. >> "'...you shall call his name jesus...'" >> narrator: that story, of a man called jesus of nazareth, a man who became jesus christ, was originally told by his first followers... >> "'...and be called the son of the most high.'" >> narrator: ...and then retold in accounts by later believers in the gospels. >> "the gospel according to st. luke." >> narrator: so began the building of a religion. now it is our turn, with the help of scholars and historians, theologians and archaeologists, to return to that time and use our best efforts to understand that story... of a man born in obscurity in whose name a faith was made. >> narrator: we know so little about him-- that he was born more than 2,000 years ago, and that he lived in palestine. we know he was baptized and became a preacher. and we know that he was publicly executed. >> ( dramatized ): what manner of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey him? >> narrator: with so little evidence to go by, archaeologists must sift the clues, and scholars decode the stories told by the first followers of jesus. >> the problem for any

how did jesus live, and why did he have to die? who was jesus, the man?hy is the greatest story ever told also the greatest mystery never solved? almost all we know about jesus' life comes to us from the four books of the gospels called mark, matthew, luke and john. yet the gospels were written anywhere between 40 and 70 years after jesus died, and with an eye to converting people. >> the gospels weren't meant to be historically accurate accounts in the way we would think of. they weren't written according to our standards of biographical accuracy. they were meant to proclaim the good news of jesus' life, death and resurrection. >> one of the stories that historians are debating is the christmas card scene of his humble birth in a manger, heralded by a star in the east and attended by three wise men. it's only mentioned by matthew and luke, and they don't always agree. so is any of it true? scholars say yes -- to a degree. >> when we look at the gospel of matthew and the gospel of luke, we can see that there are about 12 pieces of information, 12 facts th

rogers, jesus, the humanitarian jesus, the gentle jesus, is that right?>> that's right. >> and you see that as a reaction to the calvinism which was cold a preached predestination which is in itself is an unpleasant expectation of the demand of anyone namely that you are predestined, why even try? it was a reaction to a wrathful god, is that right? >> that's right, that's right. early on, in the american republic, there was an effort to move away from this god-feari religion to jesus-loving religion. more of an emphasis on jesus, less of an emphasis on god, the father. the way that move in evangelicalism which was the dominant form of christianity in the 21st century is what a friend we have in jesus, hymns like that, seeing jesus as walking and talking with you, holding your hand. >> the sweet jesus. >> that's right. >> did the sweet jesus further degeneral rate into the efundamental national jesus meaning more womanly than man, the hair,he look? >>t deposition on your perspective whether that's a degeneration or improvement but he was fundamental niced

they have yet to find something inscribed it was jesus' cup or jesus leslept here. significant finds, the problem is there have also been incredible fakes. >> a cage belonging to john the baptist or burial box that once held the bones of jesus' brothers. they startled archaeological and religious communities but are they real? today the cave are viewed with more skepticism. in part because there's a long history of forging artifacts from the holy land. >> deep in the basement of israeli antiquity a story out of the radars of the lost arkansas logical treasures and bogus archaeological trash. >> has inscriptions going all of the way around it. it is it is a jumble of letters it means nothing. nothing whatsoever. >> these fakes were meant to be sold to unsuspecting tourists. other elaborate techniques to made to fool professionals. >> this de cantor was the iron age it goes back approximately 3,000 years. what will a forger do? they will put an inscription on this. >> inscriptions add great value to an item. >> they will add a name or two to it and it is $2 million. >

jesus was trilingual. jesus participated in both the aramaic and hebrew culture and its literatures, as well as the kind of hellenistic greek that he needed to do his business and his ministry. >> narrator: despite its greek and roman influences, sepphoris was a thoroughly jewish city. and jesus remained faithful to his religious heritage when he left nazareth to become a preacher. >> ( dramatized ): then he began to speak, and taught them, saying, "do not think i have come to abolish the law or the prophets. i have come not to abolish but to fulfill." >> what we learned from the gospel stories is not that jesus was not jewish. quite the opposite. he's completely embedded in the judaism of his time. >> was jesus a jew? of course jesus was a jew. he was born of amoewh isther in galilee, a jewish part of the world. all of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples-- all of them were jews. he regularly worshipped in jewish communal worship-- what we call synagogues. he preached from jewish text, from the

christianity is not just the religion that jesus had, it's the religion about jesus.ligion founded on jesus' death and resurrection. >> in his letter to the galatians, paul reveals exactly what jesus told him to do. "that i should announce him triumphant among the gentiles." it was a radical mission. >> he starts preaching there, to gentiles, to pagans and saying, "this is a faith that can touch you," and that must have been -- it must have -- the jews in the diaspora must have said, "my gosh, did we miss something? when did they suddenly make judaism into a universal religion?" >> people listened to paul because he was the perfect man for the job, able to speak to both jews and gentiles in their own language. >> so he's one of the first really powerful intellect to convert to christianity in the 1st century. >> just what did this cosmopolitan jew say to the pagans to make them give up their ancient gods and believe in jesus? >> this is the one who could heal your child, if your child was sick. this is the one who could end the drought, who could end the famine. this

of jesus. ends, almost, with an absent jesus, because that's what his community has experienced in persecution, an absent jesus. now, nobody after mark is going to accept that. matthew will change it. luke will change it. john will change it. the scribes will even change the gospel of mark to put other endings there. mark creates the empty tomb, as far as i can see, as his way of ending the story. >> and the last words of the original gospel are, "and they were terrified." it would be very bad news if it weren't that underneath this rather dark story is an enormous hope that this very unpromising story and its terrible, anguished ending is, nevertheless, not the ending; that there's a mystery in it, a divine mystery of god's revelation that will happen yet. and i think it's that sense of hope that is deeply appealing. >> narrator: mark began the gospel tradition with his dramatic story of the life and death of jesus. the later gospel writers would continue the tradition by drawing on the story

the gospel john after jesus is ambushed simply has jesus led to a brief conversation before akafis who asks him about following and teaching and then goes to pileate. considering how busy the prices were at pass overwhen the temple was standing john's depiction is intrinsicically more plausible. >> well, all this seems to say that the brame, if that's the right word, the culpability for christ's death that has been affixed to the jews over the years that has spawned antisemitism, that that is unfounded on the basis of scholarship because the only connection between pilate and the san hedron was kifis who said to pileate saying we have something serious and it was pileate who ordered the crews i figures. am i getting too far ahead of you. >> you're bledding a lot of big ideas but that's fun, it's ok. the interesting thing when you get the jews blamed for jesus' death that again is an accusation that develops in the second century from the way that are readying the gospel stories. >> rather than the facts. >> how do people know facts? how well do we know facts now? from but you say all o

until she found jesus.nd her conversion at his hands made her christianity's original hooker with a heart of gold. >> i think i learned what most people did, which is that mary magdalene was a repentant prostitute. she was a follower of jesus, but she was the woman caught in adultery. she appeared at the resurrection. but the prominent imagery of her was the repentant bad girl. >> scholars have called these two marys the two faces of eve. one, the first perfect woman. the other, the first fallen woman. when eve ate the forbidden fruit in the garden of eden, christian doctrine says she stained humanity with original sin. and women have been struggling ever since to overcome that burden. >> i think there was a very strong-felt need on the part of the church fathers to put women in their place. so by dividing women into madonnas and whores, they could either be all good or all evil. >> these two women wouldn't matter at all, were it not for their relationship to jesus. one, as the mother of the son of god. and

what is the real meaning of the death of jesus? how important is the death of jesus? maybe it's the sayings of jesus that are really the important thing and... and not his death and not his resurrection. >> i think we're right to call it the jesus movement here, because if we think of it as christianity-- that is, from the perspective of the kind of movement and institutional religion that it would become a few hundred years later-- we will miss the flavor of those earliest years of the kind of crude and rough beginnings, the... the small enclaves trying to keep the memory alive. >> we're hampered by our vocabulary.? we know that this group will eventually form a gentile community, and they'll be known as christians. but this group didn't think that. this group expected jesus to return and establish the kingdom of god. >> he is a jewish messiah. they are followers of a jewish apocalyptic tradition. they are expecting the coming of the kingdom of god on earth. it's a jewish movement. >> the jewish sect, then, is a group which sees itself as jews, recognizes that there

jesus chose to be poor. of all creation, true. >> because-- . >> stephen: wait, wait, answer the question, senator, answer the question. did he choose to be poor. >> yes, because he-- in a relationship with people. >> stephen: is jesus an example for off us. i believe that poor people are choosing to be poor. >> no, it's all about inviting to you touch the pain of the world as real. and then have an active experience of hope. as long as we stay sealed up in our cells we will never know. >> stephen: but if i'm sealed fup myself i can seal all my money in with me. >> but it doesn't last, that's jesus's word. it doesn't last. jess sus all about come, be community, be connected. be connected with each other. and that's why the shepherds came to the stable. the maji came, everyone comes and then we are community. but we have to let go of holding on to our stuff to hold hands with each other. >> stephen: will you hold hands with me? sister simone campbell. we'll be right back. test. >> stephen: well, that's it for

jesus is born! jesus is born! jesus is born! ♪ music jesus is born! [applause] evan! evan!mething. i have found the original house of bread charter. >> i remember this. my grand fear used to talk about this when he was back during the great depression. it was a contract that he wrote. this charter provided for the employees to buy back the factory in case it couldn't sustain it self for any reason. back then, about 95% of the town was employed by the factory. >> by why is it called the house of bread charter? >> well, that's what the word bethlehem means, house of bread. >> it says that the employees can play $1 each year plus one month of production given to the poor. >> is it legal it? it's so old and everything. >> probably for the, but it gives me an idea. maybe great american grains can sell the company back to us, not to grayson, but you the workers, draw up our own house of bread charter. >> after all, our company has been holing it's own. great american grains needed us to support them. >> i think it's a great idea. where do i sign? >> listen, this won't solve our p

what was jesus's real position on the role of women. what jesus taught of women mary magdalen to be a disciple when she's you know last at the cross first at the tomb and she greets him when he rises. says teacher now than in the bible she disappears but in the gospel of mary and recent text that have been on earth and the more recent discoveries she is a not tussle and she is in a struggle with peter and other disciples to lead christian communities so jesus actually has you know is a wonderful teacher is mary martin and. heals women and it's it's really a just a shame. that also the church has not lifted up women's leadership the way jesus did and i and i have a chapter on that you know it seems like we're reading a history written by men about men form a sort of. going to thank you so much for being with us tonight if you are having me on that show it's catholic priest it thank you. now everything you know about the real teachings of jesus is right. good news everyone after more than thirty years of searching by the news media ronald

las mujeres, el señor es contigo maría has hallado gracia acerca de dios, tendrás un hijo y llamaras jesús, hágase tu palabra >> cuando el señor arrojo nuestros primeros padres al paraíso, siglos después de la caida del primer hombre, tres hombres buscaron al redentor, melchor, gaspar y baltazar y se guiaron por una estrella que los conduciria a su destino ♪ ♪ ♪ >> mientras tanto donde vivía josé y maría, la población se agitaba por el impuesto del imperio romano ♪ (música) >> gobernador a nosotros subdito de cesar, los hago saber en su fundación es que importante que se haga el censo, el recuento será entre diciembre y enero todos los que desobedezcan esta orden y no esten presentes se les privara de sus bienes, libertad y serán vendidos como esclavs, roma ha hablado ♪ >> maría no te fatigues >> estoy preparando proviciones, josé, tenemos que hacer un viaje >> acaban de leer el edicto >> dios quiera que sea otra cosa, porque tenemos que ir a belén >> edicto ordena que tenemos que estar en nuestro lugar de origen >> por eso iremos a belén ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> no sé para donde seguir. la noche esta

niloufar khonsari/abogada de jesús 11:03:11 bueno la primera posibilidad de que jesús pueda quedarse es la acción diferida s.o.t. 11:15:21 que fue creado para estudiantes y jóvenes exactamente como jesús. pero el antecedente de deportacin no le ayuda.. an as, su abogada espera una resolucin positiva, s.o.t. niloufar khonsari/abogada de jesús 12:57:14 vivió toda su vida en los estados unidos desde los 4 años y creció en los estados unidos, tiene valores americanos, de verdad es americano, este es su país. a pesar de haber sido encarcelado por tres meses y haber estado a punto de ser deportado, jess dice que sueÑa con ser un marine.. s.o.t. jesús ruiz diego/enfrenta deportación 8:57:14 definitivamente, ese siempre ha sido mi sueño es estar con los marines, aunque mucho gente me está diciendo, porque si te deportaron no te quieren aqui, pero de todas maneras.. ese sueÑo, o el de entrar a la universidad, est en manos de lo que decida el servicio de inmigracin.. cesar ---el colegio comunitario de san francisco planea despedir a docenas de empleados y reducir los salarios de otros cuantos

and i think that's what jesus offers.n i was a little kid, my parents served me strained spinach. i thought that was really tasty. today, i think parents should be imprisoned for child abuse for serving that because it's pretty nasty stuff. but i thought strained spinach was really good until i got older and they fed me chef boyardee spaghettios. and then i found in-and-out burger. i tell people, you're living the good life, but if there was a better life, wouldn't you want to know about it? i'm not one of these pastors or preachers who say i'm trying to scare you out of hell and into heaven. i say, you need the lord in your life, not because you're going to die tonight but because you're going to live tomorrow. you have to live tomorrow, and you need not the better life, the good life, you need the better life. >> you and your wife have been married 37 years. very long and successful marriage. have you had big problems in that marriage, if you're honest? >> absolutely. in fact, our problems actually started on the honeym

here are jesus' first words. come and see. that's about as little commitment as you can ask, check us out. we say to people, you don't have to say anything, sign anything, sacrifice anything, just check us out. >> america is going through a slight down drop, if you like, in attendance, in churches. one in five in the u.s. public are now religiously unaffiliated. one of three adults under 30 are unaffiliated. to put it in perspective, still way ahead of most other countries, certainly in the western world. america remains a very religious country, why do you think it's on decline. >> i think there are three different factors. one factor, the actual number of atheists in the country has pretty much remained the same since 1950, but they're simply more vocal. and that is true. second, surveys out thereto are asking the wrong questions. i think there was a pew survey that said asked a question about protestantism. there was an article that said the decline and fall of christian america. and it said protestants in america have drop

the actual date of jesus's birth was several years before. big deal. come on! jesus is a celebrity. of course he shaves a few years off. (laughter) anyway, that just means he was almost 40 and he still has those abs. that is amir ago el. now the pope-- (applause) >> the pope also wrote that angel spoke the words proclaiming jesus's birth instead of singing them. so apparently according to the pope, the birth of our lord didn't sound like this-- ♪ hallelujah ♪ ♪. >> stephen: it sounded like this. >> how you doin? >> stephen: doesn't feel the same. (applause) now as a lifelong catholic i have stood by the church during its various trials and public triblations. 9 debate over birth control, the role of women in the church. and a third controversy i've taken drugs to forget. but frankly i got native teed off when the pope wrote that although it's clear jesus was born in a manager, there is no mention of animals in the gospel. no animals in the manager? who died and made you pope? oh, another pope, okay, well that's-- that's convenient. well, apparently the pope has not read the gospel o

there's a christmas special celebrating jesus' birth thousands of years before the birth of jesus. (applause ) that is a holiday that is not in danger. there is so much christmas all over the place it's getting harder for christmas' defenders to fight for christmas without accidentally doing damage to it which brings us to our friendly fire engine. watch what happens when our good friend bill o'reilly takes the atheists' bait >> what religion is involved with christmas >> what religion christianity that's not a religion. that's a plos fear >> you're going to tell me on live television that christianity is not a religion? >> correct. it is a plos fee. ... philosophy. >> jon: nooooo! bill, why? bill, why? have you learned nothing from our friendship? you just handed that atheist another thing he can't [bleep] believe. christianity is a religion. christianity has a philosophical element but there is a difference between a philosophy and a religion. for instance, let's look at this. a lot in common. loose fitting clothing, beards, sandals, teaching through parables, martyrdom. but here's

and we have a birthday party for jesus. that has become something our family looks forward to every year. now, it's funny when the kids were little, when we were little, the sharing was short and quick and laughter and a lot of giggles. now that i have grand kids, it's short and fun like that. i think you can create a habit or a tradition, create a new tradition to overcome the negativity that is in the past. >> you give away 90% of the income. >> we raise it every year. when we got married 37 years ago, we gave 10% away, it's called a tithe. at the end of the first year marriage, we gave away 11, the end of the second, 12. every year we would raise it. when i would get a bonus or we have a raise, we would raise it 3% or 4%. on the years that the cup board was bare and we were barely making it, we would raise it a quarter of a percent. i want to be generous every year. every time i give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life. materialism is all about getting. get, get, get. get all you get, can all you get, sit on th

where weighs jesus born. >> jerusalem. >> jerusalem? >> do you know where jesus was born?> yeah, he was born in -- i don't know. >> he was born in bethlehem. >> bethlehem. >> where is bethlehem? >> bethlehem is in pennsylvania. >> jesus is an american? >> yes. >> what was jesus' profession. >> carpenter. >> i believe a carpenter. >> jesus was what? >> a baby. >> he was like a preacher. >> all-around nice guy. he had people skills. >> people skills? ♪ sleigh bells ring. >> three wise men from the east and saw the guiding star in the night and followed it all the way to bethlehem where they paid homage to jesus and presented him with gifts gold frankincense and myrrh. >> the three wise men brought three gifts. gold -- >> i believe one was a lamb. >> did you skip sunday school. >> they saw the stars they were astroll jerusalem. >> they brought frankincense, myrrh. >> and baby diapers? [ laughter ] >> they brought precious treasures. >> myrrh. >> they brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh. >> very good. the christmas degree originated in germany based on a prop in a mid evi

jesus is from nazareth. anything good come from nazareth assumes he's from nazareth. >> that didn't make sense. they remind the readership he was born in bethlehem. >> book of luke says in the pregnancy, mary and joseph travelled to bethlehem to register for roman census. and angel reassured joseph he should take mary as his wife. joseph followed the angel's advice and saved her from ridicule. in the ancient world you acknowledge paternity by naming the child. you are stoned to death if they catch you in adultery. >> mary conceives by the power of the holy spirit so there is something special about the child. >> tremendous expectation of messiah in century leading up to the birth of jesus. first century jews long for savior to liberate them from the roman obsess sors but jesus is as much as a challenge as today, because the scriptures say he was born to liberate everyone. from more treacherous enemies: sin and death. in new york, lauren green, fox news. >> doug: former president george h.w. bush is in the ho

eso y mucho mÁs este domingo en "enfoque" >>> serÁ magico ver la casa blanca >>> y ver dÓnde nacio jesÚso y la fundaciÓn de la vida familiar, fueron las palabra estas maÑana >>> la Época de navidad es sin duda la que hace mÁs felices a las personas, pero en mÉxico en particular hacen felices a los niÑos bporque rompen las tradicionales piÑatas, raÚl torres explica. >>> el camino es largo y cansado, su destino, sÓlo una estrella lo conoce, por eso siguen y por eso le cantan. esta noche la pequeÑa amaranta carga a marÍa y josÉ, los peregrinos que buscan en la posada porque el niÑo jesÚs esÁa por llegar, un buen corazÓn los reciben y pasaran la noche en un pequeÑo pesebre para el mÁs humilde los reyes y asÍ serÁ durante los 9 dÍas. >>> es la gestaciÓn de la virgen marÍa >>> entonces comienza la fiesta. pero esta es la eterna lucha entre el bien y el mal, y los mÁs pequeÑos, los mas inocentes serÁn los encargados de vencer al demonio. >>> tienes que pegarle con fuerza o sin fuerza? >>> con fuerza. >>> y por quÉ con fuerza? >>> para que se rompa la pi snav piÑata >>> porque las piÑatas con co

' birth and honoring jesus with the priities that jesus uld ve ithe world, espeally amongst marginalized but what we've done is made it more about us, and it's become kind of one of the biggest, gluttonous feast days on the christian calendar. >> rev. mike slaughter is lead pastor of ginghamsburg church outside dayton, ohio, and author of the book, "christmas is not your birthday," in which he urges people to consider what jesus might like for his birthday. >> what we need to see in christmas-regardless of what religious background or no, no religious background-is the purpe of jesusas tserve the eds of the world. >> to that end, for the last eight years, slaughter has issued a christmas challenge to his congregation: >> we've simply said, "whatever you spend on yourself, bring an equal amount for a focus we have in our community or the world." >> through what they call the christmas miracle offering, the church has built 243 schools and 19 clean water facilities in darfur and a health clinic in south sudan. he says children have been among the most enthusiastic supporters. >> that's one

cual es el origen de jesÚs, para asb saber sacuacudimos .o. >>que motivo le llevo a belÉn. >>cesasrÉsarel gobernador del re que todos deben empadronarse, al ben venir a nazareth se le cumpli o cumplieron los dias. >>la ciudad se ha consagrado como lugar de peregrinaje paras los cricristinaananos >>nos acercamos a la casa de marÍa, lugar donde sle hablo e n n'agenl. >>en esta fecha miles de pere i peregrinos acuden a los centros de hospedaje para celebrar. >>en esta navidad estimamos una visita de cien mil peregrinos, m mÁs de veinte mil de afrÁfrica >>en nazareth convivenciave jo m musulmanes y arabes. la ciudad pertenece a territorio palestino. >>supuestamnete aquÍ en la ig s iglesia de la natividad de belÉn marioa dio a luz a jesÚs. >>hoy esetta se llama la puertae humildad, porque para entrar t tienen que bajar la cabeza. >>los feligreses llegan en ol d oleadas, en visita a la basic a basilica. este aÑo fue decallarada laba c labasilica patrimonio universal por unesco >>es primera vez que vengo, me q quedare cohasta navidad, como o catoli