Peter Kirby

Um, explain? How does one cover Jesus?

kind regards,
Peter Kirby

Vorkosigan

Yes, I am saying the latter. If we did any other historical topic from the dark past, such as the Roman emperor Augustus, we'd probably have a section on how we know about his life and another on scholarly views, and/or the article would be peppered with such remarks "...Augustus presence on the frontier that summer is attested by an inscription left outside what is now modern day Marseille..." or "...Marxist historians of Augustus' reign point to the increasingly ossified class system of late Republican society that...."

So I think those are valid approaches to Jesus too. otherwise you'll get an enormous article, "Jesus (in life and art) with all the gajillion Jesus-s referenced over the centuries. I think you have to treat him like a historical character, as any other historical character. After all, Augustus was the center of a cult too, but how much time is spent in the histories on depictions of Augustus as a cult figure? Compared to other aspects....

Michael

No Robots

You might want to start with the current scholarly consensus:

No one in mainstream New Testament scholarship denies that Jesus was a Jew. -The Symbolic Jesus: Historical Scholarship, Judaism, and the Construction of Contemporary Identity / William Arnal. (p. 5)

Peter Kirby

Yes, No Robots, that sounds fair.

regards,
Peter Kirby