It is impossible to justify any such claim on purely historical grounds, however wide the net for evidence is cast. So far as the Gospels are concerned, the material in them is too scanty, and too largely selected and organized with reference to other considerations, to provide the necessary evidence. ibid.
Another key part of the Christmas narrative - the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem – is found in only one Gospel. Mystery Files: Jesus, National Geographic 2012
Matthew does not cite any journey but agrees that Jesus is born in Bethlehem. It’s in Luke that the familiar story of arriving in Bethlehem where there is no room in the inn is found. ibid.
One festival of light is simply transformed into another ... But if the month of Jesus’ birth is debatable so is the year. ibid.
According to Luke, John the Baptist surfaces in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius. The year 29 C.E. So if Jesus is 30 in 29 C.E. this suggests the year 1 B.C.E. as a possible birth date. Jesus would need to be at least three years older to live in the time of Herod the Great, or seven years younger to be subjected to the Roman census. Therefore, at least a decade’s discrepancy is evident within Luke’s conflicting version of events. ibid.
Neither Gospel mentions anyone other than Mary present at the birth of Jesus. ibid.
We have Roman census regulations for Egypt for example and they all say what you’d expect – everybody stay home. No moving around. Look at the economic disruption – it’s totally impossible. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Dominican priest & scholar
Neither of these stories is historically accurate and neither of them intends to be historically accurate. Neither of them knows exactly what happened. John Dominic Crossan
I do not think the Nativity story in either Matthew or Luke is historical ... Parable rather than history. John Dominic Crossan
Neither of these stories is historically accurate and neither of them intends to be historically accurate. Neither of them knows exactly what happened. John Dominic Crossan
Shepherds even in Bethlehem did not keep their sheep in the fields at night in winter but in various shelters. Professor Geza Vernes, author The Nativity History and Legend
Several of these lost Gospels have actually been found. And they paint an unexpected portrait of Christ. The writers of these ancient manuscripts were unknown scribes working in the three centuries after Jesus’ death. Possibly looking to promote their own versions of Christianity. Their Gospels were deemed heretical but someone thought they were worth saving. Jesus: The Secret Life
In the second and third centuries there were many different interpretations of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. These alternative stories whether fact or fiction may have been ways to come to terms with Jesus Christ. The man, the prophet, the son of God. Opinions ranged from the traditional to the extreme. ibid.
Another of the lost texts is the Gospel according to Judas, the betrayer of Christ. In this stunning document Judas is portrayed as a hero for handing Christ over to the authorities. This Gospel says Jesus told Judas to do it, and that Judas would be favoured for doing the deed. ibid.
One apocryphal text doesn’t stop at Jesus’ childhood; it actually attempts to fill in the blanks of his life between the ages of twelve and thirty. This unusual modern account tells a truly incredible tale: a tale of Jesus’ journey out of Galilee and into the Himalayas. ibid.
At Christ’s side during much of his final years is Mary Magdalene. And her story has recently sparked heated controversy. The Bible mentions Mary Magdalene eighteen times, and she’s clearly one of the Holy Book’s most important and provocative characters. And two of the alternative Gospels – The Gospel of Mary found in the late nineteenth century in a monk’s tomb, and the Gospel of Philip, which is part of the Nag Hammadi library – may hint at a surprising intimate relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. ibid.
The Gospels are not historical fact. Extraordinarily, there is no hard contemporary evidence that any of the events in the Gospel stories actually happened. There isn’t even proof that Jesus existed. Who Killed Jesus? 2009
‘Let his blood be upon us and on our children’: the words have resounded through the ages and shaped Jewish/Christian relations for the last two-thousand years. ibid.
As I searched through Paul’s letters I discovered he makes no mention of Jesus’ parents, his place of Birth, where he lived or even when he lived ... No mention of his trial before Pilate, nor of Jerusalem as his place of execution, not a word either of John the Baptist or Judas Iscariot or Peter’s denial of his master. Professor George A Wells, London University
There is one name synonymous with his death: Judas. The motive: thirty pieces of silver. But did Judas really betray his master for money? And did he even exist? When the Gospels are scrutinised other suspects with credible motives emerge from the shadows. Who Framed Jesus? Discovery 2010
Was Jesus himself controlling events? Was the triumphant entry a deliberate act of provocation to the religious authorities and the Roman soldiers? If it happened, the temple incident could have been a deliberate attempt to antagonise as it were his public confrontations with the Pharisees. Could Jesus have been deliberately avoiding the authorities, preserving himself for one last spectacular act of insurrection at the end of Passover week? ibid.
The motive cannot be, as Matthew says, he wants money. Well he was in charge of the money ... Thirty pieces of silver – big deal! Professor James Charlesworth
Probably most Jews even those in Galilee would have understood that if you disrupt the Temple at Passover you are in for serious trouble. Professor Byron R McCane
There are some people in the early movement saying, Wait a minute - if you say Jesus died for your sins and God wouldn’t forgive you without that, is God demanding human sacrifice? What kind of God is this? Professor Elaine Pagels, Princeton University
The number of parallels between the Cyclop’s tale and the tale of the demon-possessed man are many and they are unique as well as sequential. Excavating the Empty Tomb
Mark 13:30: I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ibid.
The Gospels have been heavily embellished and edited over time. ibid.
Verses 9-20 of chapter 16 [Mark] were a later addition to the story. ibid.
Luke 22: 43-44 were never part of the original Gospel … Inserted later: Luke 24:12 and Luke 24:51. ibid.
I John 5:7 [For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, The Word, And the Holy Ghost: and these three are one] was inserted into that epistle at a later time ... John 5:4 was never part of the Gospel of John. ibid.
Clear embellishment and later remodelling. Even entire scenes and chapters. ibid.
Hundreds of years of copying. ibid.
The practise of tomb veneration is ubiquitous. ibid.
There was never a Jesus of Nazareth at all. As I’ve intimated thus far in this series, the historical Jesus did not exist until Mark brought him down to Earth in his Homeric allegory written sometime shortly after the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 C.E. and only after the Gospel story gained wide circulation in the 2nd century did the absences ... become problematic for the Church fathers. ibid.
The ubiquitous motif of the hero. ibid.
The Ascension doesn’t appear in the original form of the Gospels. Jesus Was a Buddhist Monk/Did Jesus Die? BBC 2017
I loved it. Especially the stories. This Bible was originally published in 1611. It aimed to take the Protestant faith to the English speaking world and it did. Hundreds of millions of copies have been printed over the last four hundred years. But there were radical unexpected consequences. You may think our modern world is founded on secular ideals. But I think that the King James’ version not only influenced the English language and literature more than any other book, it was also the seed-bed of Western democracy. Melvyn Bragg, The King James Bible: The Book That Changed the World, 2001
According to some critics as great a source for evil as for good. ibid.
We have inherited from this Bible a vast granary of English. ibid.
One man set out to translate the scriptures into memorable English ... Tyndale was persecuted for this illegal and majestic enterprise. ibid.
The Reformation in Germany in 1517 led by Martin Luther. It was an emotional and intellectual earthquake throughout Europe. It undermined the seemingly all-powerful Roman Catholic Church and demanded that everyone should have the right to read the Bible in their own language. ibid.
In 325 A.D. Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to decide the basic tenets of Christianity. He brings together the most powerful church leaders from around the world to discuss legalising a formal Christian religion ... Constantine also unified the Christian Gospels and limited the Gospels he considered ‘fit for the State religion’. ibid.
What was contained in these lost Gospels? What made them so threatening that they had to be banned or destroyed? No-one knew for nearly two thousand years. But in 1886 the Gospel of Peter emerged from the sands of the Egyptian desert. Other astonishing discoveries followed in the twentieth century. ibid.
The Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi was given a Carbon 14 test ... 300 - 400 A.D. ibid.