Jesus is a pastiche of the half dozen or more people named Joshua who lived from 100 BCE to 70 CE. Not a fictional person, nor the son of God, nor even a single person, but the results of more than 100 years of oral stories which we finally set down in the 2nd Century at which point no one was able to distinguish one Joshua from another. Some of these guys include Jesus ben Stada, Jesus the Notzrim, Jenus ben Gamala, Jesus ben Ananias (Ananius), and Jesus ben Saphat. And, of course, Jesus ben Joseph. |