The rabbi Immanuel Ben Joseph, commonly known as Jesus of Nazareth, regarded by many of his day as, "Israel's finest teacher" came as one sent on a mission from God. His modus operandi: to birth a new ethic of behavior in a pious, ethnocentric culture. Jerusalem was the epicenter of an exclusivist society and religion, melded into its national setting (Israel) to its very core, and planted in the context of an oppressive Roman rule. …showed first 75 words of 753 total…

…showed last 75 words of 753 total…was, he replied that he was, "The Christ" (Mk 8:29, Lk 9:20.) In the Jewish tradition, this referred to the Anointed One of Israel, a descendant of the Davidic line of kings, the coming Messiah, a political and spiritual leader that would come to judge the nations, deliver Israel, and restore it to its rightful place. Not only that, the Messiah was the expressed messenger of God, the representative of the present and future "kingdom of heaven."