Jesus Christ and Christianity | World History | Khan Academy

We're now going to talk about the beginnings of one of the most important religions in human history, and even today the largest religion on earth, and that of course is Christianity. The central figure in Christianity is Jesus Christ, and the term "Christ" is given to him; it is Greek for "Savior" or "Messiah." His early followers viewed him as the prophesized Messiah Savior for the Jewish people, and his followers today view him as the Savior, the Messiah for all humankind.

So we have over 2 billion Christians who view him central to their faith, who view him as their God. But above and beyond that, you also have over a billion Muslims who view him as a significant prophet. Now just to get some context on the life and times of Jesus, most of our accounts of him come from the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible called the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke, and Gospel of John. Sometimes it's the Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, and the term "gospel" today often refers to the idea of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

So you could view it as the life and teachings of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John, but it really comes from Old English for "good news." Good news is a related term, "Evangel"; you might have heard "evangelical" or "evangelize," also referring to good news. Now, the reason why it was considered good news is his message.

Then we're going to have some examples of it in a few minutes, which really talks about this idea that the poor have the Kingdom of Heaven waiting for them. There's this forgiving God that you can have a close connection with. For a lot of people, remember this was in the time of the Roman Empire; most people were downtrodden, there was slavery, and people were poor. This idea that even the poor could go to the Kingdom of Heaven and have better access to it than the rich and the powerful was good news to a lot of people.

Now it's worth noting that these Gospels were written several decades after the death or ascension of Jesus Christ, according to Christian belief. As you can see, Jesus was born slightly before the year one; most historians put his birth at around 4 to 6 BCE (Before the Common Era) and they put his death around 30 to 33 CE (Common Era). You could also use the original terms "Before Christ" and "Anno Domini" (in the year of our Lord).

Our modern calendar system really uses the original view of the birth of Jesus as where we start; Anno Domini versus Before Christ or the Common Era versus Before the Common Era. Now it's interesting that it turns out that Jesus was likely born slightly before the purported original view on the birth of Christ. His birth would have been right around the time of the reign of Emperor Augustus, as we've talked about in other videos, and his death would have been under the reign of Emperor Tiberius.

These Gospels—Matthew, Luke, and John—were written during a really hard time for the Jewish people and the early Christians. You have the Jewish rebellion where the Second Temple is destroyed by Rome, you have significant Christian persecution especially by folks like Emperor Nero, who blames the fire in Rome on Christians and then just essentially kills them for fun, to purge them and persecute them.

Just to understand where all of this takes place, the life and times of Jesus occur in the Roman Empire, on the eastern edge of it, at the eastern Mediterranean. Right over here would be modern-day Israel and Palestine for the most part. This is a zoomed-in version, and Jesus is born in Bethlehem. This is a scene I'm going to show you; a lot of paintings have been inspired by him. This is a figure of the Three Magi visiting and giving their gifts to the infant Jesus. The Magi were famously the Zoroastrian priests coming from Persia to visit Jesus according to biblical accounts, and he is raised in Nazareth. That’s why he’s oftentimes referred to as Jesus of Nazareth.

The Gospels don't talk a lot about his early life; they start to talk a lot about his life once he hits his late 20s or early 30s. The first really significant account after his famous birth to the Virgin Mary—his purported father, Joseph, was Mary's husband, but the Holy Ghost or God was the actual father, making this a virgin birth. After that, the first significant event is really his baptism by John the Baptist. John the Baptist was another prophetic figure of that time, a significant one; he had a lot of followers, and he was baptizing people in the Jordan River, which is right in that region.

This is the Jordan River right over here, and this is a depiction of the famous baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Famously, John the Baptist said, "No, you should be baptizing me." But then he said, "No, no, you baptize me." After Jesus was baptized, famously, kind of the sun shines on Jesus, and God speaks, "This is my son," according to once again biblical accounts.

John the Baptist shortly after that gets arrested by King Herod of Galilee. Remember, Galilee is the home region of Jesus, where he will eventually do most of his preaching. After that, Jesus starts to really go full into his ministry, and while he's doing that, he's performing all of these miracles—he's healing people, turning water into wine, walking on water, bringing people back from the dead. This is, of course, according to biblical accounts; you can decide if you believe these or not.

He does most of that in Galilee, and eventually he makes his way down to Jerusalem to meet his fate. According to the Gospel, he tells his followers, his disciples—there's 12 in particular that are called out, but he has many more than that—that, "Look, I am going to meet my fate there, but I'm going willingly." But more than his miracles, it's interesting to look at some of what he preached, and this might give you a little bit of a sense why many people would have called this good news.

This is from the Gospel of Matthew that I'm going to quote right over here. The first part comes from his Sermon on the Mount, or Sermon on the Hill. He goes to the top of a mountain and gives this sermon: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

So all of that, if you're a peasant or someone with not a lot—a downtrodden hard life—you might think, "Look, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." You could view this as good news. "Ye have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'; but I say unto you, resist not him that is evil, but whosoever smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

Even in modern times, this is not an easy way to live. If someone is doing something to you, don’t try to seek revenge, and this is a very different tone than a lot of what you might get in the Old Testament. "Ye have heard that it was said, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy'; but I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for them that persecute you." Once again, not an easy thing to do. Even in modern terms, you could view this as a very forward, a very advanced way of thinking about the world.

He also, beyond this idea of embracing even your enemies and not seeking revenge, that the poor can have access to this Kingdom of Heaven, took a strong stance on what he was preaching. He did say, "Look, you got to be with me if you want to enter into this Kingdom of Heaven." He took some strong stances that this isn’t going to be easy and this is going to cause a lot of tension.

This is one quote that you could view that way, once again from the Gospel of Matthew: "Think not that I came to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." So he takes a pretty strong stance that you really need to follow me, but if you follow me, there are good things waiting for you.

Eventually he does make his way—he tells his followers about the other miracles he's performing. This is the famous Transfiguration of Christ, where he makes it apparent to his followers; he kind of becomes luminescent and he becomes apparent to his followers, his disciples, that he truly is the Son of God. Then he makes his way—now this is now the year, depending on whether you think it's 30, 31, 32, or 33—it is likely 32 CE; he makes his way to Jerusalem to meet his fate that he's already prophesied to his followers was going to be tough.

This is a very important week in Christianity, referred to as Passion Week. The term "passion" has a different connotation; it really means the suffering of Christ. This is the week that he suffers. It's the week that he gets crucified and resurrected. He goes to Jerusalem on Sunday, around the time of Passover, a very important religious period for the Jewish people.

He comes to Jerusalem during the time of Passover. That Sunday that he comes is now celebrated as Palm Sunday. This is imagery of it, where he’s coming and some people are greeting him to Jerusalem like a king; they’re laying down these palms before his path. Then this is the famous scene where he goes to the main temple in Jerusalem and cleanses it of the money changers. He says, "Hey, by doing these money transactions here, you are defiling the temple."

Then on Thursday of that week, he has the famous Last Supper. Some people believe this is the Passover Seder, or Seder. Most historians don’t think it is, but he’s meeting with his 12 disciples, saying, "One of you is going to betray me," and it’s Judas Iscariot who does. He goes to the religious court and says, “Hey, I have this guy who you don’t like.”

Remember, this whole time that Jesus is doing his ministry, he’s really sticking it to, in a lot of ways, the Pharisees and these religious officials, as hypocrites. He’s getting all of these followers, and a lot of traditionalists are saying, “This guy is blaspheming! He’s saying he’s the Son of God! He’s doing these miracles on the Sabbath when you’re not supposed to be doing anything!”

So Judas Iscariot goes to the Sanhedrin and says, “Hey, I have this guy; come and get him.” They get Jesus, and this is the famous trial of Jesus by the Sanhedrin. They say, “Hey, you’ve been saying all these things; we think you’re blaspheming!” and Jesus stays silent for the most part, so they deem him guilty and hand him over to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, and they say, “Hey, this guy is trying to create an insurrection against Rome,” which the Romans take very seriously.

In the Bible, it looks like he has him seeing him somewhat reluctantly saying, “Do we really need to do this?” But then he says, “All right, if that’s the way you want it.” So the Romans crucify Jesus, and this is what is now viewed as Good Friday, the crucifixion of Jesus. Then on Sunday—and this was predicted by Jesus to his followers—he is resurrected; he leaves the tomb where he was.

This is a very important week: you have Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and then you have the resurrection. Another very, very important event to Christians is 40 days after the resurrection. So after 40 days, he's seen by his followers, he's seen by many people, and he continues to preach. Then you have the Ascension, where he goes to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now I'm going to leave you with a quote by a famous Christian historian, and it's a fascinating one: "Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event the humiliation of its God," as Dr. Bruce Shelley said. Whether you believe in Christianity or you don't believe, whether you're an atheist or whether you believe in the miracles or you don’t, it’s worth pointing out that Christianity has grown from a religion that started around this preacher in Galilee and Judea and now has over 2 billion adherents. What was it about this religion and the central event being the humiliation of its God that made it so appealing to many, especially in that early Roman Empire, both to Jews and to non-Jews, to Gentiles, and has made it such a significant religion?