Only half of all Australians understand Jesus to be a real person who lived at a time and place in history, according to the latest Australian Community Survey.

Two in 10 Australians said Jesus was a mythical or fictional character while three out of 10 didn’t know.

Their doubts stand in contrast to those of ancient historians, classicists and New Testament scholars, who universally accept that Jesus was a real person in time and place in history.

The question here is ontological: what makes “Jesus” Jesus? 

Is it enough that a man called Jesus (or Joshua or Yeshua), who became a charismatic teacher, was born around the turn of the millennium in Palestine? 

GUESTS:

• Dr John Dickson, Anglican cleric, historian and author of Is Jesus History?
• Professor Vrasidis Karalis, Professor of Greek at the University of Sydney
• Rev Dr Karen Pack, lecturer in history at Notre Dame Australia 

Sound Engineer: Antonia Gauci, Music by Russell Stapleton

This program was made on the lands of the Gadigal People