Life of Jesus in the New Testament

The four canonical gospels of the New Testament are the primary sources of information for the narrative of the life of Jesus. However, other parts of the New Testament, such as the Pauline epistles which were likely written within 20–30 years of each other , also include references to key episodes in his life such as the Last Supper. And the Acts of the Apostles (1:1-11) says more about the Ascension episode than the canonical gospels.

Genealogy and Nativity

The genealogy and Nativity of Jesus are described in two of the four canonical gospels: Matthew and Luke. Luke and Matthew describe Jesus being born in Bethlehem, in Judea, to a virgin mother. In Matthew, wise men follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the King of the Jews. King Herod orders the massacre of all male children under two years old in Bethlehem to kill Jesus, but the holy family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth.

Birth of Jesus. While Luke traces the genealogy upwards towards Adam and God, Matthew traces it downwards towards Jesus. Both gospels state that Jesus was begotten not by Joseph, but by God. Both accounts trace Joseph back to King David and from there to Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David (except for one), but they differ almost completely between David and Joseph. Matthew gives Jacob as Joseph’s father and Luke says Joseph was the son of Heli. Attempts at explaining the differences between the genealogies have varied in nature. Much of modern scholarship interprets them as literary inventions.

Life of Christ in art

The Life of Christ as a narrative cycle in Christian art comprises a number of different subjects, which were often grouped in series or cycles of works in a variety of media, narrating the life of Jesus on earth, as distinguished from the many other subjects in art showing the eternal life of Christ, such as Christ in Majesty, and also many types of portrait or devotional subjects without a narrative element. Most of the subjects forming the narrative cycles have also been the subjects of individual works, though with greatly varying frequency. By around 1000, the choice of scenes for the remainder of the Middle Ages became largely settled in the Western and Eastern churches, and was mainly based on the major feasts celebrated in the church calendars.

The most common subjects were grouped around the birth and childhood of Jesus, and the Passion of Christ, leading to his Crucifixion and Resurrection. Many cycles covered only one of these groups, and others combined the Life of the Virgin with that of Jesus. Subjects showing the life of Jesus during his active life as a teacher, before the days of the Passion, were relatively few in medieval art, for a number of reasons. From the Renaissance, and in Protestant art, the number of subjects increased considerably, but cycles in painting became rarer, though they remained common in prints and especially book illustrations.

Life of Christ (disambiguation)

Life of Christ may refer to:

See also