Jesus Of Nazareth but Nazareth did not exist ?

[arma]

Is it true that there was no such place as Nazareth when Jesus was supposed to have existed, and that he was part of some sort of movement called the Nazareans and its just a play on words to come up with Jesus of Nazareth ?

[jno]

possibly; see the 'Contrary View' section near the bottom of this (it suggests a mistranslation rather than a play on words):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth

[brionon]

The correct phrase is ''Cheeses of Nazareth''.

[Octavius]

There was a major roman city nearby - about 4km from Nazareth - Sepphoris (or Tzippori) and archaeoligical evidence confirms that it was a major city from about 700BC with drainage and water supplies and a Roman theatre and was the Capital of Galilee.

This is not mentioned in the Bible as far as I know although it is referred to in ancient texts and mentioned of by Josephus.

The Nazarene (Movement) and Church is pretty much a 20th C creation.

It is highly likely that through the course of history, errors and misinterpretations could be made.

[Lynn_M]

They did exist. They were around in the 1970's and their front man was Dan McCafferty. Had hits with Broken Down Angel, Shanghighd in Shanghigh, This Flight Tonight and My White Bicycle.

[superswally]

Lynn is correct they did exist, a couple of the group used to drink in my Mums old pub. I think they were most popular in America. They were multi millionaires so they must have been quite successful.

[kepla]

Don't be so bloody silly - of course Nazarath exists. It did exist in the time of Jesus and it is still there today. Even the Jews and the Muslims acknowledge the existence of Jesus and that he was in the area at around the time mentioned in the bible. The only real difference is that they believe that he was a prophet. I suppose that these days some people think that there is something 'clever' or 'trendy' about declaring themselves atheists. No, not really. Atheist is what early man was before religion.