Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ (c.6 BC–c.30 AD) The central figure of CHRISTIANITY, believed by his followers to be the Son of God, of one essence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (the doctrine of the Trinity). The Gospels of the New Testament are the main sources of information about Jesus. According to them, Jesus was born at Bethlehem to Mary, by tradition a virgin, in the reign of Augustus Caesar. He was brought up at Nazareth in Galilee and received a traditional Jewish education. He may have been a carpenter, the trade of Mary's husband, Joseph. About 27 AD he was baptized in the River Jordan by JOHN the Baptist and shortly thereafter started his public ministry of preaching and healing (with reported miracles). Through his popular style of preaching, with the use of parables and proverbs, he proclaimed the imminent approach of the Kingdom of God and the ethical and religious qualities demanded of those who were to enjoy it (summarized in the Sermon on the Mount). His interpretation of Jewish law did not reject ceremonial observances but regarded them as less important than the fundamental principles of charity, sincerity, and humility. From among his followers in Galilee he selected 12 disciples to be his personal companions and to teach his message. His preaching brought him into conflict with the Jewish authorities. Aware of this, he travelled to Jerusalem, where he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, and condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish court. He then appeared before the Roman governor, Pontius PILATE, who sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion. His followers claimed that three days after the sentence had been carried out the tomb in which his body had been placed was empty and that he had been seen alive. Belief in his resurrection from the dead spread among his followers, who saw in this proof that he was the Messiah or Christ. His followers started to form Christian communities around Jerusalem from which developed the Christian Church.