Sources

What this site is built on, and when we looked at it.

Primary texts

All sayings, parables, miracles, and timeline events are drawn from the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and Acts, in public-domain translations:

• World English Bible (WEB) — default translation for quoted sayings; public domain.
• King James Version (KJV) — noted where the famous wording differs from WEB; public domain.
• Key verification pages (observed 2026-09-26): Bible Gateway passage pages for John 3, John 8, Luke 23, Matthew 5–7 and others; bible.com comparison pages for the parables; inline.bible; ebible.org WEB study texts.

Scholarly and encyclopedic sources (observed 2026-09-26)

• E. P. Sanders’ historical-Jesus “bedrock facts”; Bart Ehrman on the historical existence of Jesus and the apocalyptic-prophet profile (via preachfromthehousetops.com summary, 2025; publicradioeast.org interview).
• “The criteria of authenticity in Jesus studies” — behindthegospels.com; patheos.com historical-Jesus series.
• Reckoning Tiberius’s reign and Jesus’s baptism — academia.edu / Tyndale Bulletin study of inscriptions and coins (Luke 3:1 anchor).
• The Jewish calendar, a lunar eclipse, and the date of Christ’s crucifixion — Tyndale Bulletin PDF.
• Kregel Academic Blog — “When was Jesus born?”; walkingwithgiants.net — Quirinius census analysis.
• Apologetics Press and CARM on the Synoptics-vs-John Passover-day question.
• Wikipedia: Pontius Pilate; Herod Antipas; Twelve Apostles; English versions of the Nicene Creed; Scripture alone.
• 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica (Wikisource): Samaritans.
• Chabad.org: The Four Factions (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots).
• Christianity Today / Christian Post on tekton (craftsman) as Jesus’s occupation.
• COJS: Ossuary of the High Priest Caiaphas; 4 Enoch encyclopedia: Pilate, Twelve Apostles.
• Kencollins.com: public-domain English rendering of the Nicene Creed.

Community and educational evidence (observed 2026-09-26)

Thirty real newcomer questions shaped the Start Here page, drawn from: The Student Room newcomer list; Christian Forums appearance threads; ebible.com Q&A; christ.org FAQ; campus-ministry study guides; answers.com; gotquestions-style guides (gqkidz.org); Don Stewart apologetics materials; christianforums.com sola-scriptura discussion; faithanswerspress.net; nwcatholic.org Q&A on the Real Presence; christianreview.org. r/Christianity wiki and r/AskBibleScholars sidebars were not scraped (see Limitations).

Images

See the image captions for credits and context. Illustrated character art is a dramatization.

• Giotto (d. 1337): Nativity, Baptism, Noli me tangere — Scrovegni Chapel, Padua (Wikimedia Commons).
• Carl Heinrich Bloch (d. 1890): Sermon on the Mount.
• Caravaggio (d. 1610): Raising of Lazarus — Museo Regionale, Messina.
• Rembrandt (d. 1669): Christ in the Storm; Good Samaritan — National Museum, Kraków; Return of the Prodigal Son — Hermitage.
• Jacopo Tintoretto (d. 1594): Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes — Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice.
• Leonardo da Vinci (d. 1519): The Last Supper — Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.
• El Greco (d. 1614): Crucifixion.
• Piero della Francesca (d. 1492): Resurrection — Museo Civico, Sansepolcro.
• Benvenuto Tisi da Garofalo (d. 1559): Ascension.
• William Holman Hunt (d. 1910): The Light of the World — Keble College, Oxford.
• Heinrich Hofmann (d. 1911): Christ in Gethsemane.
• Charles Foster Kent (1912): “Palestine in the time of Jesus” map — PD by US publication date.

Observation window

All web research was conducted 2026-09-26. Pages change; citations were true on that date.