Historical Jesus

You are invited to join the quest for the historical Jesus of Nazareth. For 2,000 years, Christians have studied the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps no other individual has had such a wide-ranging and powerful impact on the history of the Western world. But deciphering the person of Jesus requires a firm understanding of history, culture, and language. In these lectures, you will gather and interpret evidence about Jesus' life, exploring the New Testament, the oral tradition, issues of translation, archaeology, and accounts written during Jesus' life. Your guide, the award-winning professor David Zachariah Flanagin (Ph.D., University of Chicago), is both a trained historian and a Catholic educator - a winning combination for a subject that so encompasses the church and the path of civilization. "Introducing the Quest" is part of a larger audio course titled The Historical Jesus. We invite you to explore the other segments of this course.

A plethora of recent portraits attest to the ongoing fascination with the person of Jesus, but their large number and great diversity also speak to the complexity of separating the wheat from the chaff in this chorus of contradictory voices.With Zach Flanagin (Ph.D., University Chicago), you will study cutting-edge scholarship that reconstructs the historical Jesus. From The Da Vinci Code and Jesus Christ Superstar to the works of Thomas Jefferson and contemporary scholars, Prof. Flanagin merges popular with scholastic "portraits" for full effect. An award-winning historian, Dr. Flanagin combines expert scholarship with accessible teaching to bring you to heart of the quest for the historical Jesus. "Radical Portraits of Jesus"is part of a larger audio course titled The Historical Jesus. We invite you to explore the other segments of this course.

Jesus was a figure thoroughly grounded in the religious traditions of Judaism, and his Jewish context illuminates his mission and ministry. Two millennia after the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the story of his life and teachings continues to compel scholars and the faithful alike to seek more information about him as a person - living in a particular place at a particular time. Under the guidance of award-winning historianDavid Zachariah Flanagin (Ph.D., University of Chicago), you will consider the fascinating body of research that definitively places Jesus within the world of first-century Palestine. As you survey the methods and assumptions underlying the quest to discover one of the Western world's most enigmatic figures, you'll gain a rich perspective on the insights and uncertainties surrounding the question of who Jesus was. The Historical Jesus in His Jewish Contextis part of a larger audio course titled The Historical Jesus. We invite you to explore the other segments of this course.