Jesus, Paul, and the Early Christian Church

Jesus of Nazareth is understood by historians to have been a Jewish teacher and healer active in Galilee and Judea in the early first century CE, most probably born a few years before the conventional Christian era, since the biblical account of his birth under Herod the Great, who died in 4 BCE, complicates the traditional dating. According to the Gospels, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, gathered a circle of disciples, taught largely through parables about the coming Kingdom of God, and performed acts described as miracles, including healings. He traveled to Jerusalem, where, according to all four Gospels, he was arrested, tried, and crucified under the authority of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, most likely between 30 and 33 CE, a fate broadly consistent with Roman treatment of perceived threats to public order. For Christians, the central and defining claim is that Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, an event understood theologically as the resurrection, which the New Testament presents as vindicating his identity as the Messiah and the Son of God.