Hinduism is
divided on the issue of Jesussome hold that it is unlikely he
existed, or that he was just a man, others say he was a great guru
or yogi, still others equate Jesus with an avatar. A great deal of
earlier inclusion of Jesus within the Hindu pantheon is connected
to the emergence of the Saint Thomas Christians. The Hare Krishna
sect of Hinduism believes that Jesus is the son of Krishna (who
they believe is God the Father that Jesus spoke of), and they
accept many of his teachings.
Atheists, by
definition, do not believe in a divinityand thus not in any
divinity of Jesus. Some just do not think about it, some doubt he
lived, some regard him as an important moral teacher, and some as a
historical preacher like any other.
The Bahá'í Faith
considers Jesus to be a manifestation (prophet) of God, while not
being God incarnate. Some Buddhists believe Jesus may
have been a Bodhisattva, one who gives up his own Nirvana to help
others reach theirs.
The New Age
movement has reinterpreted the life and teaching of Jesus in
a large variety of ways (For example, see A Course in Miracles). He
has also been claimed as an Ascended Master by Theosophy and some
of its offshoots; related speculations have him studying mysticism
in the Himalaya or hermeticism in Egypt in the period between his
childhood and his public career. A Zen Buddhist interpretation of
Jesus, based on the Gospel of Thomas, is also possible. The
Multidinarian Doctrine teaches that Jesus is not one of three
Persons in God (as taught by Trinitarian Doctrine), but one of a
hundred trillion Persons in God. The discipline of Christology
discusses who Jesus was or was not from a philosophical and
theological perspective. The Christological argument attempts to
prove the existence of God based on the existence of Jesus and his
claims about himself as presented in the gospels.
The question of the divinity of Jesus was discussed and decided on
by Ecumenical Councils, starting with the Council of Nicea and
others of Constantine I's attempts at producing unity, enforcement
of the resulting decision thus suggesting an air of politicisation
to the religious issue. It is not the case that all scholars reject
Jesus' divinity, yet some may choose to describe the social and
cultural implications of claiming divinity in the 1st century. As
such, scholars are interested in providing an historical context to
the beliefs and tenets of Jesus' apparent Kingdom of God movement.
As a consequence, some secular scholars believe he was simply a
Jewish apocalyptic teacher and faith healer who was crucified, and
was subsequently the inspiration for Christianity.
