for the last several years, following the jesus life/myth/comination thereof has been sort of a hobby of mine. consequently, i've run across a number of books and online sources regarding this question. to begin by stating my current conclusion/opinion on the matter: yes, he existed as a historical person, but the early catholic church, under constantine's direction/influence, had a political agenda that created major distortions in his life and message(s) that make a current accurate assessment of them virtually impossible at this time without the possible documents the vatican may have buried in its archives somewhere. whatever you choose to believe, or fail to believe, about him, the "jesus" story has certainly had more influence on history in the last couple millenia than that of any other person, real or fictional, with the possible exception of siddharta gotama ("the" buddha [one of maybe over 700]). peace, philip