History: Jesus as a Historical Figure - What can we know?

Jesus is probably the most famous individual in history but beliefs about his life are often assumed to be a matter of religious faith rather than historical inquiry. In reality, historians, theologians and others have been applying the methods of modern scholarship to the historical Jesus for the last two centuries. But at a popular level there is considerable confusion about whether Jesus existed, which traditions about him are likely to be accurate and how Jesus can be studied as a historical figure. Whatever your own religious or non-religious views, and whatever your knowledge of history, you are invited to join us in spending a day diving into vital questions about the historical Jesus. After setting the scene in the Roman-ruled Palestine of the first century, we will explore sources that relate to the life, words and actions of Jesus. We will ask how to apply an historian’s methods to consider their reliability and usefulness. You will have chance to apply some of the tests that scholars use to try to determine the accuracy of certain traditions about Jesus – and to debate how useful these tests really are. You will be able to join others in looking at selected passages from the New Testament and other first-century writings, giving you chance to draw your own conclusions. Finally, we will ask how and why this might matter to us today.