Jesus of Nazareth existed? Is something that he did or said with certainty? Are the Christian gospels and writings reliable to know reality? Has authentic information about Jesus have been preserved about Jesus in non -Christian texts? Is it possible to contrast the verosimilitude of what the gospels say in independent old literary sources?
They are some of the questions that are raised believers and non -believers, Christians who seek to strengthen their faith, excuse hunters trying to ridicule religion, people who need verifiable data to approach the truth and people to whom they assault doubts, according to the theologist, biblist, priest, philologist and Spanish papyologist Juan Chapa Prado.
Father Chapa set out to give the correct answers and based on historical data to these questions, to dissipate the reigning confusion, to go to the intersection of the partial or tendentious presentations that arose from archaeological findings or new data that allegedly make traditional responses unsatisfactory, and face the critical sensitivity of our time.
The result of that initiative is the book 50 questions about Jesusthat Chapa has coordinated and that has been the fruit of a teamwork with Francisco Varo, Gonzalo Aranda, Vicente Balaguer, Santiago Ausín and Juan Luis Caballero, colleagues from the department of Sacred Writing of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra (UNAV), in Spain.
Juan Chapa is a Doctor of Classical Philology from the University of Seville, Doctor of Greek Papyrology from the University of Oxford and Doctor of Theology for UNAV (www.unav.edu), where he is a New Testament professor at the Faculty of Theology. He is also director of the Spanish Bible Association.
Your book can be downloaded in electronic format from https://opusdei.org/es/article/libro-electronic-50- Questions-sobre-jesus/.
Holy Week episodes
In statements a EFEChapa points in 50 questions about Jesus Obviously, there are some of those questions that refer direct to the episodes of Easter week, and that are especially recommended to read on these dates.
“The questions about the Last Supper and the process of Jesus (No. 28-30); those that refer to the characters that intervened in these facts, such as the members of the Sanhedrin, Caifás, Poncio Pilate– (No. 30-34) or that are present in his death or after her, such as María Magdalena (No. 23-25) or José de Arimathea (No. 35)-They are pertinent,” the father explains.
“But since death is not the last word, it should be stressed that the most important thing is the resurrection of Jesus (No. 36), which supports the Christian message (No. 37),” Chapa stands out.
How was the death of Jesus?
“Jesus died nailed to a cross most likely on the 14th of Nisan (month of the Biblical Hebrew), Friday, April 7, 30. Thus can be deduced from the critical analysis of the evangelical stories, contrasted with the allusions to his death transmitted in the Talmud,” explains Chapa in 50 questions about Jesus.
“Crucifixion was a death penalty, with an infamous character, which the Romans applied to slaves and seditious, and only foreigners,” he says.
“As regards the way in which Jesus could be crucified, the discoveries made in the Givat Ha-Mivtar necropolis on the outskirts of Jerusalem are unquestionable,” he adds.
He points out that “there was the burial of a man in about twenty -five who was crucified, in an olive wood cross, in the first half of the 1st century, that is, he was contemporary of Jesus.”
“The remains found in their grave show that the bones of the hands were not crossed or broken,” so “it is most likely that the arms of that man were simply tied with force to the crossbar of the cross (unlike Jesus, who did nail),” Chapa stands out.
He describes that “the feet of the young crucified had been crossed by the nails. One of them continued to retain a large and quite long nail. Because of the position in which it is possible to think that the same nail had crossed both feet.”
“The torture of that crucifixion was such that Cicero described it as’ the cruelest and most terrible torture ‘,’ the worst and last of the supplications, which is inflicted to slaves,” says the Spanish priest and theologian in his text.
The resurrection of Jesus, done or myth?
“The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a real event that had historically proven manifestations. The apostles testified to what Father Chapa had seen and heard.
He points out that towards the year 57 San Pablo written to the Corinthians “I transmitted you firstly the same as I received: that Christ died for our sins, buried and resurrected the third day, according to the Scriptures; which appeared to CEFAS, and then to the twelve, and then to more than five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom they still live”.
He adds that on the day of Pentecost, according to the facts of the apostles, Peter affirms that “God resurrected him breaking the bonds of death” and “knows all the whole house of Israel that God has constituted Lord and Christ to this Jesus, whom you crucified.”
“The explanation of such statements is that the apostles had contemplated something that they would never have imagined and that, despite their perplexity and the teasing that they rightly supposed that they were going to arouse, they looked in the duty to testify,” says Chapa.
“If (the apostles) would have invented that Jesus resurrected and composed stories to justify it, they would undoubtedly have used more convincing resources,” he says.
In addition, “the slab found in Nazareth, with an imperial rescript, testifies that there was a great stir in Jerusalem motivated by the disappearance of someone’s body from Nazareth around the year 30. The only character from which such things were told is precisely Jesus,” according to Chapa.
And, above all, if the resurrected, they had not seen it many, it is difficult to explain that in the same city in which so many people were crucified, hugged the new faith after a few days, ”concludes Father Chapa, reference 50 questions about Jesus.
Readings for sacred days
On the other hand, the Chapa points out that those of his book “are short responses in which the information is very condensed” and that “at the end of this text a bibliography is included with some works in which you can deepen.”
Asked that other works, which offer contrastable information to historical issues about Jesus and the development of primitive Christianity, would recommend reading in those days, Chapa acknowledges that it finds it very difficult to recommend concrete works, because their number is very abundant. “
Some books aimed at a broad audience that offer contrastable information historically are the following
- Jesus. A biographyby Armand Puig
- Jesusby Klaus Berger, among many others.
Sheet also recommends reading works of another genre, such as Jesus of Nazarethby J. Ratzinger – Benedict XVI, being especially suitable for Holy Week, reading the second volume of this book.
He points out that there are also a multitude of works on the development of primitive Christianity, such as The first evangelization in the origins of Christianityfrom Santiago Guijarro; Destroyer of the gods. Christianity in the ancient worldby Larry Hurtado; either The rise of Christianityby Rodney Stark.