How do we know who Jesus was/is and what he did/does?
Not only for those who believe in him but also for those who
do not give him their personal allegiance, obviously the first
answer must be: we know him and know about him from
human history and experience.

The quest for a historical knowledge of Jesus will make us
examine, at the very least, his background in the story of
Israel, his earthly career, his influence on the origins of Chris-
tianity, and the subsequent development of christological
thinking and teaching. Those who have attempted to write
the history of anyone or, even more, their own history will
recognize just how difficult it proves to express fully through
a text any human life. To transcribe adequately the story of
Jesus is an impossible dream. As the appendix to John's
Gospel observed centuries ago, 'there are also many other
things which Jesus did. If they were all to be recorded in
detail, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the
books that would be written' ( John 21:25).

Nevertheless, we need to come up with some historical
account of Jesus. Unless it is going to remain outrageously
inadequate, any such account must attend not only to the
events of his life and death to which we have access, but also
to his antecedents in the history of Israel and to the response
he evoked, both in the short term and in the long term,
through his death, resurrection, and sending of the Holy
Spirit. Hence, in pursuing the reality and meaning of Jesus'
person, being, and work, we will examine some themes from
Jewish history and from the origins of Christianity and, in
particular, from the development of christological reflection
and teaching.

As regard the 'things which Jesus did', let me note that he
left no writings and lived in almost complete obscurity except
for the brief period of his public ministry. According to the
evidence provided by the Synoptic Gospels ( Matthew, Mark,
and Luke), that ministry could have lasted as little as a year.
John implies a period of at least two to three years.

Such non-Christian sources as the Roman writers Tacitus,
Suetonius, and Pliny the Younger, the Jewish historian

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