(fl. 1st cent. BCE-1st cent CE)
Palestinian religious leader. According to the New Testament, he grew up in Galilee and was baptized by John the Baptist. He performed various miracles and announced the coming of the kingdom of God. He was arrested and crucified by order of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, at the instigation of the Jewish authorities. His followers believed that he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. They formed the core of the earliest Christian Church, and actively spread the good news about Jesus, whom they believed to be the Messiah (hence the addition to his name of 'Christ': the anointed one). According to Christian belief, Jesus was God incarnate and is restored to the Godhead in the form of the Trinity.
Dictionary of Jewish Biography. Dan Cohn-Sherbok.