Jesus's Parents

[Deborah]

Jesus may have spent his early years with a desert sect like the Essenes or John the Baptist's followers. Jesus' family might have seen this as the rough equivalent of joining a cult.

I don't see Jesus living an isolated life. He seemed very involved with family and with people. I wonder where such an idea comes as the scriptures don't indicate this.

[Chris Smith]

I don't see Jesus living an isolated life. He seemed very involved with family and with people. I wonder where such an idea comes as the scriptures don't indicate this.

We have little information about Jesus' early years. Willis sees the narrative of Jesus in the Temple as a sign of his growing detachment from his parents. He also points to Jesus' ambivalence about wine at the Cana wedding ("What is is to me and you, woman?") as evidence that he was uninterested in mundane social affairs. The desert temptation Willis takes as a symbol for Jesus early years of searching for his identity (this is a pretty common view). And finally, he points out that all the gospel accounts place the beginnings of Jesus' ministry in the context of John the Baptist's labors in the wilderness.

Several recent studies have posited a connection between the earliest Christian motifs (expressed in the NT's Christ-hymns) and hypothetical pre-Christian Jewish gnostic redeemer cults of which John the Baptist's group is often thought to be one. As a result, it has become popular in the academy to posit strong ties between the early Jesus and John the Baptist.

Scholars have also noticed that early Christians and the Essenes conceptually shared a great deal in common. (This is especially true of the Gospel of John.) Charlesworth feels this is due to theological baggage that came with an influx of converts from Essenism after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Others, however, attribute it to early connections between Jesus/John/the Essenes.

-CK

[Joseph Antley]

Except that the scriptures do not mention anything about Joseph having been a widower.

They also don't mention he wasn't. I'm not in any way saying I think the infancy gospel (of Thomas, isn't it? I'm too lazy to look it up) is authentic, but it is an ancient document purportedly written by a disciple of Jesus that says Joseph had his other sons by a former wife. Whether you believe it or not (I personally don't, I just see it as a justification is Mary's perpetual virginity), the tradition existed by the fourth century.