Cambridge Companions - Founders of Religions and Apostolic Fathers

Two thousand years have come and gone, but still his remains the unfinished story that refuses to go away. Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew from rural first-century Galilee, is without doubt the most famous and most influential human being who ever walked the face of the earth. His influence may at present be declining in a few countries of western Europe and parts of North America, as has from time to time transpired elsewhere. But the global fact is that the adherents of Jesus are more widespread and more numerous, and make up a greater part of the world’s population, than at any time in history. Two billion people identify themselves as Christians; well over a billion Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet of God (Barrett and Johnson 2001). Unnumbered others know and respect his memory as a wise and holy man.

The followers of Jesus live in every country of the globe. They read and speak of him in a thousand tongues. For them, the world’s creation and destiny hold together in him, the wholly human and visible icon of the wholly transcendent and invisible God. He animates their cultures, creeds and aspirations.

 

the cambridge companion to JESUS