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Jesus Christ

World Encyclopedia | Date: 2005

Jesus Christ According to Christian belief, a Hebrew preacher (believed active 1st century ad) who founded the religion of Christianity, hailed and worshipped by his followers as the Son of God. Knowledge of Jesus' life is based mostly on the biblical gospels of St Matthew, St Mark, and St Luke. Mary gave birth (c.4 bc) to Jesus near the end of the reign of Herod the Great in Bethlehem, Judaea. Some Christians believe in the Virgin Birth and the appearance of a bright star and other portents. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, and may have followed his father, Joseph, in becoming a carpenter. In c.ad 26, John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan. Thereafter, Jesus began his own ministry, preaching to large numbers as he wandered throughout the country. He also taught a special group of 12 of his closest disciples, who were later sent out as his Apostles to bring his teachings to the Jews. Jesus' basic teaching, summarized in the Sermon on the Mount, was to “love God and love one's neighbour”. He also taught that salvation depended on doing God's will rather than adhering to the letter and the contemporary interpretation of the Jewish Law. Such a precept angered the hierarchy of the Jewish religion. In c.ad 29, Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem. His reputation as preacher and miracle-worker went before him, and he was acclaimed by the people as the Messiah. A few days later, Jesus gathered his disciples to partake in the Last Supper. At this meal, he instituted the Eucharist. Before dawn the next day, Jesus was arrested by agents of the Hebrew authorities accompanied by Judas Iscariot, a disaffected disciple, and summarily tried for sedition by the Sanhedrin, who handed him over to the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate. Roman soldiers crucified Jesus at Golgotha. After his death, his body was buried in a sealed rock tomb. Two days later, according to the gospel, he rose from the dead. Forty days after his resurrection, he is said to have ascended into heaven.


© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005.