first formed. After this, he travelled to Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha to visit King Bimbisara, in accordance with his promise after enlightenment. It was during this visit that Sariputta and Mahamoggallana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples; they were to become the Buddha's two foremost disciples. The Buddha then spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha. The monastery, which was of a moderate distance from the city centre was donated by Bimbisara.
Upon hearing of the enlightenment, Suddhodana dispatched royal delegations to ask the Buddha to return to Kapilavastu. Nine delegations were sent in all, but the delegates joined the sangha and became arahants. Neglecting worldly matters, they did not convey their message. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend, resulted in the message being successfully conveyed as well as becoming an arahant. Since it was not the vassana, the Buddha agreed, and two years after his enlightenment, took a two month journey to Kapilavastu by foot, preaching the dharma along the way. Upon his return, the royal palace had prepared the midday meal, but since no specific invitation had come, the sangha went for an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana hastened to approach the Buddha, stating "Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms", to which the Buddha replied
That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms
Suddhodana invited the sangha back to the royal palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk, after which he became a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. His cousins Ananda and Anuruddha were to become two of his five chief disciples. His son Rahula also joined the sangha at the age of seven, and was one of the ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined the sangha and became an arahant. Another cousin Devadatta also became a monk although he later became an enemy and tried to kill the Buddha on multiple occasions.
Of his disciples, Sariputta, Mahamoggallana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha comprised the five chief disciples. His ten foremost disciples were completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.
In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali. Hearing of the impending death of Suddhodana, the Buddha went to his father and preached the dharma, and Suddhodana became an arahant prior to death. The death and cremation led to the creation of the order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that he was reluctant to ordain women as nuns. His foster mother Maha Pajapati approached him asking to join the sangha, but the Buddha refused, and began the journey from Kapilavastu back to Rajagaha. Maha Pajapati was so intent on renouncing the world that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, following the sangha to Rajagaha. The Buddha eventually accepted them five years after the formation of the Sangha on the grounds that their capacity for enlightenment was equal to that of men, but he gave them certain additional rules (Vinaya) to follow. This occurred after Ananda interceded on their behalf. Yasodhara also became a nun, with both becoming arahants.


Devadatta tries to attack the Buddha. Picture of a wallpainting in a Laotian monastery.
During his ministry, Devadatta (who was not an arahant) frequently tried to undermine the Buddha. At one point Devadatta asked the Buddha to stand aside to let him lead the sangha. The Buddha declined, and stated that Devadatta's actions did not reflect on the Triple Gem, but on him alone. Devadatta conspired with Prince Ajatasattu, son of Bimbisara, so that they would kill and usurp the Buddha and Bimbisara respectively. Devadatta attempted three times to kill the Buddha. The first attempt involved the hiring of a group of archers, whom upon meeting the Buddha became disciples. A second attempt followed when Devadatta attempted to roll a large boulder down a hill. It hit another rock and splintered, only grazing the Buddha in the foot. A final attempt by plying an elephant with alcohol and setting it loose again failed. Failing this, Devadatta attempted to cause a schism in the sangha, by proposing extra restrictions on the vinaya. When the Buddha declined, Devadatta started a breakaway order, criticising the Buddha's laxity. At first, he managed to convert some of the bhikkhus, but Sariputta and Mahamoggallana expounded the dharma to them and succeeded in winning them back.
When the Buddha reached the age of 55, he made Ananda his chief attendant.
Death / Mahaparinirvana


An artist`s portrayal of Buddha's entry into Parinirvana.
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana or the final deathless state abandoning the earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha.[35] Mettanando and von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning.[36] The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom.


The sharing of the relics of the Buddha, Zenyōmitsu-Temple Museum, Tokyo


Buddha relics from Kanishka's stupa in Peshawar, Pakistan, now in Mandalay, Burma. Teresa Merrigan, 2005
The Mahayana Vimalakirti Sutra claims, in Chapter 3, that the Buddha doesn't really become ill or old but purposely presents such an appearance only to teach those born into samsara about the impermanence and pain of defiled worlds and to encourage them to strive for Nirvana.
"Reverend Ánanda, the Tathágatas have the body of the Dharma—not a body that is sustained by material food. The Tathágatas have a transcendental body that has transcended all mundane qualities. There is no injury to the body of a Tathágata, as it is rid of all defilements. The body of a Tathágata is uncompounded and free of all formative activity. Reverend Ánanda, to believe there can be illness in such a body is irrational and unseemly!' Nevertheless, since the Buddha has appeared during the time of the five corruptions, he disciplines living beings by acting lowly and humble."[14]
Ananda protested Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. Buddha, however, reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:
44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds—the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"
Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikshus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. He then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words were, "All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence." The Buddha's body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.
According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of Buddha. According to one Mahayana record in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Aśoka is 116 years after the death of Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 543 BCE, because the reign of Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates.
At his death, the Buddha told his disciples to follow no leader, but to follow his teachings (dharma). However, at the First Buddhist Council, Mahakasyapa was held by the sangha as their leader, with the two chief disciples Mahamoggallana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.
Physical characteristics
Main article: Physical characteristics of the Buddha
For the Fat or Laughing Buddha, see Budai.


The 8m tall statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha in the Tawang Monastery.


Buddha Daibutsu in Kamakura, Japan.
Buddha is perhaps one of the few sages for whom we have mention of his rather impressive physical characteristics. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".
The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive."(D,I:115).
"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A,I:181)
A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an Arahant, was so obsessed by Buddha's physical presence that Buddha had to tell him to stop and reminded Vakkali to know Buddha through the Dhamma and not physical appearances.
Although the Buddha was not represented in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), the physical characteristics of fully-enlightened Buddhas are described by the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D,I:142).[37] In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").[38]
Teachings
Main article: Buddhist philosophy


Seated Buddha, Gandhara, 2nd century CE.
Some scholars believe that some portions of the Pali Canon and the Agamas could contain the actual substance of the historical teachings (and possibly even the words) of the Buddha.[39][40] This is not the case for the later Mahayana sutras.[41] The scriptural works of Early Buddhism precede the Mahayana works chronologically, and are treated by many Western scholars as the main credible source for information regarding the actual historical teachings of Gautama Buddha.
Some of the fundamentals of the teachings of Gautama Buddha are:
• The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an inherent part of existence; that the origin of suffering is ignorance and the main symptoms of that ignorance are attachment and craving; that attachment and craving can be ceased; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of attachment and craving and therefore suffering.
• The Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
• Dependent origination: that any phenomenon 'exists' only because of the ‘existence’ of other phenomena in a complex web of cause and effect covering time past, present and future. Because all things are thus conditioned and transient (anicca), they have no real independent identity (anatta).
• Rejection of the infallibility of accepted scripture: Teachings should not be accepted unless they are borne out by our experience and are praised by the wise. See the Kalama Sutta for details.
• Anicca (Sanskrit: anitya): That all things are impermanent.
• Dukkha (Sanskrit: duḥkha): That all beings suffer from all situations due to unclear mind.
• Anatta (Sanskrit: anātman): That the perception of a constant "self" is an illusion.
However, in some Mahayana schools, these points have come to be regarded as more or less subsidiary. There is some disagreement amongst various schools of Buddhism over more esoteric aspects of Buddha's teachings, and also over some of the disciplinary rules for monks.
According to tradition, the Buddha emphasized ethics and correct understanding. He questioned the average person's notions of divinity and salvation. He stated that there is no intermediary between mankind and the divine; distant gods are subjected to karma themselves in decaying heavens; and the Buddha is solely a guide and teacher for the sentient beings who must tread the path of Nirvāṇa (Pāli: Nibbāna) themselves to attain the spiritual awakening called bodhi and see truth and reality as it is. The Buddhist system of insight and meditation practice is not believed to have been revealed divinely, but by the understanding of the true nature of the mind, which must be discovered by personally treading a spiritual path guided by the Buddha's teachings.

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Jesus

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This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. For other uses, see Jesus (disambiguation).
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Jesus of Nazareth
Half-length portrait of younger man with shoulder-length hair and beard, with right hand raised over what appears to be a red flame. The upper background is gold. Around his head is a golden halo containing an equal-armed cross with three arms visible; the arms are decorated with ovals and squares.
6th-century mosaic of Jesus at Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna. Though depictions of Jesus are culturally important, no undisputed record of what Jesus looked like is known to exist.
Born c 5 BC/BCE[1]
Bethlehem, Judea, Roman Empire (traditional); Nazareth, Galilee (historical Jesus)[2]
Died c 30 AD/CE (aged c.35)[3][4]
Calvary, Judea, Roman Empire (According to the New Testament, he rose on the third day after his death.)
Cause of death Crucifixion
Resting place Traditionally and temporarily, a garden tomb located in what is now the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.[5]
Nationality Roman Empire
Ethnicity Jewish
Home town Nazareth, Judea, Roman Empire
Parents Father: (Christian view) God;
(Islamic view) Virginal conception

Mother: Mary
Adoptive father: Joseph

Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BC/BCE – c. 30 AD/CE),[3] also known as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus, is the central figure of Christianity, which views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament, with most Christian denominations believing him to be the Son of God and God incarnate who was raised from the dead.[6] Islam considers Jesus a prophet and also the Messiah.[7] Several other religions revere him in some way. He is one of the most influential figures in human history.

The principal sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels,[8][9] though some scholars argue such texts as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of the Hebrews [10][11] are also relevant.[12]

Most critical scholars in biblical studies believe that some parts of the New Testament are useful for reconstructing Jesus' life,[13][14][15][16] agreeing that Jesus was a Jew who was regarded as a teacher and healer, that he was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Aside from these few conclusions, academic debate continues regarding the chronology, the central message of Jesus' preaching, his social class, cultural environment, and religious orientation.[12] Critical scholars have offered competing descriptions of Jesus as a self-described Messiah, as the leader of an apocalyptic movement, as an itinerant sage, as a charismatic healer, and as the founder of an independent religious movement. Most contemporary scholars of the historical Jesus consider him to have been an independent, charismatic founder of a Jewish restoration movement, anticipating an imminent apocalypse.[29] Other prominent scholars, however, contend that Jesus' "Kingdom of God" meant radical personal and social transformation instead of a future apocalypse.[29]

Christians predominantly believe that Jesus is the "Son of God" (generally meaning that he is God the Son, the second person in the Trinity) who came to provide salvation and reconciliation with God by his death for their sins.[30]:568-603 Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin,[30]:529-532 performed miracles,[30]:358-359 founded the Church, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven,[30]:616-620 from which he will return.[30]:1091-1109 While the doctrine of the Trinity is accepted by most Christians, a few groups reject the doctrine of the Trinity, wholly or partly, as non-scriptural.[31] Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah[32] and as God.

In Islam, Jesus (Arabic: عيسى‎, commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God's important prophets,[33][34] a bringer of scripture, and a worker of miracles. Jesus is also called "Messiah", but Islam does not teach that he was divine. Islam teaches that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven without experiencing the crucifixion and resurrection,[35] rather than the traditional Christian belief of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Contents
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Etymology
See also: Yeshua

"Jesus" (pronounced /ˈdʒiːzəs/) is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), itself a Hellenisation of the Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yĕhōšuă‘, Joshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšûă‘), meaning "Yahweh delivers (or rescues)".[36][37] "Christ" (pronounced /ˈkraɪst/) is a title derived from the Greek Χριστός (Christós), meaning the "Anointed One", a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Messiah).[38][39]:274-275 A "Messiah," in this context, is a king anointed at God's direction or with God's approval, and Christians identify Jesus as the one foretold by Hebrew prophets.
Chronology
Main article: Chronology of Jesus
See also: Nativity of Jesus, 1 BC, and Year zero

Scholars conclude that Jesus was born 7–2 BC/BCE and died 26–36 AD/CE.[40][41]

There is no contemporary evidence of the exact date of Jesus' birth. The common Gregorian calendar for numbering years, in which the current year is 2010, is based on an early medieval attempt to count the years from his birth (Incarnation). The Gospel of Matthew places his birth under the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC/BCE,[42] and indications in the Gospel of Luke point to the same period, though Luke also describes the birth as taking place during the first census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea, which is generally believed to have occurred in 6 AD/CE.[43] Most scholars generally assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC/BCE.[44]

The earliest evidence of celebration on 25 December of the birth of Jesus is of the year 354 in Rome, and it was only later that the 25 December celebration was adopted in the East, with the exception of Armenia, where his birth is celebrated on 6 January.[45] Indeed there is no month of the year to which respectable authorities have not assigned his birth.[45]

Jesus' ministry, which according to the Gospel of Luke he began at about 30 years of age,[46] followed that of John the Baptist,[47] whose ministry is said to have begun "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar",[Lk. 3:1–2] which would be about 28 or 29 AD/CE.[48] Jesus' ministry lasted around one year, according to the Synoptic Gospels, or three years according to the Gospel of John.[49] Thus, the earliest generally-accepted date for the crucifixion is 29 AD/CE, and the latest is 36 AD/CE.

According to the Gospels, the death of Jesus took place during the time that Pontius Pilate was the Roman procurator of Judea. Josephus[50] and Tacitus[51] also say that procurator Pontius Pilate executed Jesus. Procurator[52] was a civilian title introduced during the rule of Claudius, 41-54 CE. The historical Pontius Pilate had the military title prefect[52] between 26 and 36 CE.[53].

Most Christians commemorate Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday and celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Life and teachings, as told in the Gospels
Main article: New Testament view on Jesus' life
See also: Gospel harmony
Major events in Jesus' life from the Gospels

* Nativity of Jesus
* Baptism
* Temptation
* Ministry
* Commissioning Apostles and Disciples
* Sermon on the Mount
* Miracles
* Rejection
* Transfiguration
* Giving the Evangelical councils
* Entering Jerusalem
* Cursing the Fig Tree
* The Temple Incident
* Giving the Great Commandment
* Second Coming Prophecy
* Promising a Paraclete
* Anointing
* Last Supper
* The Passion:
o Arrest
o Sanhedrin Trial
o Before Pilate
o Flagellation
o Crown of Thorns
o Via Dolorosa
o Crucifixion
* Entombment
* Empty tomb
* Resurrection appearances
o Giving the Great Commission
* Ascension

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The four canonical gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are the main sources for the biography of Jesus' life; nevertheless, these Gospels were written with the intention of glorifying Jesus and are not strictly biographical in nature.[54] For example, the Gospels primarily characterize Jesus as the Messiah: he performs miracles and is often described as having a very close relationship to the Jewish God—the phrase "Son of God" is attributed to Jesus at least once in each Gospel.[Lk. 1:35][Mt. 16:16][Mk. 1:1][Jn. 3:18] The Gospels (especially Matthew) present Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection as fulfillment of prophecies found in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., the virgin birth, the flight into Egypt, Immanuel from Isaiah 7:14, and the suffering servant).[55] However, critical scholars do find historical information about Jesus' life and ministry in the synoptic gospels, while interpreting the miraculous and theological content in light of what is known of Jewish beliefs at the time.[56]
Similarities and differences among the Gospels

Three of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are known as the synoptic Gospels because they display a high degree of similarity in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence and paragraph structures. These Gospels are also considered to share the same point of view.[57] The fourth canonical Gospel, John, differs greatly from these three, as do the Apocryphal gospels.

According to the two-source hypothesis, Mark was a source for Matthew and Luke, both of whom also independently used a now lost sayings source called the Q Gospel. Mark defined the sequence of events from Jesus' baptism to the empty tomb and included parables of the Kingdom of God.[58]
Character of Jesus

Each gospel portrays Jesus' life and its meaning differently.[59][60] The gospel of John is not a biography of Jesus but a theological presentation of him as the divine Logos.[61] One modern scholar writes that to combine these four stories into one story is tantamount to creating a fifth story, one different from each original.[60]

Mark presents Jesus as a heroic, charismatic man of action and mighty deeds. Matthew portrays him especially as the fulfillment of Hebrew prophecy and as a greater Moses. Luke emphasizes Jesus' miraculous powers and his support for the poor, women, and Gentiles. John views Jesus' earthly life as a manifestation of the eternal Word.[59]
Logos

The Gospel of John opens with a hymn identifying Jesus as the divine Logos, or Word, that formed the universe.[Jn. 1:1–5] [1:9–14] [62] The author describes the Logos in relation to God and the created order, declares that he "became flesh", and identifies him as Jesus Christ.[Jn. 1:17] According to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus Christ is God active in creation, in revelation (Light), and in redemption (Life).[63] Jesus' earthly life was the Logos incarnate.[Jn. 1:14] [62]
Genealogy and family
Main articles: Genealogy of Jesus, Desposyni, and Jesus bloodline
Mary and Child Jesus, La vierge aux raisins by Pierre Mignard, 1640

Of the four gospels, only Matthew and Luke give accounts of Jesus' genealogy.[64][65] The accounts in the two gospels are substantially different.[66] Several explanations have been suggested and it has been traditional to assume that Luke's genealogy traces through Mary and Matthew's through Joseph since at least 1490.[67] Some contemporary scholars generally view the genealogies as theological constructs.[68] More specifically, some have suggested that the author of Matthew wants to underscore the birth of a Messianic child of royal lineage (Solomon is included in the list); whereas, in this interpretation, Luke's genealogy is priestly (e.g., it mentions Levi). Mary is mentioned in passing in the genealogy given by Matthew, but not in Luke's, while Matthew gives Jacob as Joseph's father and Luke says Joseph was the son of Heli. Both accounts, when read at face value, trace Jesus' line though his human father Joseph back to King David and from there to Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David (except for one), but they differ almost completely between David and Joseph (having only Zerubbabel and Shealtiel in common).

Joseph, husband of Mary, appears in descriptions of Jesus' childhood. No mention, however, is made of Joseph during the ministry of Jesus. The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Galatians tell of Jesus' relatives, including words sometimes translated as "brothers" and "sisters".[69][70][71] Luke also mentions that Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, was a "cousin" or "relative" of Mary,[Lk. 1:36] which would make John a distant cousin of Jesus.
Nativity and early life
Main articles: Annunciation, Nativity of Jesus, and Child Jesus
Adoration of the Shepherds, illustration by Guido Reni, 17th century

While there are documents outside of the New Testament which are more or less contemporary with the Historical Jesus, many shed no light on the more biographical aspects of his life.[54] The main sources of Jesus himself that are available to modern scholars are the gospels.[72]

According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea to Mary, a virgin, by a miracle of the Holy Spirit.

In Luke, the angel Gabriel visits Mary to tell her that she was chosen to bear the Son of God.[Lk. 1:26–38] An order of Caesar Augustus had forced Mary and Joseph to leave their homes in Nazareth and come to the home of Joseph's ancestors, the house of David, for the Census of Quirinius.[Lk. 2:1-5] After Jesus' birth, the couple was forced to use a manger in place of a crib because of a shortage of accommodation.[Lk. 2:1–7] An angel announced Jesus' birth to shepherds who left their flocks to see the newborn child and who subsequently publicized what they had witnessed throughout the area (see The First Noël).[Lk. 2:8-18]

In Matthew, the "Wise Men" or "Magi" bring gifts to the young Jesus after following a star which they believe was a sign that the King of the Jews had been born.[Mt. 2:1–12] King Herod hears of Jesus' birth from the Wise Men and tries to kill him by massacring all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two (the "massacre of the innocents").[73][Mt. 2:16-17] The family flees to Egypt and remains there until Herod's death, whereupon they settle in Nazareth to avoid living under the authority of Herod's son and successor Archelaus.[Mt. 2:19–23]

Jesus' childhood home is identified as the town of Nazareth in Galilee.[Mt. 2:23] Except for Matthew's "flight into Egypt", and a short trip to Tyre and Sidon (in what is now Lebanon), the Gospels place all other events in Jesus' life in ancient Israel.[74] However, infancy gospels began to appear around the beginning of the second century.[75] According to Luke, Jesus was "about thirty years of age" when he was baptized.[Lk. 3:23] In Mark, Jesus is called a tekton, usually understood to mean carpenter. Matthew says he was the son of a tekton.[Mk. 6:3] [Mt. 13:55][39]:170 However, the Greek word used in the Gospels means "builder", which could refer to a stonemason or some other type of artisan as well.[76]
Baptism and temptation
Main articles: Baptism of Jesus, Temptation of Christ, and John the Baptist
Christ baptized by John the Baptist by Francesco Trevisani

All three synoptic Gospels describe the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, an event which Biblical scholars describe as the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. According to these accounts, Jesus came to the Jordan River where John the Baptist had been preaching and baptizing people in the crowd. After Jesus was baptized and rose from the water, Mark states Jesus "saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven saying: 'You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'".[Mk. 1:10–11]

Mark starts his narration with Jesus' baptism, specifying that it is a token of repentance and for forgiveness of sins.[59] Matthew omits this reference, emphasizing Jesus' superiority to John.[59][77] Matthew describes John as initially hesitant to comply with Jesus' request for John to baptize him, stating that it was Jesus who should baptize him. Jesus persisted, "It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness".[Mt. 3:15] In Matthew, God's public dedication informs the reader that Jesus has become God's anointed ("Christ").[59]
Temptation of Christ, illustration by Ary Scheffer, 19th c.

Following his baptism, Jesus was led into the desert by God where he fasted for forty days and forty nights.[Mt. 4:1–2] During this time, the Devil appeared to him and tempted Jesus three times. Each time, Jesus refused temptation with a quotation of scripture from the Book of Deuteronomy. The Devil departed and angels came and brought nourishment to Jesus.[78]

The Gospel of John does not describe Jesus' baptism,[9][79] or the subsequent Temptation, but it does attest that Jesus is the very one about whom John had been preaching—the Son of God. The Baptist twice declares Jesus to be the Lamb of God, a term found nowhere else in the Gospels. John also emphasizes Jesus' superiority over John.[59] In John, Jesus leads a program of baptism in Judea, and his disciples baptize more people than John.[Jn. 3:22–23] [4:1–3]
Ministry
Main articles: Ministry of Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, Sermon on the Plain, Twelve Apostles, and Transfiguration of Jesus

In the synoptics as well as in John, Jesus has a ministry of teaching and miracles, at least part of which is in Galilee.[80] In the synoptics, Jesus speaks in parables and aphorisms, exorcises demons, champions the poor and oppressed, and teaches mainly about the Kingdom of God.[13] In John, Jesus speaks in long discourses, with himself as the theme of his teaching.[13]
Jesus' purpose

Jesus said of his purpose, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."[Jn. 10:10]

Mark says that Jesus came to "give his life as a ransom for many";[Mk. 10:45] Luke, that he was sent to "preach the good news of the Kingdom of God";[Lk. 4:43] and John, that he came so that "those who believed in him would have eternal life".[Jn. 3:16]
Duration and location
Judæa and Galilee at the time of Jesus

John describes three different Passover feasts over the course of Jesus' ministry, implying that Jesus preached for at least "two years plus a month or two".[81] The Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year.[82][83] In the synoptics, Jesus' ministry takes place mainly in Galilee, until he travels to Jerusalem, where he cleanses the Temple and is executed.[84] In John, his ministry in and around Jerusalem is more prominently described, cleansing the temple at his ministry's beginning.[84]
Disciples
Main article: Twelve Apostles

In the synoptic Gospels, Jesus calls some Jewish men to be his Twelve Apostles. None of them seems to have been a peasant (an agricultural worker). At least four are described as fishermen and another as a tax collector. Three of them are presented as being chosen to accompany Jesus on certain special occasions, such as the transfiguration of Jesus, the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and the Agony in the Garden. Jesus speaks of the demands of discipleship, telling a rich man to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. He states that his message divides family members against each other.[85]

In Mark, the disciples are strangely obtuse, failing to understand Jesus' deeds and parables.[86] In Matthew, Jesus directs the apostles' mission only to those of the house of Israel,[Mt. 15:24] [10:1–6] Luke places a special emphasis on the women who followed Jesus, such as Mary Magdalene.[87]
Teachings and preachings
Main articles: Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain
Sermon on the Mount,
illustration by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 19th c.

In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus speaks primarily about the Kingdom of God (or Heaven).[82] In Matthew and Luke, he speaks further about morality and prayer. In John, he speaks at length about himself and his divine role.[82]

At the height of his ministry, Jesus is said to have attracted huge crowds numbering in the thousands, primarily in the areas of Galilee and Perea (in modern-day Israel and Jordan respectively).[88]

Some of Jesus' most famous teachings come from the Sermon on the Mount, which contains the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer. It is one of five collections of teachings in Matthew.[73]

In the Synoptics, Jesus often employs parables, such as the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke) and the Parable of the Sower (all Synoptics).

His moral teachings in Matthew and Luke encourage unconditional self-sacrificing God-like love for God and for all people.[89] During his sermons, he preached about service and humility, the forgiveness of sin, faith, turning the other cheek, love for one's enemies as well as friends, and the need to follow the spirit of the law in addition to the letter.[90]

In the Synoptics, Jesus relays an apocalyptic vision of the end of days. He preaches that the end of the current world will come unexpectedly, and that he will return to judge the world, especially according to how they treated the vulnerable. He calls on his followers to be ever alert and faithful. In Mark, the Kingdom of God is a divine government that will appear by force within the lifetimes of his followers.[86] Matthew describes false Messiahs, disasters, tribulations, and signs in the heavens that will portend Jesus' return, which is also described as unexpected.[73]
Outreach to outsiders
Jesus with children, early 1900s Bible illustration

Table fellowship is central to Jesus' ministry in the Gospels.[15] He and his disciples eat with sinners (who neglect purity rules)[84] and tax collectors (imperial publicani, despised as extortionists). The apostle Matthew is a tax collector. When the Pharisees object to Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, Jesus replies that it is the sick who need a physician, not the healthy.[Mt. 9:9–13] [84] Jesus also defends his disciples against charges that they do not follow purity laws when eating. The Pharisees accused Jesus himself of being a drunk and a glutton.[84] Jesus' miracles and teachings often involve food and feasting.[15] He instructs his missionaries to eat with the people that they preach to and heal.[15] In the Synoptics, Jesus institutes a new covenant with a ritual meal before he is crucified.

Jesus' outreach to outsiders includes the Samaritans, who followed a different form of the Israelite religion, as reflected in his preaching to the Samaritans of Sychar[Jn. 4:1–42] and in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.[Lk. 10:25-37]

At various times, Jesus makes a point of welcoming sinners, children, women, the poor, Samaritans, and foreigners.
Transfiguration and Jesus' divine role
Main article: Transfiguration of Jesus

In the synoptic gospels, Jesus leads three select disciples—Peter, John, and James—to the top of a mountain.[86] While there, he is transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun and his clothes brilliant white; Elijah and Moses appear adjacent to him. A bright cloud overshadows them, and a voice from the sky says, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased".[91] The Transfiguration is a turning point in Jesus ministry.[92] Just before it and thereafter, Jesus warns that he is to suffer, die and rise again.[92]

In Mark, Jesus' identity as the Messiah is obscured (see Messianic secret).[93] Mark states that "this generation" will be given no sign, while Matthew and Luke say they will be given no sign but the sign of Jonah.[94] In John, and not in the synoptics, Jesus is outspoken about his divine identity and mission.[80] Here he punctuates his ministry with several miraculous signs of his authority.

In John, Jesus declares that belief in the Son brings eternal life, that the Father has committed powers of judgment and forgiveness to the Son, and that He is the bread of life, the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life, and the real vine.[62] Here Jesus uses the phrase "I am" in talking of himself[Jn. 8:58] in ways that designate God in the Hebrew Bible,[Ex. 3:14] a statement taken by some writers as claiming identity with God.[95]
Arrest, trial, and death
Main articles: Jesus and the Money Changers, Last Supper, Arrest of Jesus, Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, and Crucifixion of Jesus
In Jerusalem
Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple, illustration by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1626.

According to the Synoptics, Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival where a large crowd came to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!"[96] Following his triumphal entry,[97] Jesus created a disturbance at Herod's Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers who set up shop there, and claiming that they had made the Temple a "den of robbers".[Mk. 11:17] Later that week, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples—an event subsequently known as the Last Supper — in which he prophesied that he would be betrayed by one of his disciples, and would then be executed. In this ritual he took bread and wine in hand, saying: "this is my body which is given for you" and "this cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood", and instructed them to "do this in remembrance of me."[Lk. 22:7–20] Following the supper, Jesus and his disciples went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In Mark and Matthew, Jesus is anguished in the face of his fate.[92][98] He prays and accepts God's will, but his chosen disciples repeatedly fall asleep on the watch.[92][98] In Luke, Jesus prays briefly at the Mount of Olives, and his disciples fall asleep out of grief.[99]

In John, Jesus has already cleansed the temple a few years before and has been preaching in Jerusalem. He raises Lazarus on the Sabbath, the act that finally gets Jewish leaders to plan his death.[62] At the Last Supper, Jesus washes the disciples' feet and there is no new covenant of bread and wine.[62] Jesus gives the farewell discourses, discussing the persecution of his followers, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and more.[62] He says a long final prayer with his disciples before heading to a garden where he knows Judas will show up.[100]
Betrayal and arrest
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man!) Pontius Pilate presents a scourged Jesus of Nazareth to onlookers. Illustration by Antonio Ciseri, 19th c.

While in the Garden, Jesus is arrested by temple guards on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the high priest, Caiaphas.[101] The arrest takes place clandestinely at night to avoid a riot, as Jesus is popular with the people at large.[Mk. 14:2] Judas Iscariot, one of his apostles, betrays Jesus by identifying him to the guards with a kiss.[Mt. 26:49-50] Simon Peter, another one of Jesus' apostles, uses a sword to attack one of Jesus' captors, cutting off his ear, which, according to Luke, Jesus immediately heals miraculously.[102] Jesus rebukes the apostle, stating "all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword".[Mt. 26:52] After his arrest, Jesus' apostles go into hiding; Judas, distraught by his betrayal of Jesus, commits suicide shortly after.[Mt. 27:5]
Trials before the Sanhedrin and Pilate

[improper synthesis?]

Jesus affirms that he is the Messiah before the Sanhedrin,[Mk. 14:53–65] the only time in the Gospel that he makes such a claim.[86] The Jewish leaders turn him over to Pilate for execution, but Pilate is reluctant to execute Jesus.[86] In an attempt to spare Jesus' life, Pilate offers the mob a chance to free him, but they choose Barabbas instead, so that the responsibility for Jesus' execution falls on the mob of Jews that the Pharisees have incited, rather than on the Romans,[86] as expressed in the Gospel of Matthew by the Jewish crowd's proclamation, “His blood be upon us and on our children.”[Mt. 27:24–25] Matthew adds the details that Pilate's wife, tormented by a dream, urges Pilate not to have anything to do with Jesus, and Pilate washes his hands of responsibility.[Mt. 27:11–26] [73] Luke adds the detail that Pilate sends Jesus to Herod Antipas, who has authority over Galileans, but that Herod, like Pilate, finds him guilty of nothing treasonous.[87][Luke 23:6-16] In John, Jesus makes no claim to be the Son of God or the Messiah to the Sanhedrin or to Pilate, even though this gospel proclaims Jesus' divinity from the beginning.[62]
Death
Crucifixion, illustration by D. Velázquez, 17th c.
Christ en majesté, Resurrection of Jesus, illustration by Matthias Grünewald, 16th c.

In Mark, Jesus is stripped, flogged, mocked, and crowned with thorns.[86] He is crucified between two thieves, and his cross states that he is being executed for aspiring to be the king of the Jews.[86] He begins to recite Psalm 22, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me."[86] He utters a loud cry and dies.[86] According to all four Gospels, Jesus died before late afternoon at Calvary, which was also called Golgotha. In Luke, Jesus faces his crucifixion stolidly.[60] He asks God to forgive those who are crucifying him, possibly the Romans and possibly the Jews.[87] One of the thieves states that Jesus has done nothing wrong and asks Jesus to remember him in the Kingdom, and Jesus replies that the thief will be with him in Paradise.[87] The Synoptic Gospels tell of the darkening of the sky from twelve until three that afternoon; Matthew also mentions an earthquake,[Mt. 27:51] "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split." Mathew also says many dead saints were resurrected and went into the city to appear before other people.[Mt. 27:52-53] John omits the phenomena accompanying Jesus' death.[62] The tearing of the temple parokhet, upon the death of Jesus, is referenced by Matthew, Mark and Luke.[103]
Resurrection and ascension
Main articles: Resurrection of Jesus, Resurrection appearances of Jesus, Great Commission, Ascension of Jesus Christ, and Second Coming
Further information: Historicity of the Gospels

The Gospels state that Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday.[104] All the Gospels portray Jesus' empty tomb. In Matthew, an angel appears near the tomb of Jesus and announces his resurrection to Mary Magdalene and "another Mary" who had arrived to anoint the body.[Mt. 28:1–10] Jewish elders bribe the soldiers who had guarded the tomb to spread the rumor that Jesus' disciples took his body.[105] In Luke, there are two angels[Lk. 24:4] and in Mark the angel appears as a youth dressed in white.[Mk. 16:5] The "longer ending" to Mark, which is known as the Markan Appendix and which did not form part of the original manuscripts,[105][106] states that on the morning of his resurrection, Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene.[Mk. 16:9] John states that when Mary looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus until he spoke her name.[Jn. 20:11–18]

The Gospels all record appearances by Jesus, including an appearance to the eleven apostles.[107] In Mark, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, to two disciples in the country, and to the eleven, at which point Jesus commissions them to announce the gospel, baptize, and work miracles.[105] In Matthew, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and to the eleven on a mountain, at which point he commissions them to enlist followers, baptize, and teach what Jesus taught.[105] Although his own mission and his disciples' missions had been to the Jews,[Mt. 15:24] here he sends the eleven to the whole world (see Great Commission). In Luke, he appears to two disciples in the country and to the eleven.[105] He proves to them that he has a body, opens their minds to understand the scripture about the Messiah, and directs them to wait in Jerusalem until they are invested with power.[105] In John, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and to the eleven. He demonstrates his physical reality to doubting Thomas.[59][105] Later he appears to seven disciples who are fishing, and finally talks with Peter, foretelling Peter's death[105] and assigning him the principal role as shepherd of the new community.[105][108]

In Mark and Luke, Jesus ascends to the heavens;[Mk. 16:19] [Lk. 24:5] after these appearances. In Luke, Jesus ascends on Easter Sunday evening when he is with his disciples.[105] In Mark, Jesus' Ascension to heaven, where he sits at God's right hand, is said to have taken place but not described as a visible event.[105] John implies that Jesus will return to his Father[Jn. 20:17] but doesn't describe an Ascension.[105]
Names and titles in the New Testament
Main article: Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament

Jesus lived in Galilee for most of his life and spoke Aramaic and possibly Hebrew and some Greek.[109] The name "Jesus" comes from an alternate spelling of the Latin (Iēsus) which in turn comes from the Greek name Iesous (Ιησους). In the Septuagint Ιησους is used as the Greek version of the Hebrew name Yehoshua (יהושוע, "God delivers" from Yeho — Yahweh [is] shua` — deliverance/rescue) in the Biblical book of the same name, usually Romanized as Joshua. Some scholars believe that one of these was likely the name that Jesus was known by during his lifetime by his peers.[110] Thus, the name has been translated into English as "Joshua".[111]

Christ (which started as a title, and has often been used as a name for Jesus) is an Anglicization of the Greek term χριστός, christos. In the Septuagint, this term is used as the translation of the Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ, Modern Mašíaḥ Tiberian Māšîªḥ, "Anointed One" in reference to priests,[112] and kings[113] and King Cyrus.[Isaiah 45:1] In Isaiah and Jeremiah the word began to be applied to a future ideal king. The New Testament has some 500 uses of the word χριστός applied to Jesus, used either generically or in an absolute sense, namely as the Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ). The Gospel of Mark has as its central point of its narrative Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah.[Mk. 8:29] 1 Corinthians 15:3 indicates that the strong belief that Jesus was the Messiah predates the letters of Paul the Apostle. These letters also show that the Messiah title was already beginning to be used as a name.[114]

Some have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament had meanings in the first century quite different from those meanings ascribed today.[115] Géza Vermes has argued that "Son of man" was not a title but rather the polite way in which people referred to themselves, i.e. a pronominal phrase.[115]

Many New Testament scholars state that Jesus claimed to be God through his frequent use of "I am" (e.g. Before Abraham was, I am),[Jn. 8:58] his act of forgiving sins which gave Jews an impression of blasphemy,[Lk. 5:20–21] and his statement that "I and the Father are one."[Jn. 10:30][116] However, a number of New Testament scholars argue that Jesus himself made no claims to being God.[117] Most Christians identified Jesus as divine from a very early period, although holding a variety of views as to what exactly this implied.[118]
Other names and titles

"Son of David" is found elsewhere in Jewish tradition to refer to the heir to the throne.[115] "Son of God" was often used to designate a person as especially righteous.[115]

"Emmanuel" or "Immanuel" derives from the Hebrew name Immanu-El, which translates as "God (is) with us" and is based on a Messianic interpretation of a verse in the Hebrew Bible, Isaiah 7:14, "They shall call his name Immanuel."
Historical views
Main articles: Historical Jesus and Quest for the historical Jesus
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Chronology · Virgin birth
Ministry · Miracles · Parables
Death · Resurrection
Second Coming · Christology
Names and titles · Relics · Active obedience
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Biblical scholars have used the historical method to develop probable reconstructions of Jesus' life.[119] Over the past two hundred years, their image of Jesus has thus come to be very different from the common one based on the gospels.[120] Scholars of historical Jesus distinguish their subject from the "Jesus Christ" of Christianity[13] while others hold that the figure presented in the gospels is the real Jesus and that his life and influence only make sense if the gospel stories are accurate.[121][122][123] The principal sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the Gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels: Mark, Matthew, and Luke. Including the Gospels, there are no surviving historical accounts of Jesus written during his life or within three decades of his death.[124] A great majority of biblical scholars accept the historical existence of Jesus.[125][126][127][128][129]

The English title of Albert Schweitzer's 1906 book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, is a label for the post-Enlightenment effort to describe Jesus using critical historical methods.[130] Since the end of the 18th century, scholars have examined the gospels and tried to formulate historical biographies of Jesus.[119] Contemporary efforts benefit from a better understanding of 1st-century Judaism, renewed Roman Catholic biblical scholarship, broad acceptance of critical historical methods, sociological insights, and literary analysis of Jesus' sayings.[130]
Constructing a historical view
Main articles: Historical Jesus and Cultural and historical background of Jesus

Historians of Christianity analyze the gospels to try to discern the historical man on whom these stories are based. They compare what the gospels say to historical events relevant to the times and places where the gospels were written. They try to answer historical questions about Jesus, such as why he was crucified.

Most Biblical scholars agree the Gospel of Mark was written about the time of the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans under Titus in the year 70 AD/CE, and that the other gospels were written between 70 and 100 AD/CE.[131] The historical outlook on Jesus relies on critical analysis of the Bible, especially the gospels. Many Biblical scholars have sought to reconstruct Jesus' life in terms of the political, cultural, and religious crises and movements in late Second Temple Judaism and in Roman-occupied Palestine, including differences between Galilee and Judea, and between different sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots,[132][133] and in terms of conflicts among Jews in the context of Roman occupation.
Descriptions

Historians of Christianity generally describe Jesus as a healer who preached the restoration of God's kingdom[134] and agree he was baptized by John the Baptist and crucified by the Romans.
Baptism by John the Baptist

John the Baptist led a large apocalyptic movement. He demanded repentance and baptism. Jesus was baptized and later began his ministry. After John was executed, some of his followers apparently took Jesus as their new leader.[135] Historians are nearly unanimous in accepting Jesus' baptism as a historical event.[135]
Teaching
Jewish focus

Jesus preached primarily to the Jews.[136] Geza Vermes concludes that Jesus' message was exclusively for the Jews,[136] while Gerd Theissen asserts that Jesus' message included themes related to the Gentiles being welcomed into the coming Kingdom.[137]
Arrival of the Kingdom

Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God. He said that the age of the Kingdom had in some sense arrived, starting with the ministry of John the Baptist.[136]
Apocalyptic sect

Most scholars hold that the movement Jesus led was apocalyptic, expecting God to intervene imminently to restore Israel. John the Baptist's movement was apocalyptic, and Jesus began his public career as one of his followers.[138] Scholars commonly surmise that Jesus' eschatology was apocalyptic, like John's.[139]
Parables

Jesus taught in pithy parables and with striking images.[140] His preaching was marked by hyperbole and unusual twists of phrase.[136] Jesus likened the Kingdom of Heaven to small and lowly things, such as yeast or a mustard seed,[140] that have great effects. Significantly, he never described the Kingdom in military terms.[136] He used his sayings to elicit responses from the audience, engaging them in discussion.[15]
Importance of faith and prayer

Jesus identified faith or trust in God as a primary spiritual virtue.[136] Associated with this main theme, Jesus taught that one should rely on prayer and expect prayer to be effective.[136]
Virtue of being childlike

Jesus was remarkable in stating that one must become like a child to enter the Kingdom of God.[136]
The eschatological family

Jesus repeatedly set himself at odds with traditional family duties and emphasized that the true family of a believer was the community of believers.[136]
Healing and exorcism

Jesus taught that his healings and exorcisms indicated that a new eschatological age had arrived or was arriving.[136]
God as a loving father

Jesus placed a special emphasis on God as one's heavenly father.[136][140] This teaching contrasts with the more common practice of depicting God as a king or lord.[136]
Crucifixion

Jewish and Roman authorities in Jerusalem were wary of Galilean patriots, many of whom advocated or launched violent resistance to Roman rule.[14] The gospels demonstrate that Jesus, a charismatic leader regarded as a potential troublemaker, was executed on political charges.[14] Jesus' criticism of the Temple and the scene he caused there led the Jewish leaders to have him executed.[141]

The Gospels report that Jesus foretold his own Passion, but the actions of the disciples suggest that it came as a surprise to them.[136] Historically, it's more probable that Jesus did not foretell his own crucifixion.[136]
Religious groups

Scholars refer to the religious background of the early 1st century to better reconstruct Jesus' life. Some scholars identify him with one or another group.
Pharisees

Pharisees were a powerful force in 1st-century Judea. Early Christians shared several beliefs of the Pharisees, such as resurrection, retribution in the next world, angels, human freedom, and Divine Providence.[142] After the fall of the Temple, the Pharisee outlook was established in Rabbinic Judaism. Some scholars speculate that Jesus was himself a Pharisee.[143] In Jesus' day, the two main schools of thought among the Pharisees were the House of Hillel, which had been founded by the eminent Tanna, Hillel the Elder, and the House of Shammai. Jesus' assertion of hypocrisy may have been directed against the stricter members of the House of Shammai, although he also agreed with their teachings on divorce.[Mk. 10:1–12] [144] Jesus also commented on the House of Hillel's teachings (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a) concerning the greatest commandment[Mk. 12:28–34] and the Golden Rule.[Mt. 7:12] Historians do not know whether there were Pharisees in Galilee during Jesus' life, or what they would have been like.[84]
Sadducees

The Sadducee sect was particularly powerful in Jerusalem. They accepted the written Law only, rejecting the traditional interpretations accepted by the Pharisees, such as belief in retribution in an afterlife, resurrection of the body, angels, and spirits. After Jesus caused a disturbance at the Temple, it was to have been the Sadducees who had him arrested and turned over to the Romans for execution. After the fall of Jerusalem, they disappeared from history.[145]
Essenes

Essenes were apocalyptic ascetics, one of the three (or four) major Jewish schools of the time, though they were not mentioned in the New Testament.[146] Some scholars theorize that Jesus was an Essene, or close to them. Among these scholars is Pope Benedict XVI, who supposes in his book on Jesus that "it appears that not only John the Baptist, but possibly Jesus and his family as well, were close to the Qumran community."[147]
Zealots

The Zealots were a revolutionary party opposed to Roman rule, one of those parties that, according to Josephus inspired the fanatical stand in Jerusalem that led to its destruction in the year 70 AD/CE.[148] Luke identifies Simon, a disciple, as a "zealot", which might mean a member of the Zealot party (which would therefore have been already in existence in the lifetime of Jesus) or a zealous person.[148] The notion that Jesus himself was a Zealot does not do justice to the earliest Synoptic material describing him.[149]
Christian scripture as historical texts
Main article: Higher criticism
See also: Historicity of the Gospels

Historians of Christianity examine scripture for clues about the historical Jesus. They sort out sayings and events that are more likely to be genuine and use those to construct their portraits of Jesus. The Gospel tradition has certainly preserved several authentic fragments of Jesus' teaching.[citation needed]

The New Testament was at least substantially complete by 100 AD/CE, making its books, especially the synoptic gospels, historically relevant.[150] The Gospel tradition certainly preserves several fragments of Jesus' teaching.[151] The Gospel of Mark is believed to have been written c. 70 AD/CE.[152][153][154] Matthew is placed at being sometime after this date and Luke is thought to have been written between 70 and 100 AD/CE.[155][156]

Biblical scholars hold that the works describing Jesus were initially communicated by oral tradition, and were not committed to writing until several decades after Jesus' crucifixion. After the original oral stories were written down in Greek, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. Contemporary textual critic Bart D. Ehrman cites numerous places where he maintains that the gospels, and other New Testament books, were apparently altered by Christian scribes.[60]

Critical scholars consider scriptural accounts more likely when they are attested in multiple texts, plausible in Jesus' historical environment, and potentially embarrassing to the author's Christian community. The "criterion of embarrassment" holds that stories about events with aspects embarrassing to Christians (such as the denial of Jesus by Peter, or the fleeing of Jesus' followers after his arrest) would likely not have been included if those accounts were fictional.[157] Sayings attributed to Jesus are deemed more likely to reflect his character when they are distinctive, vivid, paradoxical, surprising, and contrary to social and religious expectations, such as "Blessed are the poor."[158] Short, memorable parables and aphorisms capable of being transmitted orally are also thought more likely to be authentic.[158]

The earliest extant texts which refer to Jesus are Paul's letters (mid-1st century), which affirm Jesus' crucifixion. Some scholars hold that the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus, predates the four orthodox gospels, and was composed around mid-first century.[159][160]
Mythical view
Main article: Christ myth theory
Further information: Jesus Christ and comparative mythology

Although the historicity of Jesus is accepted by almost all Biblical scholars and classical historians,[161][162][163][164][165] a few scholars have questioned the existence of Jesus as an actual historical figure. Among the proponents of non-historicity was Bruno Bauer in the 19th century. Non-historicity was somewhat influential in biblical studies during the early 20th century. The views of scholars who entirely rejected Jesus' historicity then were based on a suggested lack of eyewitnesses, a lack of direct archaeological evidence, the failure of certain ancient works to mention Jesus, and similarities early Christianity shared with then-contemporary religion and mythology.[166]

More recently, arguments for non-historicity have been discussed by authors such as George Albert Wells and Robert M. Price. Additionally, The Jesus Puzzle and The Jesus Mysteries are examples of works presenting the non-historical hypothesis.

Classicist Michael Grant stated that standard historical criteria prevent one from rejecting the existence of an historical Jesus.[167] The New Testament scholar, James Dunn describes the mythical Jesus theory as a 'thoroughly dead thesis'.[168][169][170]
Religious perspectives
Main article: Religious perspectives on Jesus

By and large, the Jews of Jesus' day rejected his claim to be the Messiah, as do Jews today. For their part, Christian Church Fathers, Ecumenical Councils, Reformers, and others have written extensively about Jesus over the centuries. Christian sects and schisms have often been defined or characterized by competing descriptions of Jesus. Meanwhile Gnostics, Mandaeans, Manichaeans, Muslims, Baha'is, and others have found prominent places for Jesus in their own religious accounts.
Christian views
Main articles: Christian views of Jesus and Christology
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Though Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to describe a general majority Christian view by examining the similarities between specific Western Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and many Protestant doctrines found in their catechetical or confessional texts.[171] Almost all Chistian groups regard Jesus as the "Savior and Redeemer", as the Messiah (Greek: Christos; English: Christ) prophesied in the Old Testament,[172] who, through his life, death, and resurrection, restored humanity's communion with God in the blood of the New Covenant. His death on a cross is understood as the redemptive sacrifice: the source of humanity's salvation and the atonement for sin[173] which had entered human history through the sin of Adam.[174] Christians profess that Jesus suffered death by crucifixion,[175] and rose bodily from the dead in the definitive miracle that foreshadows the resurrection of humanity at the end of time,[176] when Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead,[177] resulting in either entrance into heaven or damnation.[178]

Christians profess Jesus to be the only Son of God, the Lord,[179] and the eternal Word (which is a translation of the Greek Logos),[180] who became man in the incarnation,[181] so that those who believe in him might have eternal life.[182] They further hold that he was born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit in an event described as the miraculous virgin birth or incarnation.[183] Current religious groups that do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity include the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals and the Christadelphians. (See also Nontrinitarianism)
Islamic views
Main article: Jesus in Islam

Mainstream Islam denies that Jesus was God or the son of God, stating that he was an ordinary man who, like other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God's message. Islamic texts forbid the association of partners with God (shirk), emphasizing the notion of God's divine oneness (tawhīd). As such, Jesus is referred to in the Qur'an frequently as the "son of Mary" ("Ibn Maryam").[184][185] Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter's coming.[184][186] According to the Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be God's final revelation, Jesus was born to Mary (Arabic: Maryam) as the result of virginal conception, and was given the ability to perform miracles. However Islam rejects historians assertions that Jesus was crucified by the Romans, instead claiming that he had been raised alive up to heaven. Islamic traditions narrate that he will return to earth near the day of judgement to restore justice and defeat al-Masīḥ ad-Dajjāl (lit. "the false Messiah", also known as the Antichrist) and the enemies of Islam. As a just ruler, Jesus will then die.[184]
Ahmadiyya views
Main article: Jesus in Ahmadiyya Islam

Similar to Islamic views, the Ahmadiyya Movement consider Jesus was a mortal man, but go a step further to describe Jesus as a mortal man who died a natural death – as opposed to having been raised up alive to Heaven. According to the early 20th century writings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement) [187], Jesus survived his ordeal on the cross, and after his apparent death and resurrection, he fled Palestine and migrated eastwards to further teach the gospels. They claim Jesus eventually died a natural death of old age in India – Kashmir and is believed to be buried at Roza Bal.[188] Although the view of Jesus having migrated to India has also been researched in the publications of independent historians with no affiliation to the movement[189], the Ahmadiyya Movement are the only religious organization to adopt these views as a characteristic of their faith. The general notion of Jesus in India is older than the foundation of the movement,[190] and is discussed at length by Grönbold[191] and Klatt[192].

The movement also interprets the second coming of Christ prophecised in various religious texts would be that of a person "similar to Jesus" (mathīl-i ʿIsā). Thus Ahmadi's consider that the founder of the movement and his prophetical character and teachings were representative of Jesus and subsequently a fulfillment of this prophecy.
Judaism's view
Main article: Judaism's view of Jesus

Judaism rejects the idea of Jesus being God, or a person of a Trinity, or a mediator to God[193]. Judaism also holds that Jesus is not the Messiah, arguing that he had not fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah. According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after Malachi, who lived centuries before Jesus and delivered his prophesies about 420 BC/BCE. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the Torah to prove that he was a prophet. Even if Jesus had produced such a sign that Judaism recognized, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah, which Jesus did.[194]

The Mishneh Torah (an authoritative work of Jewish law) states in Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12 that Jesus is a "stumbling block" who makes "the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God".[195] According to Conservative Judaism, Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah have "crossed the line out of the Jewish community".[196] Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states "For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate".[197]
Bahá'í views

The Bahá'í Faith, founded in 19th-century Persia, considers Jesus, along with Muhammad, the Buddha, Krishna, and Zoroaster, and other messengers of the great religions of the world to be Manifestations of God (or prophets), with both human and divine stations.[198]
Hindu views
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Jesus is not a part of mainstream Hindu theology. Beliefs about him in some sects vary. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) considers Jesus to be a shaktyavesha Avatar, the beloved Son of Krishna who came down to Earth to preach Krishna consciousness. Jesus is considered the Son of God and an empowered incarnation of Krishna. Jesus is considered to be a liberated perfected Jiva residing with Krishna who descended to do Krishna's will by spreading Krishna Consciousness among the Jewish people according to their capacity to understand. It must be understood that the form of Krishna Consciousness Jesus taught to the Jews is a vey elementary and basic form of Krishna Consciousness because the Jewish people would not be able to understand advanced concepts. Krishna Conscious people believe Jesus taught basic forms of Karma, Reincarnation, and Vegetarianism as supported in the Gospel of the Holy Twelve. Some Hindus believe that Jesus is an incarnation or aspect of the Hindu God Brahman. Contemporary Sant Mat movements regard Jesus as a Satguru. Ramakrishna believed that Jesus was an Incarnation of God. Swami Vivekananda has praised Jesus and cited him as a source of strength and the epitome of perfection. Mohandas Gandhi expressed similar views. Paramahansa Yogananda taught that Jesus was the reincarnation of Elisha and a student of John the Baptist, the reincarnation of Elijah.
Buddhist views
Further information: Buddhism and Christianity

Buddhists' views of Jesus differ. Some Buddhists, including Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama[199] regard Jesus as a bodhisattva who dedicated his life to the welfare of human beings. The 14th century Zen master Gasan Jōseki indicated that the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels were written by an enlightened man.[200]
Sikh views
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Sikhism has no connection to Jesus religiously, but there is respect for him. Jesus is mentioned in the Sikh Holy Book, The Sri Guru Granth Shaib as "Issa" as with Allah and the Buddha. Jesus is not believed to be a God, as Sikhism does not think God comes in the form of a man. Sikhism specifically says that salvation can be reached through either the path of the Sikh Religion or through any other religion including Christianity.
Other views

Mandaeanism, a very small Mideastern, Gnostic sect that reveres John the Baptist as God's greatest prophet, regards Jesus as a false prophet of the false Jewish god of the Old Testament, Adonai,[201] and likewise rejects Abraham, Moses, and Muhammad. Manichaeism accepted Jesus as a prophet, along with Gautama Buddha and Zoroaster.[202]

The New Age movement entertains a wide variety of views on Jesus. The creators of A Course In Miracles claim to trance-channel his spirit. However, the New Age movement generally teaches that Christhood is something that all may attain. Theosophists, from whom many New Age teachings originated (a Theosophist named Alice A. Bailey invented the term New Age), refer to Jesus of Nazareth as the Master Jesus and believe he had previous incarnations.

Many writers emphasize Jesus' moral teachings. Garry Wills argues that Jesus' ethics are distinct from those usually taught by Christianity.[203] The Jesus Seminar portrays Jesus as an itinerant preacher who taught peace and love, rights for women and respect for children, and who spoke out against the hypocrisy of religious leaders and the rich.[204] Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a deist, created the Jefferson Bible entitled "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" that included only Jesus' ethical teachings because he did not believe in Jesus' divinity or any of the other supernatural aspects of the Bible.
Legacy of Jesus
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Pietà, Jesus' mother Mary holds the body of her dead son, illustration by Michelangelo, 16th c.
Shroud of Turin which some believe shows the face of Jesus at the time of his burial
Further information: Images of Jesus, Cultural depictions of Jesus, and Anno Domini

According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' teachings was that of repentance, unconditional love,[Jn. 13:34–35] forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the Kingdom of God.[205] Starting as a small Jewish sect,[206] it developed into a religion clearly distinct from Judaism several decades after Jesus death. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire under a version known as Nicene Christianity and became the state religion under Theodosius I. Over the centuries, it spread to most of Europe, and around the world.

His teachings promoted the value of those who had commonly been regarded as inferior: women, the poor, ethnic outsiders, children, prostitutes, the sick, prisoners, etc. For over a thousand years, countless hospitals, orphanages, and schools have been founded explicitly in Jesus' name. Thomas Jefferson considered Jesus' teachings to be "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man".[207]
Concept of God

Jesus presented a view of God as more lovingly parental, merciful, and more forgiving, and the growth of a belief in a blissful afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead.

The Church Fathers of the early centuries further defined Jesus' identity as fully God.[208] Ancient and medieval thinkers, such as Augustine of Hippo, further defined Jesus' divine and human natures.[208] Enlightenment and Reformation theologians concerned themselves less with defining Jesus' identity as with understanding his work in redemption.[208]

Not all have agreed. In the 1800s, German scholars questioned Jesus' miracles and some, such as David Strauss, portrayed him as merely a man, hence incapable of providing one's eternal salvation.[209] C. S. Lewis and Pope John Paul II have defended the Jesus of faith against historical critics.
Salvation and damnation

Jesus and his message of salvation have been interpreted, explained and understood by many people. Paul of Tarsus, in his influential epistles which were the earliest writings of the New Testament, espoused that salvation was based on Jesus alone, acknowledging the positive value of the Jewish Law but considering it unnecessary to salvation.[210] At the same time, Jesus' followers developed a belief in eternal damnation not found in Judaism.
Art and literature

Jesus has been a popular subject in drawing, painting, and sculpture. He is popularly depicted as having long brown hair and a full beard, wearing robes. He is often crucified and wearing a crown of thorns, such as on a crucifix. The resurrected Jesus has the wounds he suffered on the cross (see stigmata). He appears as the Christ Child in Christmas nativity scenes. He has been portrayed on stage and in films in many different ways, both serious and humorous. The figure of Jesus features prominently in art and literature. A number of popular novels, such as The Da Vinci Code, have also portrayed various ideas about Jesus, and a number of films, such as The Passion of the Christ, have portrayed his life, death, and resurrection. Many of the sayings attributed to Jesus have become part of the culture of Western civilization. There are a few items purported to be relics of Jesus, of which the most famous are the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo.
Christian antisemitism

Although Jesus was a Jew as were the first Christians, some anti-Judaic attitudes started to develop even before the end of the first century. For some Jews, the legacy of Jesus has been a history of Christian antisemitism, even though there is evidence of continued Jewish-Christian interaction since the early Church.[211] although in the wake of the Holocaust many Christian groups have gone to considerable lengths to reconcile with Jews and to promote interfaith dialogue and mutual respect. Christianity has often been linked to European colonialism.[212] But others have argued that through Bartolomé de las Casas's defense of the indigenous inhabitants of Spain's New World empire, one of the legacies of Jesus has been the notion of universal human rights.[213]

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