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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Firewall: [QB] Jesus Language, race and appearance Jesus grew up in Galilee and much of his ministry took place there. The languages spoken in Galilee and Judea during the 1st century AD/CE include the Semitic Aramaic and Hebrew languages as well as Greek, with Aramaic being the predominant language. Most scholars agree that during the early part of 1st century AD/CE Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all women in Galilee and Judae. Most scholars support the theory that Jesus spoke Aramaic and that he may have also spoken Hebrew and Greek. James D. G. Dunn states that there is "substantial consensus" that Jesus gave most of his teachings in Aramaic. In a review of the state of modern scholarship, Amy-Jill Levine writes that the entire category of ethnicity is fraught with difficulty. Beyond recognizing that "Jesus was Jewish", rarely does the scholarship address what being “Jewish” means. In the New Testament, written in Koine Greek, Jesus was referred to as an Ioudaios on three occasions, although he did not refer to himself as such. These three occasions are by the Biblical Magi in Matthew 2 who referred to Jesus as "basileus ton ioudaion"; by the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 when Jesus was travelling out of Judea; and by the Romans in all four gospels during the Passion who also used the phrase "basileus ton ioudaion". According to Amy-Jill Levine, in light of the Holocaust, the Jewishness of Jesus increasingly has been highlighted. The New Testament includes no description of the physical appearance of Jesus before his death and its narrative is generally indifferent to racial appearances and does not refer to the features of the people it discusses. The synoptic gospels include the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus during which he was glorified with "his face shining as the sun" but do not provide details of his everyday appearance. The Book of Revelation describes the features of a glorified Jesus in a vision (1:13–16), but the vision refers to Jesus in heavenly form, after his death and resurrection. By the 19th century theories that Jesus was of Aryan descent, in particular European, were developed and later appealed to those who wanted nothing Jewish about Jesus, e.g. Nazi theologians. These theories usually also include the reasoning that Jesus was Aryan because Galilee was an Aryan region, but have not gained scholarly acceptance. By the 20th century, theories had also been proposed that Jesus was of black African descent, e.g. based on the argument that Mary his mother was a descendant of black Jews. Depictions Despite the lack of biblical references or historical records, for two millennia a wide range of depictions of Jesus have appeared, often influenced by cultural settings, political circumstances and theological contexts. As in other Christian art, the earliest depictions date to the late 2nd or early 3rd century, and survivors are primarily found in the Catacombs of Rome. The Byzantine Iconoclasm acted as a barrier to developments in the East, but by the 9th century art was permitted again. The Transfiguration of Jesus was a major theme in the East and every Eastern Orthodox monk who had trained in icon painting had to prove his craft by painting an icon of the Transfiguration. The Renaissance brought forth a number of artists who focused on the depictions of Jesus and after Giotto, Fra Angelico and others systematically developed uncluttered images. The Protestant Reformation brought a revival of aniconism in Christianity, though total prohibition was atypical, and Protestant objections to images have tended to reduce since the 16th century, and although large images are generally avoided, few Protestants now object to book illustrations depicting Jesus. On the other hand, the use of depictions of Jesus is advocated by the leaders of denominations such as Anglicans and Catholics and is a key element of the doxology of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. ______________ Historical views Existence The Christian gospels were written primarily as theological documents rather than historical chronicles. However, the question of the existence of Jesus as a historical figure should be distinguished from discussions about the historicity of specific episodes in the gospels, the chronology they present, or theological issues regarding his divinity. A number of historical non-Christian documents, such as Jewish and Greco-Roman sources, have been used in historical analyses of the existence of Jesus. Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed and regard events such as his baptism and his crucifixion as historical. Robert E. Van Voorst states that the idea of the non-historicity of the existence of Jesus has always been controversial, and has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines, and that classical historians, as well as biblical scholars now regard it as effectively refuted. Referring to the theories of non-existence of Jesus, Richard A. Burridge states: "I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that any more." Separate non-Christian sources used to establish the historical existence of Jesus include the works of 1st century Roman historians Josephus and Tacitus. Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman has stated that "few have doubted the genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in Antiquities 20, 9, 1 and it is only disputed by a small number of scholars. Bart D. Ehrman states that the existence of Jesus and his crucifixion by the Romans is attested to by a wide range of sources, including Josephus and Tacitus. The historical existence of Jesus as a person is a separate issue from any religious discussions about his divinity, or the theological issues relating to his nature as man or God. Leading scientific atheist Richard Dawkins specifically separates the question of the existence of Jesus from the attribution of supernatural powers to him, or the accuracy of the Christian gospels. Dawkins does not deny the existence of Jesus, although he dismisses the reliability of the gospel accounts. This position is also held by leading critic G. A. Wells, who used to argue that Jesus never existed, but has since changed his views and no longer rejects it. In antiquity, the existence of Jesus was never denied by those who opposed Christianity and neither pagans nor Jews questioned his existence. Although in Dialogue with Trypho, the second century Christian writer Justin Martyr wrote of a discussion about "Christ" with Trypho, most scholars agree that Trypho is a fictional character invented by Justin for his literary apologetic goals. While theological differences existed among early Christians regarding the nature of Jesus (e.g. monophysitism, miaphysitism, Docetism, Nestorianism, etc.) these were debates in Christian theology, not about the historical existence of Jesus. The Christ myth theory appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was debated during the 20th century. Supporters of the Christ myth theory point to the lack of any known written references to Jesus during his lifetime and the relative scarcity of non-Christian references to him in the 1st century, and dispute the veracity of the existing accounts of him. Since the 20th century scholars such as G. A. Wells, Robert M. Price and Thomas Brodie have presented various (and at times differing) arguments to support the Christ myth theory; the most thorough analysis being by G. A. Wells. But Wells' book Did Jesus Exist? was criticized by James D.G. Dunn in his book The Evidence for Jesus. Wells then changed his stance on issue and accepted that the Q source refers to "a preacher who existed", but still maintains that the New Testament accounts of the preacher's life are mostly fiction.Robert Van Voorst and separately Michael Grant state that biblical scholars and classical historians now regard theories of non-existence of Jesus as effectively refuted. Ancient sources and archeology Professor Bart Ehrman states that "Jesus almost certainly did exist", and the arguments from ignorance that there is no physical or archeological evidence of Jesus nor any writings from him are "not very good arguments, even though they sound good, as there is no such evidence of "nearly anyone who lived in the first century". Professor Teresa Okure states that in a global cultural context the existence of historical figures (e.g. Plato or Socrates) are established by the analysis of later references to them rather than by contemporary relics and remnants. Ehrman states that the view that Jesus had an immense impact on the society of his day, and hence one might have expected contemporary accounts of his deeds is not even close to correct and although Jesus had a large impact on future generations, his impact on the society of his time was "practically nil". In responding to G. A. Wells' previous arguments from silence that the lack of the contemporary references implies that Jesus did not exist (Wells no longer adheres to the non-existence hypothesis), Robert Van Voorst stated that such arguments are "specially perilous" as every good student of history knows.[286] An example of such argument is that although Philo criticized the brutality of Pontius Pilate in Embassy to Gaius (c. 40 AD), he did not name Jesus as an example of Pilate's cruelty. He adds that a possible explanation is that Philo never mentions Christians at all, so he had no need to mention their founder, given that Jewish literature (like early Roman references) only saw Jesus through Christianity and did not treat him independently. According to Eusebius (Hist Eccl II.17) Philo may have become familiar with Christian practices on a subsequent visit to Rome during the reign of Claudius (41 to 54 AD/CE). In a broad context, arguments from silence fail unless a fact is known to the author and is important enough and relevant enough to be mentioned in the context of a document. Van Voorst states that the historical interpretation of events was not an "instant analysis" as in modern society but involved time lags and Roman sources came to consider Jesus only when the growth of Christianity came to be seen as a threat to Rome, and given that they viewed Christianity as a "superstition" they had little interest in its origins. Timothy Barnes states that at the turn of the first century, there was only a low level of interest in and awareness of Christians within the Roman Empire, resulting in the lack of any discernible mention of them by Roman authors such as Martial and Juvenal. Louis Feldman states that one reason first century historian Josephus refers to Jesus in the Antiquities of the Jews (written c. 93 AD) but not in the Jewish Wars (written c. 75 AD) may be that in the twenty-year gap between the two works the growth of Christianity had made it a more important topic. In the broad historical context, a number of scholars caution against the use of arguments from ignorance and consider them generally inconclusive or fallacious, given their reliance on "negative evidence". Douglas Walton states that arguments from ignorance can only lead to sound conclusions in cases where we can assume that our "knowledge-base is complete". Despite the lack of specific archaeological remnants directly attributed to Jesus, the 21st century has witnessed an increase in scholarly interest in the integrated use of archaeology as an additional research component in arriving at a better understanding of the historical background of Jesus by illuminating the socio-economic and political background of his age. James Charlesworth states that few modern scholars now want to overlook the archaeological discoveries that clarify the nature of life in Galilee and Judea during the time of Jesus. Jonathan Reed states that chief contribution of archaeology to the study of the historical Jesus is the reconstruction of his social world. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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