* This paper represents the views of the authors and not those of the Asian Development Bank, its executive directors, or the member countries that they represent. Participants in lectures given by Jesus Felipe at Singapore’s Civil Service College and at the Singapore Economic Policy Forum in October 2010 made very useful comments and suggestions. Nevertheless, the usual disclaimer applies. Con...

Today it is commonplace for historical Jesus scholars to emphasize Jesus’ Jewishness. at the same time most new Testament scholars deny that he cared about the Jewish purity system, which was a central aspect of early Judaism. This article examines how such a reconstruction of the historical Jesus would influence his Jewishness, arguing that it indeed would make such a Jesus figure ‘less Jewish...

The article discusses the central issue of the relationship between the “Historical Jesus” and the “Christ of Faith” and especially the question whether there is a continuity between the Jesus of history and later theological views, in Paul, the Gospels, and the creed of the church. Initially, the author traces the origins of the question in enlightenment thought (Reimarus, Lessing) and explain...

The crucifixion of Jesus is arguably the most well-known and controversial execution in history. Christian faithful, dating back to the time of Jesus, have believed that Jesus was executed by crucifixion and later returned physically to life again. Others have questioned whether Jesus actually died by crucifixion, at all. From review of medical literature, physicians have failed to agree on a s...

Th e long-held critical judgment that the I-am sayings of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel have no connection at all with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth is based primarily on the inference that they are entirely missing from the Synoptics. As a result, John has been expunged from Jesus research, assuming its patent ahistoricity; yet critical analyses have largely overlooked JohannineSynoptic simi...

In two studies, we examined whether (a) conceptions of Jesus would differ between Koreans and Americans, and whether (b) national differences in self-reported personality and well-being are mediated by the cultural norm for personality and well-being. Because there is only one Jesus, different conceptions held by Koreans and Americans are likely to reflect cultural construction processes. In St...

For many Christians there is a renewed urgency about what constitutes Christian belief, and why, or why not, it might be important to share aspects of this with others in a multi-faith, global context. Interwoven in this search are issues of biblical interpretation, Christology and Soteriology. One of the di1culties in the current discussion is this: whilst the “solution” may be presumed to be ...

Our recent work suggests that trait judgment of the self in Christians, relative to nonreligious subjects, is characterized by weakened neural coding of stimulus self-relatedness in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) but enhanced evaluative processes of self-referential stimuli in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC). The current study tested the hypothesis that Christian belie...