Historicity of the Gospels

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The historical reliability of the Gospels is a subject of ongoing scholarly debate. Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus of Nazareth existed in 1st-century Judaea in the Southern Levant, but there is much disagreement around specific accounts, such as his nativity and his resurrection; the only two events with almost universal assent are that he was baptised by John the Baptist and that he was crucified by order of Pontius Pilate, a Roman prefect. According to the majority viewpoint, the three Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and his religious movement. The fourth canonical gospel differs greatly from the other three; it has been viewed as less historical, but since the Third Quest, it has been considered more reliable than previously thought or even more reliable than the Synoptics. The Gospels are commonly seen as literature that is based on oral traditions, Christian preaching, and Old Testament exegesis, with the consensus...

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