if i had to say yes or no, i’d select yes. i know there were contemporary & later in the first century accounts of his human existence. but i’m sure there are equally compelling arguments that he did not & was an amalgamation of several apocalyptic jewish preachers.

Agreed. The guy seems to have been the subject of some reasonably contemporary reporting. It would be strange to have reports about a first century middle-class Jewish carpenter on the fringes of the Empire if he was totally imaginary. Like, why bother?

very true. roman judea was a backwater. no one who wanted to be a roman someone hung out there. until…