- Jesus
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/jee"zeuhs, -zeuhz/, n.1. Also called Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. born 4? B.C., crucified A.D. 29?, the source of the Christian religion.2. ("the Son of Sirach") the author of the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, who lived in the 3rd century B.C.3. Christian Science. the supreme example of God's nature expressed through human beings.4. Also, Jesús Sp. /he soohs"/. a male given name.[1200-50; ME < LL Iesus < Gk Iesoûs < Heb Yeshua', syncopated var. of YAHOSHUA' God is help; in Early Modern E, the distinction (lost in ME) between Jesus (nom.) and Jesu (obl., especially voc.; see JESU) was revived on the model of L and Gk sources; Jesus gradually supplanted the older form in both nom. and obl.]
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In Christianity, the son of God and the second person of the Holy Trinity.Christian doctrine holds that by his crucifixion and resurrection he paid for the sins of all mankind. His life and ministry are recounted in the four Gospels of the New Testament. He was born a Jew in Bethlehem before the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, and he died while Pontius Pilate was Roman governor of Judaea (AD 28–30). His mother, Mary, was married to Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth (see St. Joseph). Of his childhood after the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, nothing is known, except for one visit to Jerusalem with his parents. He began his ministry about age 30, becoming a preacher, teacher, and healer. He gathered disciples in the region of Galilee, including the 12 Apostles, and preached the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of God. His moral teachings, outlined in the Sermon on the Mount, and his reported miracles won him a growing number of followers, who believed that he was the promised messiah. On Passover he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, where he shared the Last Supper with his disciples and was betrayed to the Roman authorities by Judas Iscariot. Arrested and tried, he was condemned to death as a political agitator and was crucified and buried. Three days later visitors to his tomb found it empty. According to the Gospels, he appeared several times to his disciples before ascending into heaven.* * *
Universalium. 2010.