Name	Jesus
Birth date	7-2 BC/BCE
Language	Aramaic, Koine Greek, (perhaps some Hebrew)
Birth place	Bethlehem, Judaea, Roman Empire (traditional);Nazareth, Galilee (modern critical scholarship)
Death place	Calvary, Judaea, Roman Empire (according to the New Testament, he rose on the third day after his death.)
Death date	30–36 AD/CE
Death cause	Crucifixion
Resting place	Traditionally and temporarily, a garden tomb in Jerusalem
Ethnicity	Jewish
Nationality	Israelite
Religion	Judaism
Home town	Nazareth, Galilee, Roman Empire
Parents	Father: God (Christian view)virginal conception (Islamic view)Mother: Saint MaryAdoptive father: Saint Joseph }}

Jesus of Nazareth, (7–2 BC/BCE – 30–36 AD/CE), commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity. Most Christian denominations venerate him as God the Son incarnated and believe that he rose from the dead after being crucified. The principal sources of information regarding Jesus are the four canonical gospels, and most biblical scholars find them useful for reconstructing Jesus' life and teachings. Some scholars believe apocryphal texts such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of the Hebrews are also relevant.

Most critical historians agree that Jesus was a Jew who was regarded as a teacher and healer, that he was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire. Critical Biblical scholars and historians have offered competing descriptions of Jesus as a self-described Messiah, as the leader of an apocalyptic movement, as an itinerant sage, as a charismatic healer, and as the founder of an independent religious movement. Most contemporary scholars of the historical Jesus consider him to have been an independent, charismatic founder of a Jewish restoration movement, anticipating a future apocalypse. Other prominent scholars, however, contend that Jesus' "Kingdom of God" meant radical personal and social transformation instead of a future apocalypse.

Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, performed miracles, founded the Church, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, from which he will return. The majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, and "the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity". A few Christian groups, however, reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, believing it to be non-scriptural. Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah promised in the Old Testament and as God, arguing that he fulfilled many Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

Judaism rejects assertions that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh. In Islam, Jesus ( or , commonly transliterated as or , respectively) is considered one of God's important prophets, a bringer of scripture, and the product of a virgin birth; but did not experience a crucifixion. Islam and the Bahá'í Faith use the title "Messiah" for Jesus, but do not teach that he was God incarnate.

Etymology of name

“Jesus” () is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin ''Iesus'', of the Greek (''''), itself a Hellenisation of the Hebrew (''Yĕhōšuă‘'', Joshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic (''Yēšûă‘'').meaning "Yahweh delivers (or rescues)".

The etymology of the name Jesus is generally explained by Christians as "God's salvation" usually expressed as "Yahweh saves", "Yahweh is salvation" and at times as "Jehovah is salvation". The name Jesus appears to have been in use in Judaea at the time of the birth of Jesus. And Philo's reference (''Mutatione Nominum'' item 121) indicates that the etymology of Joshua was known outside Judaea at the time.

In the New Testament, in Luke 1:26-33 the angel Gabriel tells Mary to name her child Jesus, and in Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child Jesus. The statement in Matthew 1:21 "you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" associates salvific attributes to the name Jesus in Christian theology.

"Christ" () is derived from the Greek (''Khristós'') meaning "the anointed one", a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (''''), usually transliterated into English as ''Messiah''. In the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible (written well over a century before the time of Jesus), the word Christ was used to translate into Greek the Hebrew word . In Matthew 16:16, Apostle Peter's profession: "You are the Christ" identifies Jesus as the Messiah. In post-biblical usage Christ became a name, one part of the name "Jesus Christ", but originally it was a title (the Messiah) and not a name.

Chronology

Although a few scholars have questioned the existence of Jesus as an actual historical figure, most scholars involved with historical Jesus research believe his existence can be established using documentary and other evidence. As discussed in the sections immediately below, the estimation of the year of death of Jesus places his lifespan around the beginning of the first century AD/CE, in the geographic region of Roman Judaea. The New Testament also refers to the Sea of Galilee which is about 75 miles north of Jerusalem.

Roman involvement in Judaea began around 63 BC/BCE and by 6 AD/CE Judaea had become a Roman province. From 26-37 AD/CE Pontius Pilate was the governor of Roman Judaea. In this time period, although Roman Judaea was strategically positioned between Asia and Africa, it was not viewed as a critically important province by the Romans. The Romans were highly tolerant of other religions and allowed the local populations such as the Jews to practice their own faiths.

Possible year of birth

Two independent approaches have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus, one by analyzing the Nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew along with other historical data, the other by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus, as also discussed in the section below.

In their Nativity accounts, both the Gospels of Luke and Matthew associate the birth of Jesus with the reign of Herod the Great, who is generally believed to have died around 4 BC/BCE. Matthew 2:1 states that: "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king" and Luke 1:5 mentions the reign of Herod shortly before the birth of Jesus. Matthew also suggests that Jesus may have been as much as two years old at the time of the visit of the Magi and hence even older at the time of Herod's death. But the author of Luke also describes the birth as taking place during the first census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea, which is generally believed to have occurred in 6 AD/CE. Most scholars generally assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC/BCE. Other scholars assume that Jesus was born sometime between 7–2 BC/BCE.

The year of birth of Jesus has also been estimated in a manner that is independent of the Nativity accounts, by using information in the Gospel of John to work backwards from the statement in Luke 3:23 that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry. As discussed in the section below, by combining information from John 2:13 and John 2:20 with the writings of Josephus, it has been estimated that around 27-29 AD/CE, Jesus was "about thirty years of age". Some scholars thus estimate the year 28 AD/CE to be roughly the 32nd birthday of Jesus and the birth year of Jesus to be around 6-4 BC/BCE.

However, the common Gregorian calendar method for numbering years, in which the current year is , is based on the decision of a monk Dionysius in the six century, to count the years from a point of reference (namely, Jesus’ birth) which he placed sometime between 2 BC/BCE and 1 AD/CE. Although Christian feasts related to the Nativity have had specific dates (e.g. December 25 for Christmas) there is no historical evidence for the exact day or month of the birth of Jesus.

Possible dates of ministry

There have been different approaches to estimating the date of the start of the ministry of Jesus. One approach, based on combining information from the Gospel of Luke with historical data about Emperor Tiberius yields a date around 28-29 AD/CE, while a second independent approach based on statements in the Gospel of John along with historical information from Josephus about the Temple in Jerusalem leads to a date around 27-29 AD/CE.

The estimation of the date based on the Gospel of Luke relies on the statement in Luke 3:1-2 that the ministry of John the Baptist which preceded that of Jesus began "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar". Given that Tiberius began his reign in 14 AD/CE, this yields a date about 28-29 AD/CE.

The estimation of the date based on the Gospel of John uses the statements in John 2:13 that Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem around the start of his ministry and in John 2:20 that "Forty and six years was this temple in building" at that time. According to Josephus (Ant 15.380) the temple reconstruction was started by Herod the Great in the 15th-18th year of his reign at about the time that Augustus arrived in Syria (Ant 15.354). Temple expansion and reconstruction was ongoing, and it was in constant reconstruction until it was destroyed in 70 AD/CE by the Romans. Given that it took 46 years of construction, the Temple visit in the Gospel of John has been estimated at around 27-29 AD/CE.

Luke 3:23 states that at the start of his ministry Jesus was "about 30 years of age", but the other Gospels do not mention a specific age. However, in John 8:57 the Jews exclaimed to Jesus: "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" suggesting that he was much less than 50 years old during his ministry. The length of the ministry is subject to debate, based on the fact that the Synoptic Gospels mention only one passover during Jesus' ministry, often interpreted as implying that the ministry lasted approximately one year, whereas the Gospel of John records multiple passovers, implying that his ministry may have lasted at least three years.

Possible year and place of death

A number of approaches have been used to estimate the year of the death of Jesus, including information from the Canonical Gospels, the chronology of the life of Paul the Apostle in the New Testament correlated with historical events, as well as different astronomical models, as discussed below.

All four canonical Gospels report that Jesus was crucified in Calvary during the prefecture of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who governed Judaea from 26 to 36 AD/CE. The late 1st century Jewish historian Josephus, writing in ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (''c.'' 93 AD/CE), and the early 2nd century Roman historian Tacitus, writing in ''The Annals'' (''c.'' 116 AD/CE), also state that Pilate ordered the execution of Jesus, though each writer gives him the title of "procurator" instead of prefect.

The estimation of the date of the conversion of Paul places the death of Jesus before this conversion, which is estimated at around 33-36 AD/CE. (Also see the estimation of the start of Jesus' ministry as a few years before this date above). The estimation of the year of Paul's conversion relies on a series of calculations working backwards from the well established date of his trial before Gallio in Achaea Greece (Acts 18:12-17) around 51-52 AD/CE, the meeting of Priscilla and Aquila which were expelled from Rome about 49 AD/CE and the 14-year period before returning to Jerusalem in Galatians 2:1. The remaining period is generally accounted for by Paul's missions (at times with Barnabas) such as those in Acts 11:25-26 and 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, resulting in the 33-36 AD/CE estimate.

For centuries, astronomers and scientists have used diverse computational methods to estimate the date of crucifixion, Isaac Newton being one of the first cases. Newton's method relied on the relative visibility of the crescent of the new moon and he suggested the date as Friday, April 23, 34 AD/CE. In 1990 astronomer Bradley E. Schaefer computed the date as Friday, April 3, 33 AD/CE. In 1991, John Pratt stated that Newton's method was sound, but included a minor error at the end. Pratt suggested the year 33 AD/CE as the answer. Using the completely different approach of a lunar eclipse model, Humphreys and Waddington arrived at the conclusion that Friday, April 3, 33 AD/CE was the date of the crucifixion.

Life and teachings in the New Testament

Although the four canonical gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are the main sources for the biography of Jesus’ life, other parts of the New Testament, such as the Pauline Epistles which were likely written decades before them, also include references to key episodes in his life such as the Last Supper, as in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. The Acts of the Apostles (10:37-38 and 19:4) refers to the early ministry of Jesus and its anticipation by John the Baptist. And Acts 1:1-11 says more about the Ascension episode (also mentioned in 1 Timothy 3:16) than the canonical gospels.

The four gospel accounts

Three of the four canonical gospels, namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are known as the ''Synoptic Gospels'', from the Greek σύν (syn "together") and ὄψις (opsis "view"). These three gospels display a high degree of similarity in content, narrative arrangement, language and paragraph structures. The presentation in the fourth canonical Gospel, i.e. the John, differs from these three in that it has more of a thematic nature rather than a narrative format. And scholars generally agree that it is impossible to find any direct literary relationship between the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John.

However, in general, the authors of the New Testament showed little interest in an absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life with the secular history of the age. The gospels were primarily written as theological documents in the context of early Christianity with the chronological timelines as a secondary consideration. One manifestation of the gospels being theological documents rather than historical chronicles is that they devote about one third of their text to just seven days, namely the last week of the life of Jesus in Jerusalem.

Although the gospels do not provide enough details to satisfy the demands of modern historians regarding exact dates, it is possible to draw from them a general picture of the life story of Jesus. However, as stated in John 21:25 the gospels do not claim to provide an exhaustive list of the events in the life of Jesus.

Gospel sources, similarities and differences

Scholars have debated the sources for the gospels for millenia, and have proposed various hypotheses of how the synoptic gospels were written and how they influenced each other, going back to the Augustinian hypothesis in the 5th century. In the 20th and 21st centuries hypotheses such as the two-source, four-source, Farrer or the Markan priority hypothesis have been debated. Each hypothesis assumes a specific order in which the gospels were written, or that other as yet unknown and hypothetical documents such as the Q source or the M source influenced various gospels in various ways. Each hypotheses has had support among some scholars, while problems with and weaknesses in it have been pointed out by opponents.

Since the 2nd century attempts have been made to ''harmonize'' the gospel accounts into a single narrative; Tatian's Diatesseron perhaps being the first harmony and other works such as Augustine' book ''Harmony of the Gospels'' followed. A number of different approaches to gospel harmony have been proposed in the 20th century, but no single and unique harmony can be constructed. While some scholars argue that combining the four gospel stories into one story is tantamount to creating a fifth story different from each original, others see the gospels as blending together to give an overall and comprehensive picture of Jesus' teaching and ministry. Although there are differences in specific temporal sequences, and in the parables and miracles listed in each gospel, the flow of the key events such as Baptism, Transfiguration and Crucifixion and interactions with people such as the Apostles are shared among the gospel narratives.

Key elements and the five major milestones

The five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus are his Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. These are usually bracketed by two other episodes: his Nativity at the beginning and the sending of the Paraclete at the end. The gospel accounts of the teachings of Jesus are often presented in terms of specific categories involving his "works and words", e.g. his ministry, parables and miracles.

The gospels include a number discourses by Jesus on specific occasions, e.g. the Sermon on the Mount or the Farewell Discourse, and also include over 30 parables, spread throughout the narrative, often with themes that relate to the sermons. Parables represent a major component of the teachings of Jesus in the gospels, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings, and John 14:10 positions them as the revelations of God the Father. The gospel episodes that include descriptions of the miracle of Jesus also often include teachings, providing an intertwining of his "words and works" in the gospels.

Genealogy and Nativity

The accounts of the genealogy and Nativity of Jesus in the New Testament appear only in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. While there are documents outside of the New Testament which are more or less contemporary with Jesus and the gospels, many shed no light on the more biographical aspects of his life and these two gospel accounts remain the main sources of information on the genealogy and Nativity.

Genealogy

Matthew begins his gospel in 1:1 with the genealogy of Jesus, and presents it before the account of the birth of Jesus, while Luke discusses the genealogy in chapter 3, after the Baptism of Jesus in Luke 3:22 when the voice from Heaven addresses Jesus and identifies him as the Son of God. At that point Luke traces Jesus' ancestry through Adam to God.

While Luke traces the genealogy upwards towards Adam and God, Matthew traces it downwards towards Jesus. Both gospels state that Jesus was begotten not by Joseph, but by God. Both accounts trace Joseph back to King David and from there to Abraham. These lists are identical between Abraham and David (except for one), but they differ almost completely between David and Joseph. Matthew gives Jacob as Joseph’s father and Luke says Joseph was the son of Heli. Attempts at explaining the differences between the genealogies have varied in nature, e.g. that Luke traces the genealogy through Mary while Matthew traces it through Joseph; or that Jacob and Heli were both fathers of Joseph, one being the legal father, after the death of Joseph's actual father — but there is no scholarly agreement on a resolution for the differences.

Nativity

The Nativity is a prominent element in the Gospel of Luke, comprises over 10% of Luke's text, and is three times the length of the Nativity text in Matthew. Luke's Nativity account takes place mostly before the birth of Jesus and centers on Mary, while Matthew's story takes place mostly after the birth of Jesus and centers on Joseph. According to Luke and Matthew, Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, his betrothed, in Bethlehem. Both support the doctrine of the Virgin Birth in which Jesus was miraculously conceived in his mother's womb by the Holy Spirit, when his mother was still a virgin.

Luke is the only Gospel to provide an account of the birth of John the Baptist, and he uses it to draw parallels between the births of John and Jesus. Luke relates the two births in the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. He further connects the two births by noting that Mary and Elizabeth are cousins. In Luke 1:31-38 Mary learns from the angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a child called Jesus through the action of the Holy Spirit. When Mary is due to give birth, she and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Joseph's ancestral home in Bethlehem to register in the census of Quirinius. In Luke 2:1-7. Mary gives birth to Jesus and, having found no place in the inn, places the newborn in a manger. An angel visits the shepherds and sends them to adore the child in Luke 2:22. After presenting Jesus at the Temple, Joseph and Mary return home to Nazareth.

The Nativity appears in chapters 1 and 2 of the Gospel of Matthew, where, following the bethrothal of Joseph and Mary, Joseph is troubled in Matthew 1:19-20 because Mary is pregnant, but in the first of Joseph's three dreams an angel assures him not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because her child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 1:1-12, the Wise Men or Magi bring gifts to the young Jesus after following a star which they believe was a sign that the King of the Jews had been born. King Herod hears of Jesus' birth from the Wise Men and tries to kill him by massacring all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two (the Massacre of the Innocents). Before the massacre, Joseph is warned by an angel in his dream and the family flees to Egypt and remains there until Herod's death, after which they leave Egypt and settle in Nazareth to avoid living under the authority of Herod's son and successor Archelaus.

Early life and profession

In the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, Jesus’ childhood home is identified as the town of Nazareth in Galilee. Joseph, husband of Mary, appears in descriptions of Jesus’ childhood and no mention is made of him thereafter. The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Galatians mention Jesus’ brothers and sisters, but the Greek word ''adelphos'' in these verses, has also be translated as brother or kinsman.

Luke 2:41–52 includes an incident in the childhood of Jesus, where he was found teaching in the temple by his parents after being lost. The Finding in the Temple is the sole event between Jesus’ infancy and baptism mentioned in any of the canonical Gospels.

In Mark 6:3 Jesus is called a ''tekton'' (τέκτων in Greek), usually understood to mean carpenter. Matthew 13:55 says he was the son of a ''tekton''. ''Tekton'' has been traditionally translated into English as "carpenter", but it is a rather general word (from the same root that leads to "technical" and "technology") that could cover makers of objects in various materials, even builders.

Beyond the New Testament accounts, the specific association of the profession of Jesus with woodworking is a constant in the traditions of the 1st and 2nd centuries and Justin Martyr (d. ca. 165) wrote that Jesus made yokes and ploughs.

Baptism and temptation

In the gospels, the accounts of the Baptism of Jesus are always preceded by information about John the Baptist and his ministry. In these accounts, John was preaching for penance and repentance for the remission of sins and encouraged the giving of alms to the poor (as in Luke 3:11) as he baptized people in the area of the River Jordan around Perea about the time of the commencement of the ministry of Jesus. The Gospel of John (1:28) specifies "Bethany beyond the Jordan", i.e. Bethabara in Perea, when it initially refers to it and later John 3:23 refers to further baptisms in Ænon "because there was much water there".

The four gospels are not the only references to John's ministry around the River Jordan. In Acts 10:37-38, Apostle Peter refers to how the ministry of Jesus followed "the baptism which John preached". In the Antiquities of the Jews (18.5.2) first century historian Flavius Josephus also wrote about John the Baptist and his eventual death in Perea.

In the gospels, John had been foretelling (as in Luke 3:16) of the arrival of a someone "mightier than I". Apostle Paul also refers to this anticipation by John in Acts 19:4. In Matthew 3:14, upon meeting Jesus, the Baptist states: "I need to be baptized by you." However, Jesus persuades John to baptize him nonetheless. In the baptismal scene, after Jesus emerges from the water, the sky opens and a voice from Heaven states: "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased". The Holy Spirit then descends upon Jesus as a dove in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-23. In John 1:29-33 rather than a direct narrative, the Baptist bears witness to the episode. This is one of two cases in the gospels where a voice from Heaven calls Jesus "Son", the other being in the Transfiguration of Jesus episode.

After the baptism, the Synoptic gospels proceed to describe the Temptation of Jesus, but John 1:35-37 narrates the first encounter between Jesus and two of his future disciples, who were then disciples of John the Baptist. In this narrative, the next day the Baptist sees Jesus again and calls him the Lamb of God and the "two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus". One of the disciples is named Andrew, but the other remains unnamed, and Raymond E. Brown raises the question of his being the author of the Gospel of John himself. In the Gospel of John, the disciples follow Jesus thereafter, and bring other disciples to him, and Acts 18:24-19:6 portrays the disciples of John as eventually merging with the followers of Jesus.

The Temptation of Jesus is narrated in the three Synoptic gospels after his baptism. In these accounts, as in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13, Jesus goes to the desert for forty days to fast. While there, Satan appears to him and tempts him in various ways, e.g. asking Jesus to show signs that he is the Son of God by turning stone to bread, or offering Jesus worldly rewards in exchange for worship. Jesus rejects every temptation and when Satan leaves, angels appear and minister to Jesus.

Ministry

Luke 3:23 states that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry. The date of the start of his ministry has been estimated at around 27-29 AD/CE, based on independent approaches which combine separate gospel accounts with other historical data. The end of his ministry is estimated to be in the range 30-36 AD/CE.

The three Synoptic gospels refer to just one passover during his ministry, while the Gospel of John refers to three passovers, suggesting a period of about three years. However, the Synoptic gospels do not require a ministry that lasted only one year, and scholars such as Köstenberger state that the Gospel of John simply provides a more detailed account.

The gospel accounts place the beginning of Jesus' ministry in the countryside of Judaea, near the River Jordan. Jesus' ministry begins with his Baptism by John the Baptist (Matthew 3, Luke 3), and ends with the Last Supper with his disciples (Matthew 26, Luke 22) in Jerusalem. The gospels present John the Baptist's ministry as the pre-cursor to that of Jesus and the Baptism as marking the beginning of Jesus' ministry, after which Jesus travels, preaches and performs miracles.

The ''Early Galilean ministry'' begins when Jesus goes back to Galilee from the Judaean desert after rebuffing the temptation of Satan. In this early period Jesus preaches around Galilee and in Matthew 4:18-20 his first disciples encounter him, begin to travel with him and eventually form the core of the early Church. This period includes the Sermon on the Mount, one of the major discourses of Jesus.

The ''Major Galilean ministry'' which begins in Matthew 8 refers to activities up to the death of John the Baptist. It includes the Calming the storm and a number of other miracles and parables, as well as the Mission Discourse in which Jesus instructs the twelve apostles who are named in Matthew 10:2-3 to carry no belongings as they travel from city to city and preach.

The ''Final Galilean ministry'' includes the Feeding the 5000 and Walking on water episodes, both in Matthew 14. The end of this period (as Matthew 16 and Mark 8 end) marks a turning point is the ministry of Jesus with the dual episodes of Confession of Peter and the Transfiguration - which begins his ''Later Judaean ministry'' as he starts his final journey to Jerusalem through Judaea.

As Jesus travels towards Jerusalem, in the ''Later Perean ministry'', about one third the way down from the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan, he returns to the area where he was baptized, and in John 10:40-42 "many people believed in him beyond the Jordan", saying "all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true". This period of ministry includes the Discourse on the Church in which Jesus anticipates a future community of followers, and explains the role of his apostles in leading it. At the end of this period, the Gospel of John includes the Raising of Lazarus episode.

The ''Final ministry in Jerusalem'' is sometimes called the ''Passion Week'' and begins with the Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. In that week Jesus drives the money changers from the Temple, and Judas bargains to betray him. This period includes the Olivet Discourse and the Second Coming Prophecy and culminates in the Last Supper, at the end of which Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure in the Farewell discourse. The accounts of the ministry of Jesus generally end with the Last Supper. However, some authors also consider the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension part of the ministry of Jesus.

Teachings and preachings

In the New Testament the teachings of Jesus are presented in terms of his "words and works". The words of Jesus include a number of sermons, as well as parables that appear throughout the narrative of the Synoptic Gospels (the gospel of John includes no parables). The works include the miracles and other acts performed during his ministry. Although the Canonical Gospels are the major source of the teachings of Jesus, the Pauline Epistles, which were likely written decades before the gospels, provide some of the earliest written accounts of the teachings of Jesus.

The New Testament does not present the teachings of Jesus as merely his own preachings, but equates the words of Jesus with divine revelation, with John the Baptist stating in John 3:34: "he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God" and Jesus stating in John 7:16: "My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me" and again re-asserting that in John 14:10: "the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works." In Matthew 11:27 Jesus claims divine knowledge, stating: "No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son", asserting the mutual knowledge he has with the Father.

The gospels include a number discourses by Jesus on specific occasions, such as the Farewell discourse delivered after the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion. Although some of the teachings of Jesus are reported as taking place within the formal atmosphere of a synagogue (e.g. in Matthew 4:23) many of the discourses are more like conversations than formal lectures.

The Gospel of Matthew has a structured set of sermons, often grouped as the Five Discourses of Matthew which present many of the key teachings of Jesus. Each of the five discourses has some parallel passages in the Gospel of Mark or the Gospel of Luke. The five discourses in Matthew begin with the Sermon on the Mount, which encapsulates many of the moral teaching of Jesus and which is one of the best known and most quoted elements of the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount includes the ''Beatitudes'' which describe the character of the people of the Kingdom of God, expressed as "blessings". The Beatitudes focus on love and humility rather than force and exaction and echo the key ideals of Jesus' teachings on spirituality and compassion. The other discourses in Matthew include the ''Missionary Discourse'' in Matthew 10 and the ''Discourse on the Church'' in Matthew 18, providing instructions to the disciples and laying the foundation of the codes of conduct for the anticipated community of followers.

Parables represent a major component of the teachings of Jesus in the gospels, the approximately thirty parables forming about one third of his recorded teachings. The parables may appear within longer sermons, as well as other places within the narrative. Jesus' parables are seemingly simple and memorable stories, often with imagery, and each conveys a teaching which usually relates the physical world to the spiritual world.

The gospel episodes that include descriptions of the miracle of Jesus also often include teachings, providing an intertwining of his "words and works" in the gospels. Many of the miracles in the gospels teach the importance of faith, for instance in Cleansing ten lepers and Daughter of Jairus the beneficiaries are told that they were healed due to their faith.

Proclamation as Christ and Transfiguration

At about the middle of each of the three Synoptic Gospels, two related episodes mark a turning point in the narrative: the Confession of Peter and the Transfiguration of Jesus. These episodes begin in Caesarea Philippi just north of the Sea of Galilee at the beginning of the final journey to Jerusalem which ends in the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. These episodes mark the beginnings of the gradual disclosure of the identity of Jesus to his disciples; and his prediction of his own suffering and death.

Peter's Confession begins as a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples in Matthew 16:13, Mark 8:27 and Luke 9:18. Jesus asks his disciples: ''But who do you say that I am?'' Simon Peter answers him: ''You are the Christ, the Son of the living God''. In Matthew 16:17 Jesus blesses Peter for his answer, and states: "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." In blessing Peter, Jesus not only accepts the titles ''Christ'' and ''Son of God'' which Peter attributes to him, but declares the proclamation a divine revelation by stating that his Father in Heaven had revealed it to Peter. In this assertion, by endorsing both titles as divine revelation, Jesus unequivocally declares himself to be both Christ and the Son of God.

The account of the Transfiguration of Jesus appears in Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36. Jesus takes Peter and two other apostles with him and goes up to a mountain, which is not named. Once on the mountain, Matthew (17:2) states that Jesus "was transfigured before them; his face shining as the sun, and his garments became white as the light." At that point the prophets Elijah and Moses appear and Jesus begins to talk to them. Luke is specific in describing Jesus in a state of glory, with Luke 9:32 referring to "they saw his glory". A bright cloud appears around them, and a voice from the cloud states: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him".

The Transfiguration not only supports the identity of Jesus as the Son of God (as in his Baptism), but the statement "listen to him", identifies him as the messenger and mouth-piece of God. The significance is enhanced by the presence of Elijah and Moses, for it indicates to the apostles that Jesus is the voice of God, and instead of Elijah or Moses, he should be listened to, by virtue of his filial relationship with God. 2 Peter 1:16-18, echoes the same message: at the Transfiguration God assigns to Jesus a special "honor and glory" and it is the turning point at which God exalts Jesus above all other powers in creation.

At the end of both episodes, as in some other pericopes in the New Testament such as miracles, Jesus tells his disciples not to repeat to others, what they had seen - the command at times interpreted in the context of the theory of the Messianic Secret. At the end of the Transfiguration episode, Jesus commands the disciples to silence about it "until the Son of man be risen from the dead", relating the Transfiguration to the Resurrection episode.

Betrayal, arrest, trial, and death

In Jerusalem

In the four Canonical Gospels, Jesus' Triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place a few days before the last Last Supper, marking the beginning of the Passion narrative. While at Bethany Jesus sent two disciples to retrieve a donkey that had been tied up but never ridden and rode it into Jerusalem, with Mark and John stating Sunday, Matthew Monday, and Luke not specifying the day. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem the people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of trees and sang part of Psalms 118: 25-26.

In the three Synoptic Gospels, entry into Jerusalem is followed by the Cleansing of the Temple episode, in which Jesus expels the money changers from the Temple, accusing them of turning the Temple to a den of thieves through their commercial activities. This is the only account of Jesus using physical force in any of the Gospels. John 2:13-16 includes a similar narrative much earlier, and scholars debate if these refer to the same episode. The synoptics include a number of well known parables and sermons such as the Widow's mite and the Second Coming Prophecy during the week that follows.

In that week, the synoptics also narrate conflicts between Jesus and the elders of the Jews, in episodes such as the Authority of Jesus Questioned and the Woes of the Pharisees in which Jesus criticizes their hypocrisy. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles approaches the Jewish elders and performs the "Bargain of Judas" in which he accepts to betray Jesus and hand him over to the elders. Matthew specifies the price as thirty silver coins.

Last Supper

In the New Testament, the Last Supper is the final meal that Jesus shares with his twelve apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper is mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels, and Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (11:23-26), which was likely written before the Gospels, also refers to it.

In all four gospels, during the meal, Jesus predicts that one of his Apostles will betray him. Jesus is described as reiterating, despite each Apostle's assertion that he would not betray Jesus, that the betrayer would be one of those who were present. In Matthew 26:23-25 and John 13:26-27 Judas is specifically singled out as the traitor.

In Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19-20 Jesus takes bread, breaks it and gives it to the disciples, saying: "This is my body which is given for you". In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Apostle Paul provides the theological underpinnings for the use of the Eucharist, stating: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." Although the Gospel of John does not include a description of the bread and wine ritual during the Last Supper, most scholars agree that John 6:58-59 (the Bread of Life Discourse) has a Eucharistic nature and resonates with the "words of institution" used in the Synoptic Gospels and the Pauline writings on the Last Supper.

In all four Gospels Jesus predicts that Peter will deny knowledge of him, stating that Peter will disown him three times before the rooster crows the next morning. The synoptics mention that after the arrest of Jesus Peter denied knowing him three times, but after the third denial, heard the rooster crow and recalled the prediction as Jesus turned to look at him. Peter then began to cry bitterly.

The Gospel of John provides the only account of Jesus washing his disciples' feet before the meal. John's Gospel also includes a long sermon by Jesus, preparing his disciples (now without Judas) for his departure. Chapters 14-17 of the Gospel of John are known as the ''Farewell discourse'' given by Jesus, and are a rich source of Christological content.

Agony in the Garden, betrayal and arrest

In Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46 and John 18:1, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus takes a walk to pray, Matthew and Mark identifying this place of prayer as Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus is accompanied by Peter, John and James the Greater, whom he asks to "remain here and keep watch with me." He moves "a stone's throw away" from them, where he feels overwhelming sadness and says "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it." Only the Gospel of Luke mentions the details of the sweat of blood of Jesus and the visitation of the angel who comforts Jesus as he accepts the will of the Father. Returning to the disciples after prayer, he finds them asleep and in Matthew 26:40 he asks Peter: "So, could you men not keep watch with me for an hour?"

While in the Garden, Judas appears, accompanied by a crowd that includes the Jewish priests and elders and people with weapons. Judas gives Jesus a kiss to identify him to the crowd who then arrests Jesus. One of Jesus' disciples tries to stop them and uses a sword to cut off the ear of one of the men in the crowd. Luke states that Jesus miraculously healed the wound and John and Matthew state that Jesus criticized the violent act, insisting that his disciples should not resist his arrest. In Matthew 26:52 Jesus makes the well known statement: ''all who live by the sword, shall die by the sword''.

Prior to the arrest, in Matthew 26:31 Jesus tells the disciples: "All ye shall be offended in me this night" and in 32 that: "But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee." After his arrest, Jesus' disciples go into hiding. In Matthew 27:3-5 Judas, distraught by his betrayal of Jesus, attempts to return the thirty pieces of silver he had received for betraying Jesus, then hangs himself.

Trials by the Sanhedrin, Herod and Pilate

In the narrative of the four Canonical Gospels after the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, he is taken to the Sanhedrin, a Jewish judicial body. Jesus is tried by the Sanhedrin, mocked and beaten and is condemned for making claims of being the Son of God. He is then taken to Pontius Pilate and the Jewish elders ask Pilate to judge and condemn Jesus — accusing him of claiming to be the King of the Jews. After questioning, with few replies provided by Jesus, Pilate publicly declares that he finds Jesus innocent, but the crowd insists on punishment. Pilate then orders Jesus' crucifixion. Although the Gospel accounts vary with respect to various details, they agree on the general character and overall structure of the trials of Jesus.

In, Matthew 26:57, Mark 14:53 and Luke 22:54 Jesus was taken to the high priest's house where he was mocked and beaten that night. The next day, early in the morning, the chief priests and scribes gathered together and lead Jesus away into their council. In John 18:12-14, however, Jesus is first taken to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, and then to Caiaphas. In all four Gospel accounts the trial of Jesus is interleaved with the ''Denial of Peter'' narrative, where Apostle Peter who has followed Jesus denies knowing him three times, at which point the rooster crows as predicted by Jesus during the Last Supper.

In the Gospel accounts Jesus speaks very little, mounts no defense and gives very infrequent and indirect answers to the questions of the priests, prompting an officer to slap him. In Matthew 26:62 the lack of response from Jesus prompts the high priest to ask him: "Answerest thou nothing?" Mark 14:55-59 states that the chief priests had arranged false witness against Jesus, but the witnesses did not agree together. In Mark 14:61 the high priest then asked Jesus: "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am" at which point the high priest tore his own robe in anger and accused Jesus of blasphemy. In 22:70 when asked: "Are you then the Son of God?" Jesus answers: "You say that I am" affirming the title Son of God. At that point the priests say: "What further need have we of witness? for we ourselves have heard from his own mouth" and decide to condemn Jesus.

Taking Jesus to Pilate's Court, the Jewish elders ask Pontius Pilate to judge and condemn Jesus — accusing him of claiming to be the King of the Jews. In Luke 23:7-15 (the only Gospel account of this episode), Pilate realizes that Jesus is a Galilean, and is thus under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. Pilate sends Jesus to Herod to be tried. However, Jesus says almost nothing in response to Herod's questions, or the continuing accusations of the chief priests and the scribes. Herod and his soldiers mock Jesus, put a gorgeous robe on him, as the King of the Jews, and sent him back to Pilate. Pilate then calls together the Jewish elders, and says that he has "found no fault in this man."

The use of the term king is central in the discussion between Jesus and Pilate. In John 18:36 Jesus states: "My kingdom is not of this world", but does not directly deny being the King of the Jews. And when in John 19:12 Pilate seeks to release Jesus, the priests object and say: "Every one that makes himself a king speaks against Caesar... We have no king but Caesar." Pilate then writes "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" as a sign (abbreviated as INRI in depictions) to be affixed to the cross of Jesus.

In Matthew 27:19 Pilate's wife, tormented by a dream, urges Pilate not to have anything to do with Jesus, and Pilate publicly washes his hands of responsibility, yet orders the crucifixion in response to the demands of the crowd. The trial by Pilate is followed by the flagellation episode, the soldiers mock Jesus as the King of Jews by putting a purple robe (that signifies royal status) on him, place a Crown of Thorns on his head, and beat and mistreat him in Matthew 27:29-30, Mark 15:17-19 and John 19:2-3. Jesus is then sent to Calvary for crucifixion.

Crucifixion and burial

Jesus' crucifixion is described in all four Canonical gospels, and is attested to by other sources of that age (e.g. Josephus and Tacitus), and is regarded as an historical event.

After the trials, Jesus made his way to Calvary (the path is traditionally called via Dolorosa) and the three Synoptic Gospels indicate that he was assisted by Simon of Cyrene, the Romans compelling him to do so. In Luke 23:27-28 Jesus tells the women in multitude of people following him not to cry for him but for themselves and their children. Once at Calvary (Golgotha), Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall to drink — usually offered as a form of painkiller. Matthew's and Mark's Gospels state that he refused this.

The soldiers then crucified Jesus and cast lots for his clothes. Above Jesus' head on the cross was the inscription King of the Jews, and the soldiers and those passing by mocked him about the title. Jesus was crucified between two convicted thieves, one of whom rebuked Jesus, while the other defended him. Each gospel has its own account of Jesus' last words, comprising the seven last sayings on the cross. In John 19:26-27 Jesus entrusts his mother to the disciple he loved and in Luke 23:34 he states: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do", usually interpreted as his forgiveness of the Roman soldiers and the others involved.

In the three Synoptic Gospels, various supernatural events accompany the crucifixion, including darkness of the sky, an earthquake, and (in Matthew) the resurrection of saints. The tearing of the temple veil, upon the death of Jesus, is referenced in the synoptic. The Roman soldiers did not break Jesus' legs, as they did to the other two men crucified (breaking the legs hastened the crucifixion process), as Jesus was dead already. One of the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and water flowed out. In Mark 13:59, impressed by the events the Roman centurion calls Jesus the Son of God.

Following Jesus' death, Joseph of Arimathea asked the permission of Pilate to remove the body. The body was removed from the cross, was wrapped in a clean cloth and buried in a new rock-hewn tomb, with the assistance of Nicodemus. In Matthew 27:62-66 the Jews go to Pilate the day after the crucifixion and ask for guards for the tomb and also seal the tomb with a stone as well as the guard, to be sure the body remains there.

Resurrection and ascension

thumb|upright|left|[[Resurrection of Jesus|Resurrection by Noel Coypel, 1700, using a hovering depiction of Jesus.]]The New Testament accounts of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, state that the first day of the week after the crucifixion (typically interpreted as a Sunday), his followers encounter him risen from the dead, after his tomb is discovered to be empty. The resurrected Jesus appears to them that day and a number of times thereafter, delivers sermons and commissions them, before ascending to Heaven. Two of the Canonical gospels (Luke and Mark) include a brief mention of the Ascension, but the main references to it are elsewhere in the New Testament.

In the four Canonical Gospels, when the tomb of Jesus is discovered empty, in Matthew 28:5, Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4 and John 20:12 his resurrection is announced and explained to the followers who arrive there early in the morning by either one or two beings (either men or angels) dressed in bright robes who appear in or near the tomb. The gospel accounts vary as to who arrived at the tomb first, but they are women and are instructed by the risen Jesus to inform the other disciples. All four accounts include Mary Magdalene and three include Mary the mother of Jesus. The accounts of Mark 16:9, John 20:15 indicate that Jesus appeared to the Magdalene first, and Luke 16:9 states that she was among the Myrrhbearers who informed the disciples about the resurrection. In Matthew 28:11-15, to explain the empty tomb, the Jewish elders bribe the soldiers who had guarded the tomb to spread the rumor that Jesus' disciples took his body.

After the discovery of the empty tomb, the Gospels indicate that Jesus made a series of appearances to the disciples. These include the well known Doubting Thomas episode, where Thomas did not believe the resurrection until he was invited to put his finger into the holes made by the wounds in Jesus' hands and side; and the Road to Emmaus appearance where Jesus meets two disciples. The catch of 153 fish appearance includes a miracle at the Sea of Galilee, and thereafter Jesus encourages Apostle Peter to serve his followers.

The final post-resurrection appearance in the Gospel accounts is when Jesus ascends to Heaven where he remains with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Canonical Gospels include only brief mentions of the Ascension of Jesus, Luke 24:51 states that Jesus "was carried up into heaven". The ascension account is further elaborated in Acts 1:1-11 and mentioned 1 Timothy 3:16. In Acts 1:1-9, forty days after the resurrection, as the disciples look on, "he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." 1 Peter 3:22 describes Jesus as being on "the right hand of God, having gone into heaven".

The Acts of the Apostles also contain "post-ascension" appearances by Jesus. These include the vision by Stephen just before his death in Acts 7:55, and the road to Damascus episode in which Apostle Paul is converted to Christianity. The instruction given to Ananias in Damascus in Acts 9:10-18 to heal Paul is the last reported conversation with Jesus in the Bible until the Book of Revelation was written.

Title attributions

The New Testament attributes a wide range of titles to Jesus by the authors of the Gospels, by Jesus himself, a voice from Heaven (often assumed to be God) during the Baptism and Transfiguration, as well as various groups of people such as the disciples, and even demons throughout the narrative. The emphasis on the titles used in each of the four canonical Gospels gives a different emphasis to the portrayal of Jesus in that Gospel.

Two of the key titles used for Jesus in the New Testament are Christ and Son of God. The opening words in Mark 1:1 attribute both Christ and Son of God as titles, reaffirming the second title again in Mark 1:11. The Gospel of Matthew also begins in 1:1 with the Christ title and reaffirms it in Matthew 1:16. Beyond the declarations by the Gospel writers, titles are attributed in the narrative. The statement by Apostle Peter in Matthew 16:16 ("you are the Christ, the Son of the living God") is a key turning point in the Gospel narrative, where Jesus is proclaimed as both Christ and Son of God by his followers and he accepts both titles. The immediate declaration by Jesus that the titles were revealed to Peter by "my Father who is in Heaven" not only endorses both titles as divine revelation but includes a separate assertion of sonship by Jesus within the same statement.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of God far more frequently than in the Synoptic Gospels. In a number of other episodes Jesus claims sonship by referring to the Father, e.g. in Luke 2:49 when he is found in the temple a young Jesus calls the temple "my Father's house", just as he does later in John 2:16 in the Cleansing of the Temple episode. However, scholars still debate if Jesus specifically accepted divinity in these statements. In John 11:27 Martha tells Jesus "you are the Christ, the Son of God", signifying that both titles were later used (yet considered distinct) in the narrative. While the Gospel of John frequently uses the Son of God title, the Gospel of Luke emphasizes Jesus as a prophet.

One of the most frequent titles for Jesus in the New Testament is the Greek word ''Kyrios'' (κύριος) which may mean God, Lord or master and is used to refers to him over 700 times. In everyday Aramaic, ''Mari'' was a very respectful form of polite address, well above "Teacher" and similar to Rabbi. In Greek this has at times been translated as Kyrios. The Rabbi title is used in several New Testament episodes to refer to Jesus, but more often in the Gospel of John than elsewhere and does not appear in the Gospel of Luke at all. Although Jesus accepts this title in the narrative, in Matthew 23:1-8 he rejected the title of Rabbi for his disciples, saying: "But be not ye called Rabbi".

Many New Testament scholars state that Jesus claimed to be God through his frequent use of "I am" (''Ego eimi'' in Greek and ''Qui est'' in Latin). This term is used by Jesus in the Gospel of John on several occasions to refer to himself, seven times with specific titles. It is used in the Gospel of John both with or without a predicate. The seven uses with a predicate that have resulted in titles for Jesus are: ''Bread of Life'', ''Light of the World'', ''the Door'', ''the Good Shepherd'', ''the Resurrection of Life'', ''the Way, the Truth and the Life'', ''the Vine''. It is also used without a predicate, which is very unusual in Greek and Christologists usually interpret it as God's own self-declaration. In John 8:24 Jesus states: "unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins" and in John 8:59 the crowd attempts to stone Jesus in response to his statement that "Before Abraham was, I am". However, some scholars state that Jesus never made a direct claim to divinity.

The Gospel of John opens by identifying Jesus as the divine Logos in John 1:1-18. The Greek term Logos () is often translated as "the Word" in English. The identification of Jesus as the Logos which became Incarnate appears only at the beginning of the Gospel of John and the term Logos is used only in two other Johannine passages: 1 John 1:1 and Revelation 19:13. John's Logos statements build on each other: the statement that the Logos existed "at the beginning" asserts that as Logos Jesus was an eternal being like God; that the Logos was "with God" asserts the distinction of Jesus from God; and Logos "was God" states the unity of Jesus with God.

Some authors have suggested that other titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament had meanings in the 1st century quite different from those meanings ascribed today, e.g. “Son of David” is found elsewhere in Jewish tradition to refer to the heir to the throne.

Historical views

Existence of Jesus

The Christian gospels were written primarily as theological documents rather than historical chronicles. However, the question of the existence of Jesus as a historical figure should be distinguished from discussions about the historicity of specific episodes in the gospels, the chronology they present, or theological issues regarding his divinity. A number of historical non-Christian documents, such as Jewish and Greco-Roman sources, have been used in historical analyses of the existence of Jesus. Most critical historians agree that Jesus existed and regard events such as his baptism and his crucifixion as historical.

Robert E. Van Voorst states that the non-historicity of the existence of Jesus has always been controversial, and has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines, and that classical historians, as well as biblical scholars now regard it as effectively refuted. Walter P. Weaver, among others, states that the denial of Jesus’ existence has never convinced any large number of people, in or out of technical circles.

Separate non-Christian sources used to establish the historical existence of Jesus include the works of first century Roman historians Flavius Josephus and Tacitus. Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman has stated that few have doubted the genuineness of Josephus' reference. Bart D. Ehrman states that the existence of Jesus and his crucifixion by the Romans is attested to by a wide range of sources, including Josephus and Tacitus.

A very small number of modern scholars argue that Jesus never existed, but that view is a distinct minority, and a somewhat recent argument. Karl Rahner has observed that "in antiquity, even the most bitter enemies of Christianity never expressed doubts about the existence of Jesus." The ''Cambridge companion to Jesus'' states that the "farfetched theories that Jesus' existence was a Christian invention are highly implausible."

Constructing a historical view

Historians of Christianity analyze the gospels to try to discern the historical man on whom these stories are based. They compare what the gospels say to historical events relevant to the times and places where the gospels were written. They try to answer historical questions about Jesus, such as why he was crucified.

Biblical scholars have used the historical method to develop plausible reconstructions of Jesus' life. Since the 19th century, these scholars have constructed a Jesus different in ways from the image found in the gospels. Scholars of the “historical Jesus” distinguish their concept from the “Jesus Christ” of Christianity.

The principal sources of information regarding Jesus’ life and teachings are the three Synoptic Gospels. Scholars conclude the authors of the gospels wrote a few decades after Jesus’ crucifixion (between 65 – 100 AD/CE), in some cases using sources (the author of Luke-Acts references this explicitly). Historians of Christianity generally describe Jesus as a healer who preached the restoration of God's kingdom.

The English title of Albert Schweitzer’s 1906 book, ''The Quest of the Historical Jesus,'' is a label for the post-Enlightenment effort to describe Jesus using critical historical methods. Since the end of the 18th century, scholars have examined the gospels and tried to formulate historical biographies of Jesus. Contemporary efforts benefit from a better understanding of 1st-century Judaism, renewed Roman Catholic biblical scholarship, broad acceptance of critical historical methods, sociological insights, and literary analysis of Jesus' sayings. The historical outlook on Jesus relies on critical analysis of the Bible, especially the gospels. Many Biblical scholars have sought to reconstruct Jesus’ life in terms of the political, cultural, and religious crises and movements in late 2nd Temple Judaism and in Roman-occupied Palestine, including differences between Galilee and Judaea, and between different sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots, and in terms of conflicts among Jews in the context of Roman occupation.

Languages and background

Jesus grew up in Galilee and much of his ministry took place there. The languages spoken in Galilee and Judea during the first century AD/CE include Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek, with Aramaic being the predominant language. Most scholars agree that during the early part of first century AD/CE Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all women in Galilee and Judae. Most scholars support the theory that Jesus spoke Aramaic and that he may have also spoken Hebrew and Greek.

Major milestones and activities

Baptism by John the Baptist

John the Baptist led a large apocalyptic movement. He demanded repentance and baptism. Jesus was baptized and later began his ministry. After John was executed, some of his followers apparently took Jesus as their new leader. Historians are nearly unanimous in accepting Jesus' baptism as a historical event.

Teaching

Jewish focus – Jesus taught among fellow Jews. Geza Vermes concludes that Jesus' message was exclusively for the Jews, while Gerd Theissen asserts that Jesus' message included themes related to the Gentiles being welcomed into the coming Kingdom.

Arrival of the Kingdom – Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God. He said that the age of the Kingdom had in some sense arrived, starting with the activity of John the Baptist.

Apocalyptic vision – Most scholars hold that the movement Jesus led was apocalyptic, expecting God to intervene imminently to restore Israel. John the Baptist's movement was apocalyptic, and Jesus began his public career as one of his students. Scholars commonly surmise that Jesus' eschatology was apocalyptic, like John's.

Parables – Jesus taught in pithy parables and with striking images. His teaching was marked by hyperbole and unusual twists of phrase. Jesus likened the Kingdom of Heaven to small and lowly things, such as yeast or a mustard seed, that have great effects. Significantly, he never described the Kingdom in military terms. He used his sayings to elicit responses from the audience, engaging them in discussion.

The family of God – Jesus repeatedly set himself at odds with traditional family duties in order to emphasize that the true family of a believer was God's family, forming a community of believers as children of God.

God as a loving father – Jesus placed a special emphasis on God as one's heavenly father. This teaching contrasts with the more common practice of depicting God as a king or lord.

Virtue of being childlike – Jesus was remarkable in stating that one must become like a child to enter the Kingdom of God.

Importance of faith and prayer – Jesus identified faith or trust in God as a primary spiritual virtue. Associated with this main theme, Jesus taught that one should rely on prayer and expect prayer to be effective.

Healing and exorcism – Jesus taught that his healings and exorcisms indicated that a new eschatological age had arrived or was arriving.

Crucifixion

Jewish and Roman authorities in Jerusalem were wary of Galilean patriots, many of whom advocated or launched violent resistance to Roman rule. The gospels demonstrate that Jesus, a charismatic leader regarded as a potential troublemaker, was executed on political charges. Jesus' criticism of the Temple, the disturbance he caused there, and his refusal to renounce claims of kingship convinced the Jewish high priest to allow Jesus to be transferred into Roman custody.

The Gospels report that Jesus foretold his own Passion, but, according to Geza Vermes, the confused and fearful actions of the disciples suggest that it came as a surprise to them.

Jewish religious movements in Jesus' day

Scholars refer to the religious background of the early 1st century to better reconstruct Jesus' life. Some scholars identify him with one or another group.

Pharisees were a powerful force in 1st-century Judaea. Early Christians shared several beliefs of the Pharisees, such as resurrection, retribution in the next world, angels, human freedom, and Divine Providence. After the fall of the Temple, the Pharisee outlook was established in Rabbinic Judaism. Some scholars speculate that Jesus was himself a Pharisee. In Jesus' day, the two main schools of thought among the Pharisees were the House of Hillel, which had been founded by the eminent Tanna, Hillel the Elder, and the House of Shammai. Jesus' assertion of hypocrisy may have been directed against the stricter members of the House of Shammai, although he also agreed with their teachings on divorce. Jesus also commented on the House of Hillel's teachings (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a) concerning the greatest commandment and the Golden Rule. Historians do not know whether there were Pharisees in Galilee during Jesus' life, or what they would have been like.

Sadducees were particularly powerful in Jerusalem. They accepted the written Law only, rejecting the traditional interpretations accepted by the Pharisees, such as belief in retribution in an afterlife, resurrection of the body, angels, and spirits. After Jesus caused a disturbance at the Temple, it was to have been the Sadducees who had him arrested and turned over to the Romans for execution. After the fall of Jerusalem, they disappeared from history.

Essenes were apocalyptic ascetics, one of the three (or four) major Jewish schools of the time, though they were not mentioned in the New Testament. Some scholars theorize that Jesus was an Essene, or close to them. Among these scholars is Pope Benedict XVI, who supposes in his book on Jesus that "it appears that not only John the Baptist, but possibly Jesus and his family as well, were close to the Qumran community."

Zealots were a revolutionary party opposed to Roman rule, one of those parties that, according to Josephus inspired the fanatical stand in Jerusalem that led to its destruction in the year 70 AD/CE. Luke identifies Simon, a disciple, as a "zealot", which might mean a member of the Zealot party (which would therefore have been already in existence in the lifetime of Jesus) or a zealous person. The notion that Jesus himself was a Zealot does not do justice to the earliest Synoptic material describing him.

Higher criticism and Christian scripture

Contemporary historians of Christianity use the historical-critical method (or higher criticism) to examine scripture for clues about the historical Jesus. They sort out sayings and events that are more likely to be genuine and use those to construct their portraits of Jesus. They use standard historical methods to discern who wrote each book, where and when they were written, what sources the authors used, what the authors' agendas were.

Biblical scholars hold that the works describing Jesus were initially communicated by oral tradition, and were not committed to writing until several decades after Jesus' crucifixion. After the original oral stories were written down in Greek, they were transcribed, and later translated into other languages. The books of the New Testament had mostly been written by 100 AD/CE, making them, at least the Synoptic Gospels, historically relevant. The Gospel tradition certainly preserves several fragments of Jesus' teaching. The Gospel of Mark is believed to have been written ''c.'' 70 AD/CE. Matthew is placed at being sometime after this date and Luke is thought to have been written between 70 and 100 AD/CE. According to the majority viewpoint, the gospels were written not by the evangelists identified by tradition but by non-eyewitnesses who worked with second-hand sources and who modified their accounts to suit their religious agendas.

Critical scholars consider scriptural accounts more likely when they are attested in multiple texts, plausible in Jesus' historical environment, and potentially embarrassing to the author's Christian community. The "criterion of embarrassment" holds that stories about events with aspects embarrassing to Christians (such as the denial of Jesus by Peter, or the fleeing of Jesus' followers after his arrest) would likely not have been included if those accounts were fictional. Sayings attributed to Jesus are deemed more likely to reflect his character when they are distinctive, vivid, paradoxical, surprising, and contrary to social and religious expectations, such as "Blessed are the poor". Short, memorable parables and aphorisms capable of being transmitted orally are also thought more likely to be authentic.

The earliest extant texts which refer to Jesus are Paul's letters (mid-1st century), which affirm Jesus' crucifixion. Keulman and Gregory hold that the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus, predates the four orthodox gospels, and believe it may have been composed around mid-1st century.

A minority of prominent scholars, such as J. A. T. Robinson, have maintained that the writers of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John were either apostles and eyewitness to Jesus' ministry and death, or were close to those who had been.

Classicist Michael Grant stated that standard historical criteria prevent one from rejecting the existence of a historical Jesus.

Professor of Divinity James Dunn describes the mythical Jesus theory as a ‘thoroughly dead thesis’.

Religious perspectives

By and large, the Jews of Jesus' day rejected his claim to be the Messiah, as do Jews today. For their part, Christian Church Fathers, Ecumenical Councils, Reformers, and others have written extensively about Jesus over the centuries. Christian sects and schisms have often been defined or characterized by competing descriptions of Jesus. Meanwhile, Gnostics, Mandaeans, Manichaeans, Muslims, Baha'is, and others have found prominent places for Jesus in their own religious accounts.

Christian views

Though Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to describe a general majority Christian view by examining the similarities between specific Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and many Protestant doctrines found in their catechetical or confessional texts. Almost all Christian groups regard Jesus as the "Savior and Redeemer", as the Messiah (Greek: ''Christos''; English: Christ) prophesied in the Old Testament, who, through his life, death, and resurrection, restored humanity's communion with God in the blood of the New Covenant. His death on a cross is understood as the redemptive sacrifice: the source of humanity's salvation and the atonement for sin, which had entered human history through the sin of Adam. Christians profess that Jesus suffered death by crucifixion, and rose bodily from the dead in the definitive miracle that foreshadows the resurrection of humanity at the end of time, when Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead, resulting in either entrance into heaven or damnation.

Christians profess Jesus to be the only Son of God, the Lord, and the eternal Word (which is a translation of the Greek ''Logos''), who became man in the incarnation, so that those who believe in him might have eternal life. They further hold that he was born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit in an event described as the miraculous virgin birth or incarnation. Christians believe that Christ is the true head of the one holy universal and apostolic church.

Orthodox Christians believe that the Godhead is triune, a "Trinity", and that Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, is fully God. As the 6th-century Athanasian Creed says, the Trinity is "one God" and "three persons... and yet they are not three Gods, but one God." Some unorthodox Christian groups do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Unitarianism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals, Sabbatarian Churches of God and the Christadelphians. (See also Nontrinitarianism.)

Christians consider the Gospel and other New Testament accounts of Jesus to be divinely inspired. Christian writers, such as Benedict XVI, proclaim the Jesus of the Gospels, discounting the historical reconstruction of Jesus as entirely inadequate.

Jewish views

Judaism, including Orthodox Judaism, Hareidi Judaism, Reform Judaism, Karaite Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reconstructionist Judaism, rejects the idea of Jesus being God, or a person of a Trinity, or a mediator to God. Judaism also holds that Jesus is not the Messiah, arguing that he had not fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah. According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after Malachi, who lived centuries before Jesus and delivered his prophesies about 420 BC/BCE.

The Talmud includes stories which some consider accounts of Jesus in the Talmud, although there is a spectrum from scholars, such as Maier (1978), who considers that only the accounts with the name ''Yeshu'' refer to the Christian Jesus, and that these are late redactions, to scholars such as Klausner (1925), who suggested that accounts related to Jesus in the Talmud may contain traces of the historical Jesus. However the majority of contemporary historians disregard this material as providing information on the historical Jesus. Many contemporary Talmud scholars view these as comments on the relationship between Judaism and Christians or other sectarians, rather than comments on the historical Jesus.

The ''Mishneh Torah'', an authoritative work of Jewish law, provides the last established consensus view of the Jewish community, in ''Hilkhot Melakhim'' 11:10–12 that Jesus is a "stumbling block" who makes "the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God". Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world — there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him — there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, "Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder." Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcised of heart.}}

According to Conservative Judaism, Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah have "crossed the line out of the Jewish community". Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states "For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate".

Islamic views

In Islam, Jesus (Arabic: عيسى; `Īsā) is considered to be a Messenger of God and the Messiah who was sent to guide the Children of Israel with the Gospel. Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter's coming. Jesus is mentioned more times in the Qur'an, by name, than Muhammad. According to the Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be God's final revelation, Jesus was born to Mary as the result of virginal conception, and was given the ability to perform miracles. Islamic traditions narrate that he will return to earth near the day of judgement to restore justice and defeat the Antichrist.

Ahmadiyya views

The Ahmadiyya Movement considers Jesus a mortal man who died a natural death. According to the early 20th century writings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement), Jesus survived his ordeal on the cross, and after his apparent death and resurrection, he fled Palestine and migrated eastwards to further teach the gospels. Jesus eventually died a natural death of old age in India – Kashmir – and is believed to be buried at Roza Bal.

Although the view of Jesus having migrated to India has also been researched in the publications of independent historians with no affiliation to the movement, the Ahmadiyya Movement are the only religious organization to adopt these views as a characteristic of their faith. The general notion of Jesus in India is older than the foundation of the movement, and is discussed at length by Grönbold and Klatt.

The movement also interprets the second coming of Christ prophesied in various religious texts would be that of a person "similar to Jesus" (''mathīl-i ʿIsā''). Thus, Ahmadi's consider that the founder of the movement and his prophetical character and teachings were representative of Jesus and subsequently a fulfillment of this prophecy.

Bahá'í views

The Bahá'í Faith, founded in 19th-century Persia, considers Jesus, along with Muhammad, the Buddha, Krishna, and Zoroaster, and other messengers of the great religions of the world to be Manifestations of God (or prophets), with both human and divine stations.

God is one and has manifested himself to humanity through several historic Messengers. Bahá'ís refer to this concept as Progressive Revelation, which means that God's will is revealed to mankind progressively as mankind matures and is better able to comprehend the purpose of God in creating humanity. In this view, God's word is revealed through a series of messengers: Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Bahá'u'lláh (the founder of the Bahá'í Faith) among them. In the Book of Certitude, Bahá'u'lláh claims that these messengers have a two natures: divine and human. Examining their divine nature, they are more or less the same being. However, when examining their human nature, they are individual, with distinct personality. For example, when Jesus says "I and my Father are one", Bahá'ís take this quite literally, but specifically with respect to his nature as a Manifestation. When Jesus conversely stated "...And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me", Bahá'ís see this as a simple reference to the individuality of Jesus. This divine nature, according to Bahá'u'lláh, means that any Manifestation of God can be said to be the return of a previous Manifestation, though Bahá'ís also believe that some Manifestations with specific missions return with a "new name", and a different, or expanded purpose. Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is, in both respects, the return of Jesus.

Buddhist views

Buddhists' views of Jesus differ. Some Buddhists, including Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama regard Jesus as a bodhisattva who dedicated his life to the welfare of human beings. The 14th century Zen master Gasan Jōseki indicated that the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels were written by an enlightened man.

Hindu views

In a letter to his daughter Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote, "All over Central Asia, in Kashmir and Ladakh and Tibet and even farther north, there is a strong belief that Jesus or Isa travelled about there."

During the "lost years" not mentioned in the New Testament, Jesus reportedly studied in Nalanda and further in Tibet.

Other views

Mandaeanism, a very small Mideastern, Gnostic sect that reveres John the Baptist as God's greatest prophet, regards Jesus as a false prophet of the false Jewish god of the Old Testament, Adonai, and likewise rejects Abraham, Moses, and Muhammad.

Manichaeism accepted Jesus as a prophet, along with Gautama Buddha and Zoroaster.

The New Age movement entertains a wide variety of views on Jesus. The creators of ''A Course In Miracles'' claim to trance-channel his spirit. However, the New Age movement generally teaches that Christhood is something that all may attain. Theosophists, from whom many New Age teachings originated (a Theosophist named Alice A. Bailey invented the term ''New Age''), refer to Jesus of Nazareth as the Master Jesus and believe he had previous incarnations.

Many writers emphasize Jesus' moral teachings. Garry Wills argues that Jesus' ethics are distinct from those usually taught by Christianity. The Jesus Seminar portrays Jesus as an itinerant preacher who taught peace and love, rights for women and respect for children, and who spoke out against the hypocrisy of religious leaders and the rich. Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a deist, created the Jefferson Bible entitled "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" that included only Jesus' ethical teachings because he did not believe in Jesus' divinity or any of the other supernatural aspects of the Bible.

See also

General topics

* Christian mythology

* INRI (stands for "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews")

Views on Jesus

* Jesusism

* Jews for Jesus

* Pauline Christianity

* Rejection of Jesus

* Historicity of Jesus

* Lost years of Jesus

New Testament Jesus

* King of Kings

* Life of Jesus in the New Testament

* Race of Jesus

Jesus and history

* Apostolic succession

* Christian apologetics

Related lists

* List of books about Jesus

* List of founders of religious traditions

* List of messiah claimants

* List of people claimed to be Jesus

* List of people who have been considered deities

Notes

References

The Bible

Allison, Dale. ''Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999. ISBN 0-8006-3144-7

Brown, Raymond E. ''An Introduction to the New Testament.'' New York: Doubleday, 1997. ISBN 0-385-24767-2

Cohen, Shaye J.D.. ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah''. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0-664-21911-6

Cohen, Shaye J.D. ''The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 0-520-22693-3

Crossan, John Dominic.

* ''The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant.'' New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. ISBN 0-06-061629-6

* ''Who Killed Jesus?: exposing the roots of anti-semitism in the Gospel story of the death of Jesus''. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995. ISBN 978-0-06-061671-7

Davenport, Guy; and Urrutia, Benjamin (trans.) ''The Logia of Yeshua: The sayings of Jesus''. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 1996. ISBN 978-1-887178-70-9

De La Potterie, Ignace. ''The hour of Jesus: The passion and the resurrection of Jesus according to John''. New York: Alba House, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8189-0575-9

Durant, Will. ''Caesar and Christ.'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. ISBN 0-671-11500-6

Ehrman, Bart. ''The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-514183-0

Ehrman, Bart. ''The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-515462-2

Fredriksen, Paula. ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity.'' New York: Vintage, 2000. ISBN 0-679-76746-0

Fredriksen, Paula. ''From Jesus to Christ: The origins of the New Testament images of Christ.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-300-08457-3

Finegan, Jack. ''Handbook of Biblical Chronology'', revised ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1-56563-143-9

Fuller, Reginald H., ''The Foundations of New Testament Christology''. New York: Scribners, 1965. ISBN 0-227-17075-X

Meier, John P., ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'', New York: Anchor Doubleday,

: V. 1, ''The Roots of the Problem and the Person'', 1991. ISBN 0-385-26425-9 : V. 2, ''Mentor, Message, and Miracles'', 1994. ISBN 0-385-46992-6 : V. 3, ''Companions and Competitors'', 2001. ISBN 0-385-46993-4

O'Collins, Gerald. ''Interpreting Jesus.'' "Introducing Catholic theology". London: G. Chapman; Ramsey, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983. ISBN 978-0-8091-2572-2

Pelikan, Jaroslav. ''Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07987-7

Robinson, John A. T. ''Redating the New Testament.'' Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001 (original 1977). ISBN 1-57910-527-0.

Sanders, E.P. ''The Historical Figure of Jesus.'' London: Allen Lane Penguin Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-7139-9059-1

Sanders, E.P. ''Jesus and Judaism.'' Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8006-2061-5

Vermes, Géza. ''Jesus in his Jewish Context.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0-8006-3623-6

Vermes, Géza. ''Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1981. ISBN 0-8006-1443-7

Vermes, Géza. ''The Religion of Jesus the Jew.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1993. ISBN 0-8006-2797-0

Wilson, A.N. ''Jesus.'' London: Pimlico, 2003. ISBN 0-7126-0697-1

Wright, N.T. ''Jesus and the Victory of God.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1997. ISBN 0-8006-2682-6

Wright, N.T. ''The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God.'' Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0-8006-2679-6

External links

Complete Sayings of Jesus Christ In Parallel Latin & English

"Jesus Christ." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 12 Nov. 2009

''From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians'' — documentary about Jesus' life and the early Church.

The Jewish Roman World of Jesus

Category:0s BC births Category:1st-century deaths Category:1st-century executions Category:Apocalypticists Category:Carpenters Category:Christian mythology Category:Christian religious leaders Category:Creator gods Category:Deified people Category:Founders of religions Category:God in Christianity Category:Islamic mythology Category:Jewish Messiah claimants Category:Life-death-rebirth gods Category:Messianism Category:New Testament people Category:People executed by crucifixion Category:People executed by the Roman Empire Category:People from Bethlehem Category:People from Nazareth Category:Prophets in Christianity Category:Prophets of Islam Category:Roman era Jews Category:Savior gods Category:Self-declared messiahs Category:Rabbis of the Land of Israel

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Name	Larry Norman
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Larry David Norman
Birth date	April 08, 1947Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Death date	February 24, 2008Salem, Oregon, United States
Origin	San Jose, California, US
Genre	Rock music, Folk rock, Jesus music, Gospel rock
Years active	1966–2007
Label	Capitol, MGM/Verve, Solid Rock, Phydeaux
Website	larrynorman.com}}

Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008 ) was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music. Since Norman's first professional release in 1967, more than 100 of his own albums have been released through such commercial record labels as Capitol, MGM, Verve, and his own independent labels: One Way Records, Solid Rock Records, Street Level Records, and Phydeaux Records.

In January 1973 ''Cashbox'' named Norman as one of the Best New Male Artists of the year. In 1989 Norman was awarded the Christian Artists' Society Lifetime Achievement Award. On 27 November 2001 Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium, and was voted into the CCM Hall of Fame in January 2004 by the readers of ''CCM'' magazine. In 2007 Norman was inducted into the ''San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame'', both as a member of People!, and as a solo artist. At that time Norman reunited for a concert with People! In 2009 Norman was among those honored in a tribute segment of the Grammy Awards.

Early life

Larry Norman was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the oldest son of Joe Hendrex "Joe Billy" Norman (9 December 1923 – 28 April 1999), who had served as a sergeant in the US Army Air Corps during World War II and worked at the Southern Pacific Railroad while studying to become a teacher, and his wife, Margaret Evelyn "Marge" Stout (born in 1925 in Nebraska). After Norman's birth his parents joined the Southern Baptist church, which prohibited dancing, going to the cinema, and "almost everything that didn't occur inside [the Church]". Because of his religious convictions, Norman's father discouraged any interest in music by his children. Norman noted, "We were poor and I had no children's records in Texas. But I listened to my parents' radio whenever they turned it on. I developed an appreciation for swing music, big band arrangements and solo singers like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby". Also from an early age, he listened to the "blues and Negro spirituals on 78s his grandfather [Burl W. Stout] had collected". Other musical influences he later acknowledged included gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, Belgian jazz musician Django Reinhardt, American concert singer Paul Robeson, and Black comedian Bert Williams. Norman was strongly influenced also by classical music, jazz, blues music, and black gospel music, but "didn't like country and western ... because of the nasal, twangy vocals", or "some kinds of fast-paced jazz".

In 1950 Norman and his parents moved to San Francisco, California where the family attended a Black American Pentecostal church, later they attended the First Baptist Church at 22 Waller Street where Norman became a Christian in 1952 at the age of five. He began composing songs around this time. He stated, "I started to write music when I was four or five and didn't realise I was composing tonally because I was simply using the piano". He recalled: "When I was five I wrote a song about the rain because I loved the San Francisco drizzles, and later I wrote about a dog because I couldn't have one, and a clown because my uncle was a circus performer, and when I was eight I wrote a song ["Riding in the Saddle"] about a cowboy in the desert watching the stars at night and thinking about God because I often looked at the stars and tried to picture Heaven", inspired by seeing Roy Rogers and hearing Dale Evans give her testimony at the civic auditorium. Among his earliest songs was "Lonely Boy" (1956), "The Man From Galilee" (1956) "inspired by Sunday School stories", the unreleased "Bopping With My Girl"; "My Feet are on the Rock" (1958), "The Thanksgiving Song" (1959); "Country Church, Country People" (1959), was written for his grandmother Lena.

From 1956 Norman was fascinated with the music of Elvis Presley. According to Norman, his father banned him from listening to rock and roll music on the radio. Norman frequently accompanied his father on Christian missions to prisons and hospitals. In 1959, he performed on Ted Mack's syndicated CBS television show ''The Original Amateur Hour''. In 1960 his father accepted a teaching job in San José, California. The family lived in Campbell, California, Later, while a junior at Campbell High School, he was the youngest person voted into the Edwin Markham Poetry Society, and won first place in the Society's student poetry contest. Norman won an academic scholarship to major in English at San Jose State College. By the fall of 1965 Norman left the family home and rented an apartment in Downtown San Jose. After one semester, he "flunked out of college and lost [his] scholarship".

Career

Back Country Seven (1964–1965)

While still a high school student, Norman formed a group called The Back Country Seven, which included his sister, Nancy Jo; Mark A. Ebner, and high school friend, Gene Mason, who was later to be (alongside Norman) one of the lead singers of People!. The Back Country Seven played at hootenannies held at Campbell High and throughout San José. After graduating from high school, Norman became involved in the local rock music scene in San José, opening for both The Doors and Jimi Hendrix.

People! (1965–1968)

In 1966 Norman opened a concert for People! at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California.

Norman became the band's principal songwriter, sharing lead vocals with Gene M. Mason.

Capitol Records signed People! to a record deal at the beginning of 1966. As Norman was legally underage, he required parental permission and court approval to sign.

People! performed about 200 concerts a year, appearing with Van Morrison and Them, The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere & the Raiders, The Doors, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Moby Grape, and San Jose bands Syndicate of Sound, and Count Five.

In 1967 Capitol released People!'s first single "Organ Grinder/Riding High", with both songs co-written by Norman and Mason, and produced by their manager, Mikel Hunter "Captain Mikey" Herrington. It failed to chart. In 1968 Capitol released People!'s second single, also produced by Captain Mikey, an extended cover version of The Zombies' non-chart song "I Love You",, backed by "Somebody Tell Me My Name". After extensive promotion by the band and its manager, and industry advertising by Capitol, including the creation of a promotional film that appeared on Dick Clark's ''American Bandstand'', "I Love You" became a hit single, selling more than one million copies. It reached reaching a peak of #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #13 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles Chart in June 1968,. It became a #1 single in several markets, including Italy, Israel, and Japan. People! continued to tour extensively, appearing three times on Dick Clark's ''American Bandstand'', and also on Johnny Carson's ''Tonight Show''.

Despite the success of "I Love You", and despite favorable reviews, the subsequent album, named after their hit single and released in July 1968, only reached No. 138 on the Billboard charts. In August 1968 Capitol released People!'s third single "Apple Cider", backed with "Ashes of Me", but it failed to chart.

By the time the ''I Love You'' album was released and the band undertook its first major tour of the USA in the summer of 1968, Norman had left People!. Norman and Mason reunited in 1974 for a benefit concert for Israel at UCLA, later released in 1980 as the live album ''Larry Norman and People!—The Israel Tapes—1974 A.D.'' Norman, Fridkin and Mason came together in August 2006 for a People! reunion concert in the G. Herbert Smith Auditorium on the Willamette University campus in Salem, Oregon.

Hollywood street ministry (1968–1969)

Soon after Norman left People!, he had "a powerful spiritual encounter that threw him into a frenzy of indecision about his life [and] for the first time in his life, he received what he understood to be the Holy Spirit". Norman moved back home to live with his parents, with no plans for his future. In answer to his father's inquiry, Norman responded: "My plans? Oh, I've got great plans. I'm going to sit down in the middle of my life and I'm not moving until God comes and gets me". Norman was offered a position with Youth For Christ, and a week later was invited by Herb Hendler to come to Hollywood to write musicals for Capitol Records. Norman recalled in 2007 that he "just prayed and prayed and prayed. And I had no peace about joining YFC. And a lot of peace about Hollywood. But God was silent".

In July 1968, Norman moved to Los Angeles and rented "a tiny, one-room, flophouse apartment, with the rent paid on a monthly basis and no lease, water or electricity costs required" at Apartment 406 at 1140 North Gower Street, Hollywood. near the corner with Santa Monica Boulevard, across the street from the Hollywood Memorial Cemetery.

In 1969 Norman auditioned for a role in the Los Angeles production of the rock musical ''Hair'', which was playing at the Aquarius Theatre at 6230 Sunset Boulevard, and which was directed by Tom O'Horgan and produced by Michael Butler and the Smothers Brothers. As co-creators James Rado and Gerome Ragni and half of the cast were leaving the production to join the Acapulco production, Norman and his friend, Teddy Neeley, were offered the replacement parts as George Berger and Claude Bukowski respectively. Norman indicated in a July 2007 interview, "When I got [to Los Angeles], there were auditions for ''Hair''. And I thought, I'm going to try out for ''Hair'' just to see if I have what it takes. Because maybe I'm just some lame person and I shouldn't be in music at all. So I tried out for ''Hair'', and they gave me a callback and they said 'You're it. Come down on Saturday, there's a contract waiting for you to sign'. Believing God had something more important for him to do, and that "Jesus is the only personal, social and political answer for this generation or any other", Norman rejected the role because "of its glorification of drugs and free sex as the answers to today's problems". Norman decided "I couldn't do it when I found out what it was about. I just didn't agree with what it had to say. So I turned it down". Neeley accepted the role of Claude, but the role offered to Norman eventually went to Ben Vereen. Norman, who was broke, went home to his apartment, locked his guitar in the closet, and cried.

Years later Norman would recall that "It was a beautiful time of my life because it was just me and Jesus. And I had to depend on him, which I wanted to, because nothing else was happening. I wasn't performing, I'd given up music. 'Cause I wanted to be pure". In 2006 Norman recalled: "Even after one of my recordings had charted, I continued to live a spartan existence, slept on the floor, got my teeth fixed without a shot of Novocaine, chose to have no car and walked everywhere – trying to toughen myself for whatever vicissitudes the future might bring. I wasn't concerned with the ephemeral, wasn't really emotionally geared up for wide public acceptance; I was busy getting ready for the end of the world." According to Norman, about this time he wrote his most covered song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready", "right after I gave up music completely so I could talk to people on the streets. I felt that rock music and love and peace was all a big lie". In a 2001 interview, Norman indicated: "The Bible says we should go into prisons and hospitals and witness to people and also bring them encouragement. ... I wanted to go out into the streets and witness to the people on Hollywood & Sunset Boulevard whether they were prostitutes or homosexuals or drug users and bring them into the kingdom. I remember getting a lot of irritated responses because they thought I wanted to turn the church into a half-way house. No I didn't – I wanted to turn the church into a house that brought people all the way through to the kingdom". Norman recalled: "One night I was singing on stage and Janis Joplin was sitting behind the front curtain watching the concert with a bottle of Southern Comfort in one hand and she was sipping whiskey from a paper cup. She was drunk and really unhappy. And every now and then, she would start yelling at me. I wrote "Why Don't You Look Into Jesus" about Janis. I felt really sad for her. I felt sad for all of them. They seemed so unhappy and so lost. I couldn't easily break through the haze of drugs by using music. I felt like the only time I had any real effectiveness was in personal conversations. At one point I even felt that maybe music was of no use at all. So I gave it up. All I did was street witness."

After Norman moved to Los Angeles in 1968, he "spent time sharing the gospel on the streets of Los Angeles", especially along Hollywood Boulevard. Norman described his street witnessing: "When I left my band in 1968 and moved to Los Angeles, I didn't feel awkward about witnessing anymore – I felt directed. I chose my ground and worked my beat. I walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard several times a day; at first alone, then with Richard Gerstle and later Sarah Finch, witnessing to businessmen and hippies, and to whomever the Spirit led me. I spent all of my Capitol Records' royalties starting a halfway house and buying clothes and food for new converts. Each Friday and Saturday I borrowed cars and drove almost 150 miles to pick up certain kids and take them to a church in a home in Santa Ana. Our meetings usually lasted five hours on Friday and eight hours on Sunday.

After he moved to Los Angeles in 1968, Norman was associated initially with the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, California, and its Salt Company coffee shop outreach ministry, which operated in the upstairs loft of a converted apartment building located behind the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Glenn D. Kittle believes that "rock-gospel music was born at the Salt Company Coffeehouse" by Norman. According to Don Williams, who founded the Salt Company coffeehouse in the summer of 1968, Norman "heard ‘The Agape,’ a hard rock Christian group, play songs about Jesus", which "convinced Larry that he could use his rock music to communicate the gospel".

After several months of musical inactivity, Norman began writing songs again. He recalled: "And months later the music started coming to me in my sleep. And I realized that somehow, perhaps because I was willing to give it up, the music had changed." One of those songs was "I've Searched All Around the World", which Norman says was "written in 1968 after walking up and down Hollywood Boulevard almost every day for a year talking to the runaways, pushers, bikers, prostitutes and homeless winos". According to Philip Cooney: "Norman's songs often contain a series of self-contained vignettes that (he hoped) would give the passers-by something to think about, or that might hook them in to hear more of the gospel message. The audience for these songs was not those already saved, it was those to whom church was a foreign language. He understood the ability of music to get behind people's gates, to draw them in with a beautiful melody and good words, to make people drop their defensive position to the gospel—even if for a short time—and allow God to speak to them in that moment....Norman's songs sought to have a relevance to life on the street, establishing a rapport with the musical and social culture around him, and leading his listeners to look to Jesus for the answers in their search for meaning."

Norman had a "passion for the pavement [and] he took his signature voice and his beat-up nylon-string guitar to festivals, coffee shops, and major theaters", including concerts at The Troubador and The Hollywood Bowl, "witnessing before and after the performances on the streets during the day and to the customers after the gigs." Norman appeared with the Salt Company band in a concert at the Vogue Theater in 1970.

Musicals (1968–1969)

In 1968 Norman wrote several songs for the rock musical ''Alison'', which was performed in Los Angeles, and ''Birthday for Shakespeare'', also performed in Los Angeles. Soon after ''Birthday for Shakespeare'' was performed, Norman decided to produce his own works.

In 1969 Norman was involved writing the rock opera ''Lion's Breath''. His work on this musical "caught Capitol's attention and they lured him back in 1969, promising him total control over his next album, ''Upon This Rock''".

Norman's next musical was ''Love on Haight Street'', also written in 1969, and another project that involved Norman was ''Bailey''; Some songs from these unreleased musicals appeared later on various albums.

Capitol Records (1969–1970)

''Upon This Rock'' (1969)

In 1969 Norman returned to Capitol Records, now headed by Mike Curb, to honor his original 1966 contract with the understanding that he would have complete artistic control. Believing that "Kids just don't want to listen to God's empty songs anymore", in December 1969 Capitol released Norman's first solo rock album, ''Upon This Rock'', "the first major label record to marry rock music with the gospel", "the Sergeant Pepper of Christianity", widely regarded as "the album that first recruited rock in the service of salvation", later cited as being "one of the roots of the current Contemporary Christian Music"; and now considered to be the first full-blown Christian rock album". ''Upon This Rock'', whose music was "a blend of folk, psychedelic, and rock influences", combined "street language and gritty imagery".

While Norman was denounced by television evangelists like Bob Larson; Jimmy Swaggart, who called rock music "the new pornography"; and Jerry Falwell; and others within the conservative religious establishment, who considered the development of Christian rock-and-roll, "a sinful compromise with worldliness and immoral sensuality", his music gained a large following in the emerging counter cultural movements.

In February 1970, two months after ''Upon This Rock'' was released, Capitol dropped Norman from their label, as the album was deemed a "commercial flop" as it had failed to reach the sales target Capitol expected, telling Norman that "there is no market for your music." Norman analyzed its poor reception in a 1972 interview: "It was too religious for the rock and roll stores and too rock and roll for the religious stores." In April 1970 Capitol leased ''Upon This Rock'' to Heartwarming/Impact Records for two years a small sum. While Norman decided to leave Capitol Records in protest, because he had a different audience in mind, he cooperated with the re-release of ''Upon This Rock''.

''Upon This Rock'' received increased sales due to its distribution in Christian bookstores, and "became Benson's most acclaimed release", selling 23,000 copies when it was eventually released in England in 1972 through Key Records. In 1971 ''Upon This Rock'' was submitted unsuccessfully for Grammy Award nomination. By May 1970 Capitol released a single (Capitol 2766) with both songs from ''Upon This Rock'': "Sweet Sweet Song Of Salvation" backed with "Walking Backwards Down The Stairs".

1969–1971

Norman continued playing Christian rock, mostly to audiences in California during this period. By October 1969 Norman was a regular performer at the Salt Company, "a combination of late Victorian and early Salvation Army", which held concerts on weekends in the upstairs loft of a converted apartment building in downtown Hollywood. Norman would frequently show up at the Hollywood Palladium unannounced and unscheduled on Sunday afternoons and sing to as many as 4,000 people at the Jesus People Festivals organized by Duane Pederson. At the "Rock of Ages Folk Festival" held on 26 February 1970 in Northridge, California, Norman appeared as part of the Larry Norman Experience. In March 1970 Norman performed at the Youth for Christ-sponsored Faith Festival, the first major Jesus music festival, at Evansville, Indiana, which attracted 6,000 people to hear him, Pat Boone and his family, Christian folk singer Gene Cotton, and Jesus rock artists Danny Taylor, Crimson Bridge, and ''e'', a band that included Greg X. Volz. In October 1970 Norman and Randy Stonehill, who had only become a Christian in August, were among those who performed at an Earth Harvest concert at Thy Brother's House, a Jesus coffee house near the campus of California State University at Fullerton, California.

In a 1970 concert Norman wrote "The Tune", which one reviewer described as "probably ... Larry's finest achievement as a songwriter and recording artist", while improvising on the piano. While some claim "The Tune" was inspired by Bill Gaither and Gloria Gaither's 1969 song "God Gave the Song", Norman claims in a 1981 article in ''Contemporary Christian Music'' magazine: "Bill Gaither's music first came to my attention in 1973 when a friend played me 'God Gave the Song'. I was shocked; perhaps for personal reasons more than reasons of musical taste. 'God Gave the Song' seemed striking and yet very familiar." On the Phydeaux website, it reads: "'The Tune' was written by Larry in 1971 (sic). During the next two years an author, [Calvin Miller] from the town where Larry first performed this, wrote a book called "The Singer" and another book called "The Song." The books were gigantic sellers. And the biggest gospel artist [Bill Gaither] from the Southern gospel end of Christian show biz (who shall remain nameless) took "The Tune", kept the tempo and the flavor and re-titled it "God Gave The Song." It was one of the biggest hits the artist had up until that point. When Bill and Gloria Gaither created their 1973 musical ''Alleluia!: A Praise Gathering for Believers'', "the first album from a Christian record company to achieve this honor", which was certified gold by the RIAA, and nominated in 1974 for a Dove Award for Gospel Song of the Year, their arranger Ronn Huff added the prefatory words to "God Gave the Song" that are similar to those in "The Tune". While "The Tune" was played frequently in concerts since its composition, it was first recorded in a studio in 1977, backed by 45 piece orchestra, and only released in 1983.

Norman, along with Pat Boone; Arthur Blessitt; Duane Pederson; Jack Sparks, a founder of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project; and other Jesus People leaders were prominent participants in the Spiritual Revolution Day march and rally in Sacramento, California on 13 February 1971. By 1971 Norman was playing at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa in Orange County, where other Jesus music pioneers (and future Maranatha! Music artists) Love Song, Chuck Girard, The Way, and Children of the Day were also performing.

One Way Records (1970–1971)

After receiving his only royalty check from Capitol in 1970 for songs he had written for People!, Norman moved from the "rat-hole" apartment at Gower Street and established a half-way house on North Beachwood Drive, Hollywood, where he "housed and fed various groups of people, supervised their Bible studies and drove them to church on Fridays and Sundays". However, after he "ran out of money", Norman negotiated to write songs on demand for Capitol and was paid $80 per month subsistence advanced against future earnings, for his work polishing and refining songs for ''H.R. Pufnstuf'', Hawaiian singer Alfred Alpaka, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, and was even asked to write English lyrics for the Japanese song "Sukiyaki". Norman claims he contributed 87 songs the first year of this arrangement, but was never compensated

By August 1970 Norman had moved to a three room "little white cottage" at 6007 Carlos Avenue, Hollywood, near the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. About that time Norman was in negotiations to sign with Elektra Records, but "it fell through when the president of the label was confronted by someone who gave him a copy of the ''Hollywood Free Paper''. He feared that I was part of an abrasive subculture and took back his offer". On 3 September 1970 Norman began writing a regular column called "As I See It" in the ''Hollywood Free Paper'', an evangelistic newspaper founded by Duane Pederson, one of the leaders of the Jesus People in Hollywood and Los Angeles."

Seeking to make a "more earthy sounding album which I could hand out to the street people I talked to on Hollywood Boulevard", in 1970 Norman established One Way Records with his own money, which was described as "an underground experimental" label, which was headquartered initially at his rented home at 6007 Carlos Avenue, Hollywood. When Norman left Capitol he took with him "demos" of songs he had recorded between 1966 and 1969, some of which were released on his One Way albums. Norman recorded, produced and released two independent albums of his own music through his One Way Records: ''Street Level'' (1970) and ''Bootleg'' (1971). Both albums "would feature grainy, underground looking black and white artwork. Both would also be ... mixing live concert recording, studio demos of previously unreleased songs and future classics. These albums would also reveal the smart and piercing humor Norman would always be noted for. Norman concerts were part rock and roll show, part revival meeting and part stand up comedy. This facet of his life and ministry would be introduced on these two albums. According to Norman, One Way "used secular sub-distributors or "rack jobbers" and "one stops" to disseminate its records". Additionally Creative Sound, owned by Bob Cotterell, released and distributed ''Street Level'', as well as Stonehill's ''Born Twice''.

In 1970 One Way Records released ''Street Level'', which had on side one "a [1969] live concert recorded at Hollywood's First Presbyterian Church which ran a nightclub called the Salt Company". As the first version of Street Level was "too confusing to the Christians", Norman recorded "a second version for the church kids" in 1971 that completely replaced side two with one recorded with a band called White Light. After its release in 1970, the ''Hollywood Free Paper'' described Norman as "a combination of lyricist, composer, performer, backwoods preacher [and] poet." In 1971 Norman produced an album (''Born Twice'') for Randy Stonehill, who had been converted in August 1970 in Norman's kitchen.

In 1971 Norman started Street Level Productions, Inc., a legal corporation with the mission to "reach intro the streets; to avoid the lofty climes and the commercial heights and to labor instead at street level." Street Level (and One Way Records) was headquartered at 7046 Hollywood Boulevard. Also headquartered at that address was New Generation Artists, which managed Norman at that time.

In early 1972 One Way Records released ''Bootleg'', a double album retrospective covering the previous four years of Norman's career compiled from demonstration recordings made while at Capitol, private recordings from his friends, and various interviews and live performances. In 1999 Norman explained the unpolished nature of ''Bootleg'': "Many songs which ended up being released on Bootleg, ... weren't really finished but I had to release the album immediately so it wouldn't violate the terms of my MGM contract which was soon going to be in effect. ... I just didn't have time to finish it. ... I didn't have the budget to make it a real album, I just used songs laying around to fill it up, which I regretted".

MGM/Verve (1971–1974)

Despite the offer of a revised contract from Capitol Records, in 1971 Norman decided to sign with MGM Records, who had decided to sign Norman on the basis of his work on ''Street Level'' and ''Bootleg'', but Norman accepted a publishing agreement with Capitol. By 1971 Norman was associated with Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. By 1973 over 200 "covers" had been recorded of Norman's songs, including by Cliff Richard, Jack Jones, Petula Clark, Sammy Davis, Jr., Pat Boone, The Imperials, and The Oak Ridge Boys.

In November 1971, Norman recorded "Without Love You Are Nothing" (also known as "Righteous Rocker") and "Peace, Pollution, Revolution" in Los Angeles for MGM.

In 1971 Norman visited England for the first time, and lived in a house at 153 Park Lane, Carshalton, where he wrote a number of songs including "The Great American Novel", and the as yet unreleased "Living on Park Lane". Norman had an influence on the emerging English gospel music scene. Early in 1972 ''Upon This Rock'' was released in England, and sold 5,000 copies in its first three months, making it the top selling religious album in England. In March 1972 Norman performed 38 concerts in 35 days, including a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in the Spring of 1972, for which he claims he was only given about $700 by the tour promoter. His song "Stop This Flight" describing the vicissitudes of touring and record companies was inspired by this tour.

In June 1972 Norman was one of the featured performers at "probably the high-water mark of the Jesus Movement", Explo '72, the "Jesus Woodstock", "Godapalooza", or "Godstock", which attracted 80,000 young people to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, On 17 June, the final night of Explo' 72, with "the thousands who showed up included everything from short-hairs out of conservative Bible colleges to hair-to-your-waist devotees of Larry Norman, Christian rock, and the Jesus People". Norman performed a fifteen minute set before his largest ever crowd at the eight hour Jesus Music Festival that attracted an estimated 180,000 people to a speedway at the uncompleted Woodall Rodgers Freeway near Dallas, Texas. At the conclusion of his set, which included "I Wish We'd All Been Ready", the "laconic lament" of the Jesus Movement, Norman encouraged those attending: "Don't let this week of love pass away – let it be for a lifetime". Norman is included on the subsequent commemorative album, ''Jesus Sound Explosion'', which was sent free to 170,000 viewers of the television program, singing his "Sweet, Sweet Song of Salvation". On 21 June 1972 ''Beware! The Blob'' (also known as ''Son of Blob''), in which Norman appeared briefly, was released in the USA.

On Saturday, September 2, 1972 Norman also performed at the Festival of Light-sponsored Festival for Jesus held in Hyde Park, London, which was filmed and released as a 50-minute documentary ''Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?'', which featured Norman's 1972 song of the same name, which was written in response to the criticisms of Christian Rock music by American evangelist Bob Larson, whom Norman regularly lampooned at his concerts. Norman's 1969 apocalyptic song, I Wish We'd All Been Ready”, was also featured in the 1972 Christian end times film ''A Thief in the Night'', which was watched by an estimated 50,000,000 people, but sung by an obscure group known as The Fishmarket Combo.

''Only Visiting This Planet'' (1972)

On 8 September 1972 Norman began recording his second studio album, ''Only Visiting This Planet'', the first album in a projected trilogy, in George Martin's London AIR Studios. ''Only Visiting This Planet'', which was "Initially coordinated by George Martin", and was produced by The Triumvirate of British producers Rod Edwards, Roger Hand, and Jon Miller, often ranked as Norman's best album, "mixed his Christian message with strong political themes", and "was meant to reach the flower children disillusioned by the government and the church" with its "abrasive, urban reality of the gospel". In 1990 CCM magazine voted ''Only Visiting This Planet'' as "the greatest Christian album ever recorded".

On January 6, 1973 Norman was one of three named as Best New Male Artist of the year by ''Cashbox''. and performed in two sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. After a tour of South Africa in June and the UK in July, and the release in July of his "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?", a songbook featuring some of Norman's songs from both ''Upon This Rock'' and ''Only Visiting This Planet''.

''So Long Ago the Garden'' (1973)

On 7 August 1973 Norman entered AIR studios in London to record his favorite album, the second album in his Trilogy, ''So Long Ago the Garden'', which was produced again by Edwards, Hand, and Miller. According to John J. Thompson, "lyrically, as the title suggests, the album reflects on the nature of the human condition. The songs deal with characters ... knee deep in the madness of life without God". By 1 October 1973 these recording sessions were completed and the recordings were submitted to MGM. However, financial problems at MGM, which would result in its collapse within fifteen months, "couldn't adequately promote or advertise the album. The corporate attention was focused on more pressing things like survival and solvency". According to Norman, the record company dropped several Christian songs, including "Butterfly," "If God Is My Father," "Kulderachna", and "I Hope I'll See You In Heaven", in favor of more lightweight love songs like "Fly, Fly, Fly," the album's opening track", and "Christmastime', both previously released as singles.

The release of ''So Long Ago the Garden'' in November 1973 caused controversy in the Christian press primarily due to its album cover, which some insisted featured a naked Norman, and that this was proof he had fallen away from God. As John J. Thompson explains: "The cover featured a seminude Norman with a photo of a lion superimposed on his skin. The symbolism (an Old Testament prophecy referred to the Messiah as 'the lion of the tribe of Judah,' and C.S. Lewis' Narnia series made a Christlike figure out of a lion named Aslan, as well as the obvious insinuation of Adam in the Garden of Eden, flew over the heads of many people, who focused on a patch of grass covering Larry's nether parts". Steve Turner adds: "The songs which examined the fall were mostly written from the perspective of the scarred and his public just could not take the idea of an artist taking another persona to make a point. To them he was a backslider who had broken with his wife and was seeking fame (the ideas being taken from his songs)". Turner indicated that Bible bookstores, especially in the southern and midwestern States of the USA, refused to sell his albums, and that all of his concerts were canceled until Noel Paul Stookey invited him onto stage during one of his concerts eighteen months later.

However, believing that MGM was interfering with the subject matter of his records, by 1974 Norman left MGM due to "a squabble with MGM over song choices for his next album, ... So Long Ago the Garden". Not long after this decision, MGM Records folded due to economic difficulties.

Comedies (1971–1973)

During this period Norman wrote at least three comedies: ''X-Mass'' (1971), ''Also Sprach Kazoostra'' (1972) and ''The Gospel According To Moresell, Moresold'' (1973).

Street Level Artists Agency (1974–1980)

Norman was described as "a stubbornly independent artist for three decades." During this time Norman saw the need for a booking agency to manage and book Christian artists that "could really be much more Christian. It could be much more free of financial motives and goals", and so started Street Level Artists Agency in 1974. At this time Norman and his manager Phillip F. Mangano (born 30 November 1947), "came up with a vision to raise up artists to be truly creative and take the message of Christ into a mainstream environment." Some of those he felt led to help "were on drugs so he spent time helping them with their personal life and bringing them to a converted lifestyle".

Solid Rock Records (1974–1981)

In 1974 Norman founded Solid Rock Records to produce records for Christian artists who, like himself, had "no commercial value." Norman intended Solid Rock to be "a "musical L'Abri", and "more than business though, it was community." "Solid Rock became an important moment in the history of Christian rock music since it was the first truly artist-driven label". According to Norman, the purpose of Solid Rock was "to help other artists who didn't want to be consumed by the business of making vinyl pancakes but who wanted to make something 'non-commercial' to the world".

In 1974 Norman and Kenn Gulliksen started a Bible Study in the living room of Norman's apartment at Doheny and Sunset in Los Angeles that was only for musicians and actors, including regulars Jerry Houser and Julie Harris, which after six months, was named "The Vineyard", and later, with another Bible study at the home of Chuck Girard, became part of the founding congregation of the Association of Vineyard Churches. This Bible Study met at his home until 1977, when Norman and his wife left on a seven-month world tour. By March 1975 Norman was attending the Little Brown Church in Studio City.

ABC Records (1974–1976)

In 1974 Norman signed to the mainstream label ABC Records, who agreed to distribute Solid Rock's records. According to Norman, ''Orphans From Eden'', his first album submitted to ABC, which included collaborations with his sister, Kristy, was never released. Another album recorded in 1974 that was rejected by Word Records was ''Streams of White Light Into Darkened Corners'', a documentary album that took "a satirical look at the early 70's 'religious pop music' trend from 1970 to 1974", written by celebrities who had "jumped on the `70s spiritual bandwagon", and featured Norman singing covers of religious songs by Norman Greenbaum, Paul Simon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, Randy Newman, Leon Russell, Jackson Browne, and the Rolling Stones, and was not released until 1977 by AB Records.

''In Another Land'' (1976)

In 1975 Norman recorded ''In Another Land'', the third album in his trilogy, which was released in 1976 through his own Solid Rock label and distributed through Word Records, making it "the first of his albums to be released on a Christian label". However, according to Norman, "In Another Land, was executorially censored by the "mother company" which insisted on removing any music they felt was "too negative" or "too controversial." ''In Another Land'' was Norman's best-selling album ever, and had the best reception of any of his albums from the Christian establishment. By 1985 ''In Another Land'' had sold 120,000 copies in the USA alone, compared with average sales of less than ten thousand for other gospel albums,

Word Records (1976–1981)

In 1976 ABC Records bought Word Records, and they switched Norman to its Word subsidiary. infusing it with $17 million in capital. Until 1980 Solid Rock records would be distributed by Word, giving them a more direct distribution into Christian bookstores. After ''In Another Land'', Norman had completed his first cycle of seven albums, and wanted to change musical directions, but, according to Norman, "the record company was not interested in anything less than Part Four of The Trilogy; an impossibility, conceptually and emotionally". Norman indicated in 1991 that he had wanted to postpone ''Something New under the Son'', the first album in a projected second cycle of seven albums, but to record:

"a more street-orientated, guitar based, trash can orchestra of angry and honest songs I was writing and recording."

However, ''Le Garage Du Monde'' was "considered too far over-the-edge for the American youth gospel market and never released". In 1976 Norman recorded songs for his proposed Red, White and Blues trilogy, a projected American anthology of three albums for the United States Bicentennial, that would focus on the roots of American music. Known as the "Black and White" sessions, because they "explored both American black music from Slavery to the present, and American white music from early traditional music to modern folk songs". Norman revealed that "I recorded "This Land Is Your Land" and "They Laid Jesus Christ in His Grave" with a guitar I borrowed that was Woody Guthrie's; found broken in a field with a bird nest inside. I included a song of my own called "When The Moon Shines On The Moonshine" along with other songs like "Turn, Turn, Turn", and "The Eve Of Destruction". ... Neither the album of black music nor white music was approved for release on Solid Rock Records and I finally resolved to abandon both albums. Some of the Bicentennial music was later gathered together with other unreleased songs under the title ''Rough Mix 2''", which covered material from 1972 to 1978, and which also contained "other projects which had been censored, rejected, or never heard for various other reasons", was only released officially in April 2011.

''Something New Under the Son'' (1976–1981)

In 1976 Norman acquiesced and recorded ''Something New under the Son'', a blues-rock concept album that some regard as his ''tour de force'', and as "one of the roughest, bluesiest, and best rock and roll albums of his career or the whole industry", that took its title from "an ironic inversion of a phrase in Ecclesiastes", namely: "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9b). While Norman explicitly denied this album was autobiographical in the accompanying lyric songbook, many years later some critics challenged this claim, arguing "Norman was struggling through his own divorce and identity crisis at the time". In 1999 Norman responded by arguing that when he completed the album in 1976, he was married happily and that several of the songs were written before he had met his wife. Norman indicated that the songs chronicled "Pilgrim's" journey into faith.

Norman had intended to release this as a double album with his 1971 song "The Tune" on the second album (and a blank fourth side or a side with a lengthy version of "Watch What You're Doing"). However, Word rejected Norman's wishes as they believed two separate albums would be more profitable, censored some of the songs, and delayed the album's release until 1981. The full length (almost 12 minutes) version of "The Tune" was recorded in Hollywood in 1977, but not released until 1983 on the album ''The Story of the Tune'', which is called "the continuation of ''Something New Under The Son'' on the back cover".

By December 1976 Norman had signed a one-year agreement to allow four albums to be manufactured and distributed through Sonrise Manufacturing Co,, which was owned by Bob Cotterell. In 1977 Norman signed an agreement to release some Solid Rock Records through AB Records of Hollywood, an affiliate of Bob Cotterell's Sonrise Records, which released ''Streams of White Light Into Darkened Corners'' in 1977, and Mark Heard's ''On Turning to Dust'' in 1978.

World Tour (1977–1978)

Frustrated by resistance and censorship from Word, after May 1977 Norman left the studio and commenced a seven-month world tour, that included concerts in the USA, Canada, Australia, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, United Kingdom, Israel, Lebanon, India, Hong Kong, and Japan. During this tour, Norman wrote and recorded another album, ''Voyage Of The Vigilant'', which was a combination of live recordings with hotel tapes and studio stopovers, but was not released by Word as with "songs like "Three Million Gods," and "Cats Of The Coliseum," discussing the Hindu religion and the early martyrdom of Christians in Rome, this album was not acceptable because it was considered too "avant garde". Another song written for ''Voyage of the Vigilant'' was "Letter to the Church", which Norman said was "a Letter to the Church of Mass Media and Prosperity....It's a letter to the Me-Generation, the Upwardly Mobile, and especially to those who think of themselves as Christians". While Norman acknowledged that others saw it as being about "a certain televangelist ... [or] about a certain Christian artist or celebrity, ... it was written about all kinds of things that were happening in the American church, in the gospel music industry, and what I was seeing around me as I toured and performed in 1977". During this tour, Norman encountered the ministry of the Calcutta Mission of Mercy in India, and began to support them.

During his September 1977 tour of Australia, an eponymous compilation album (also known unofficially as Starstorm) that contained unreleased versions of previously released songs, was released by Starstorm Records, and distributed by Rhema Records, which was owned by his then Australian promoter, David Smallbone, the father of CCM singer Rebecca St. James. In 2005 Norman released an album called ''Snapshots From The '77 World Tour'', which contained recordings of some of his performances on the world tour. At this time, Philip Mangano organized three book deals for Norman: a biography by English journalist Steve Turner, which would be published by Word; a book of Norman's photographs; and another with photographs of Norman. Turner accompanied Norman for part of the world tour, but Norman eventually rejected the projects.

In 1978 Norman started Street Level Records as an alternative label to release albums which Word had no interest in distributing. Paul N. Lindner's Consolidated Gospel Inc. distributed Street Level Records to stores in America and Europe. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the release of'' I Love You'', in 1978 Street Level Records advertised the release at Christmas of The Compleat Trilogy, containing all forty songs intended for Norman's Trilogy, making it the "unedited, uncensored, unexpurgated, complete" version. The Compleat Trilogy as advertised still has not been released.

Plane accident

In 1978 Norman was getting ready to sign with Warner Brothers, when he was injured in an accident as United Airlines flight 215 landed at Los Angeles International Airport at the end of his world tour. In later years Norman claimed in concerts that "part of the roof of the cabin hit him with such force that he suffered mild brain damage and that this accident stopped him from working coherently after the late '70s". Philip Mangano, who was then Norman's manager, who considers Norman "a genius, no doubt, who changed the direction, the content, and frame of "Christian" music", who was seated in the next seat to Larry, denied that it was that serious. However, Norman believed that the subsequent damage to his brain left him unable to complete projects and focus artistically. In a 1989 interview Norman indicated that it was several years before his condition was diagnosed: "At the time they didn't call it anything. They didn't know what it was I didn't think to have X-rays because I thought I was okay. Now, what they have isolated it as is a bi-polar trauma, which means the accident caused an interruption in the information from one side of my brain to the other the neurons spark but sometimes don't make a connection." William Ayers wrote in 1991: "As family, friends and fans watched, his life spiraled downward. He was unable to record a bonafide album from the time of his airplane accident in 1978 until, with the help of therapy and chemical treatment to increase electro-neuron brain activity, he attempted to release the badly produced ''Home At Last''. He never expected to be healed and thought he would have to continue chemical therapy until the day after John Barr came into his life and layed hands on him.

Roll Away the Stone tour (1979)

In 1979 Norman began his Roll Away the Stone tour. In August 1979 Norman made his first of his four appearances at the Greenbelt Festival, a British Christian festival of "arts, faith and justice" held annually since 1974, that was held that year in the grounds of Odell Castle in Bedfordshire, Norman took Randy Stonehill with him, and introducing him to his own established audiences. Greenbelt 1979 attracted 16,000 people, and made Stonehill "a major Christian Artist in Europe". After seeing Norman perform, British festival promoter Tony Tew, said, "The pioneering music of Larry Norman has crossed the water, and we've learnt that it really is possible to be a Christian and a rock 'n' roll singer." Norman subsequently appeared at Greenbelt in 1980, 1981 and 1984.

On 9 September 1979 Norman performed for US president Jimmy Carter and about 1,000 guests at the ''Old Fashioned Gospel Singin''' concert held on the south lawn of the White House. During the concert, which also included veteran gospel singers Barry McGuire, The Archers, The Happy Goodman Family, The Speer Family, James Blackwood, James Cleveland, Doug Oldham, Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Shirley Caesar, Norman sang his "The Great American Novel", "a Dylanesque protest song", which he admitted "wasn't received with much enthusiasm". Norman explained this choice of song:

"I wanted us to feed the poor, and to stop worshipping the space program thinking this proved that God was on our side and not the Russians' because we were superior in the space race to the moon. And to realize that our government was taking over countries in the same way that Russia was, creating satellites, but we call their communism "evil" and our democratic appropriations of foreign governments "righteous."

Daniel Amos

In December 1978 Norman signed Christian rock band Daniel Amos to Street Level Productions and also to his Street Level Artists Agency. Daniel Amos had almost completed ''Horrendous Disc'', their third album, co-produced by Mike "Clay" Stone, when under contract to Maranatha! Music. When Maranatha! released them, as it was changing direction to children's and praise music, ''Horrendous Disc'' still needed to be mixed. Norman asked the band to replace two songs, had the album mixed and took new photos of the band for the album's cover to replace those he deemed too controversial for the Christian market, and in September 1979, Norman released a test pressing. In mid-May 1980 Norman released Daniel Amos from their management contract with Street Level Productions, resulting in an estrangement in their relationship. Just before the finalization of his divorce from Pamela, in August 1980, Norman performed at the Kamperland Youth for Christ Music festival (now the Flevo Totaal Festival) in Zeeland the Netherlands with Daniel Amos band backing him. Due to the laryngitis of Terry Scott Taylor, lead singer of Daniel Amos, Norman sang their songs from ''Horrendous Disc'' with the rest of Daniel Amos backing him so that Daniel Amos could be paid.

At the Greenbelt Festival held a few days later, Daniel Amos refused to back Norman as previously agreed due to their unfolding legal action against Norman, forcing Norman to recruit another group of musicians. During this performance, Norman sang for the first time, "May Your Feet Stay On The Path", as a beatific benediction to the Solid Rock artists he had released. Norman explained in 2001: "It's a song I wrote for all my artists because I wasn't going to work with them any more. So I stayed up one night praying all night and working on this song asking God to help me bless the artists one more time so that they would know that I loved them even if I didn't want to work with them". Despite being advertised as soon available in November 1979, ''Horrendous Disc'' was not finally released by Solid Rock until 10 April 1981, ten days before the band's follow-up ''¡Alarma!'', was released on Newpax Records. In 2000 Norman sang "Hound of Heaven" on the Daniel Amos tribute album, ''When Worlds Collide: A Tribute to Daniel Amos''.

In addition to his own recordings, Norman produced music on his Solid Rock label for Randy Stonehill, Mark Heard, Tom Howard, Pantano/Salsbury, David Edwards, and Salvation Air Force. Norman also produced a artists who were signed to other labels, such as Malcolm and Alwyn, Bobby Emmons and the Crosstones, and Lyrix. While Norman received production credits for two songs on Sheila Walsh's first album ''Future Eyes'', he remixed several songs that were already recorded. In 1977 Norman signed James Sundquist to Solid Rock, which produced some of the songs on Sundquist's ''Freedom Flight'', an album that blended ragtime and ballads, that was later released by Pat Boone's Lamb & Lion label. About 1978 Norman produced an album, ''Moving Pictures'', for British poet and musician Steve Scott that was never released.

Implosion of Solid Rock

In June 1980 the Solid Rock community imploded due to concerns about delays in releasing albums, concerns about royalties and publishing rights, and rumors that Norman was not only unfaithful to his wife, Pamela, but involved in an extra-marital relationship with Stonehill's wife, Sarah, while Stonehill was on tour. One of the areas of disagreement within Solid Rock was over their philosophy of ministry. The concerns of Stonehill, Taylor and Howard and other Solid Rock musicians led to an intervention on June 17, 1980 with Norman organized by Philip F. Mangano, the Solid Rock business manager. According to Rimmer, ''Fallen Angel'' claims that "it was at this memorable meeting that Larry, rather than bowing to the concerns of his fellow artists and the Solid Rock family, chose to strike out. With accusations against his co-workers, he began the process of winding up the Solid Rock operation and the dreams of the artistic community came crashing down."

Norman and Mangano severed their business association, with Norman selling his interest in Street Level Artists Agency to Mangano, who subsequently resigned in October 1980 to start a new career in working to help the homeless, and becoming the Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness for seven years from March 2002,

American Christian rock historian John J. Thompson identifies several factors in the collapse of Solid Rock, including possibly an over reliance on Norman's celebrity; Norman's confrontational lyrics and music, which alienated both the Christian and mainstream music industries; Norman's over-commitment, including producing almost all of the Solid Rock albums, contributing songs, and singing backing vocals; and "by releasing high-quality music by the best bands, Norman doomed his label to almost certain failure. He was simply way ahead of the curve". American professor of religious history Randall Balmer believed that the causes of the demise of Solid Rock were "Idealism, marital difficulties, and financial naivete — as well as changing musical tastes". Norman acknowledged in a 1984 interview: "I've never been really good in the business side of it. I haven't had a problem with creativity but I've never had the business side of it together." In a 1998 letter to Randy Stonehill, Norman indicated:

"I DIDN'T DO IT RIGHT: You know I never cared about money, so it's something I never worried about. ''Which was probably not helpful to running a record company and keeping track of everything to the artists' satisfaction''. ... I couldn't run the label without competent assistants. I trusted Philip [Mangano] to keep track of royalties, gave him an open checkbook, and never looked over his shoulder. I thought he was my other half. And Philip just wasn't that man. He made a lot of money ... and I'm sorry about your royalties, but I ran the musical side and Philip ran the business side".

By October 1981 Norman was still represented by Word and the only artist signed to Solid Rock. In a 1982 interview with British Christian musician Norman Miller, then Executive Director of Word Europe, Norman discussed both the original purpose for Solid Rock and its future:

I have very few plans for Solid Rock at all. Originally, I started Solid Rock as a way of helping other young artists become established. My plan has always been to provide them with an intense education, support their efforts with concerts and record production, and then graduate them into the mainstream where they can stand on their own feet. I've been able to get Randy Stonehill to the point where Myrrh Records has signed him directly, while others, like Mark Heard, Tom Howard, and Daniel Amos have all signed with different American companies like New Pax. I've helped about fifteen people get contracts so far, and all the old Solid Rock crowd has graduated and I'm working with new and younger artists now.

Phydeaux Records

After the demise of Solid Rock, and his September 1980 divorce from his first wife, Pamela, after almost nine years of marriage, Norman moved to England, where he was based until 1985. After fulfilling his contractual obligations, and two more years of musical censorship and unreleased albums with WORD, in 1980 Norman and his father, who had just retired from teaching after a heart attack, started Phydeaux Records (as in 'Fido'). Norman joked that "if Christian music was going to the dogs, then he wanted to remain on the cutting edge." Phydeaux was started in order to compete with a market of bootlegs of his own music. Norman reported that some his vinyl albums had sold for up to $400(USD) among collectors. According to Norman's liner notes,

"Phydeaux was not a counter-measure to, but a step-in-sync with, all the bootleg tapes of his material that had been circulating. In response to illegal bootlegs like Leyton's (sic) ''Live At The Mac'', Larry decided if collectors wanted "bad-sounding" live recordings he would pick some rarities from his own archives. He chose ''Roll Away The Stone – And Listen To The Rock'' and ''The Israel Tapes''. He had many better sounding live recordings but thought kids wanted something more rough for their bootleg collections. He also released several high quality studio compilations but was unwilling to release a "proper record" to the stores. He was standing as far away from the industry as possible and was also enjoying the distance. Basically, he was ignoring the American distributors who had for many years ignored him. Phydeaux helped distribute Street Level Records on behalf of Street Level Prod., Inc. to stores in Europe and America and also by direct mail. Through the mail he found that he could go directly to the people who well and truly understood music and his ministry.

In March 1981 Norman was featured on the cover of ''Contemporary Christian Music'' (CCM) magazine, and was the subject of an extended interview by ''CCM'' magazine founder John A. Styll entitled "Trials, Tribulations and Happy Endings".

Chapel Lane

Norman signed a distribution deal with Chapel Lane, a British label founded by Norman Miller. By the time of his fourth appearance at the Royal Albert Hall on 6 February 1981, Larry was renting a small room for £7 a week next to both the Bunch of Carrots pub and the Chapel Lane Recording studio in Hampton Bishop after the break up of his first marriage. As Chapel Lane was unable to pay royalties to Norman at one time, Norman was given free studio time, in which he was able to record thirty new songs in a fortnight, and eventually had recorded seventy songs.

While at the Chapel Road studio, in about 1981, Norman, backed by the Barratt Band, recorded songs for ''Before and After'', a tribute album of Bob Dylan covers scheduled to be released in 1982 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dylan's recording career. One of Norman's musical influences was fellow American singer songwriter Bob Dylan, whom he knew personally but not well. After Dylan's conversion to Christianity in 1979, In 1984 Norman praised ''Slow Train Coming'': "I thought ''Slow Train Coming'' was the finest gospel album ever written. I'll never write one as good as that, He'll never write one as good as that, – nobody will. It touched me in every area. You know men in conflict, like Dylan was when he was dying to self and becoming a Christian are very interesting. And because he wrote that album when he was a baby in his crib, but he had a lot of knowledge from the world, it was an album that he can never reproduce. He can never re-experience those songs. I first heard it over here in '79 and all weekend I was on a cloud. I thought This is the greatest album I've ever heard. We were all afraid that he would be overly affected by the evangelical simplicity of American mindlessness and write an album that wasn't really worth his gift for poetry. That album is like a prayer, it's a beautiful prayer, a social communion. It's a communion for all the disenchanted people that are angry." When asked to identify his favorite Christian singers, in 1985 Norman indicated: "For music, I would say that Bob Dylan's ''Slow Train Coming'' is the best Christian album ever recorded. I've certainly never written anything that says as much and I'd be most impressed if he ever surpasses it himself. I wish every Christian who likes modern Gospel music would buy a copy of "Slow Train". Then they'd have an idea of what Christian music is capable to communicating".

On 9 May 1981 Norman performed at the Dominion Theatre in London, "one of the defining moments in his career", which was recorded and released later that year as ''Larry Norman And His Friends On Tour''. About the same time ''Barking At The Ants'', containing four Norman songs, plus songs from British musicians Steve Scott, Alwyn Wall, Sheila Walsh, Mark Williamson, The Barratt Band, and Bryn Haworth was released. While in England in 1981, Norman wrote "A Woman of God" based on Proverbs 31.

The Calcutta Mission of Mercy was one of the causes to which Norman was committed, as result of his visit to India on his 1977 world tour. In 1983 Norman released two albums with all royalties for the benefit of the Calcutta Mission: ''The Story of the Tune'', and ''Come As a Child'', which was an acoustic live solo album.

Third World Tour (1984)

From 1984 Norman & the Young Lions, which comprised his brother, Charly Norman, Ken "Kenny Bam Boom" DeRouchie, Jon Linn, and Bill Romansky, commenced the Third World Tour, which continued until his return to the USA in 1985. In 1984 Norman released ''Quiet Nights'', an album that included eight songs composed by Tom Howard (including 2 co-written by Randy Stonehill), 2 by Norman, and 2 instrumental études also by Norman, through Stress Records, which was a division of Phydeaux, Inc., and distributed through Gospel Media in the USA. and through David Smallbone's DTS Records in Australia. On 15 June 1984 Norman performed a concert at the Dallas Brooks Hall in Melbourne, Australia, which was recorded and released as his 1985 album ''Stop This Flight'', with all new songs. In 1985 Norman was profiled in ''Manna Music Australia'', an Australian Christian magazine. In 1984 Norman recorded songs for ''Behind the Curtain'', the as yet unreleased first album in a projected Second Trilogy, which he described as "a personal triptych. It deals with the body, soul, and spirit".

At the beginning of 1985 Norman announced that he and his second wife, Sarah Finch, who was now pregnant with their son, Michael, would return to the US to live, and that he and the Young Lions would undertake a 200 city tour of all fifty of the United States during 1985 and 1986. On 7 April 1985 Norman appeared on Rockspell, a BBC television special hosted by Cliff Richard, with whom he sang "The Rock that Doesn't Roll".

''Thirty Years 1956–1986''

About 1986 Norman conceived the idea of creating ''Thirty Years 1956–1986'', a multi-volume collection of his music written between 1956 and 1986 to celebrate three decades writing Christian music, which would also feature videos, soundtracks, and t-shirts. To facilitate the distribution of these albums and the other thirty year commemorative merchandise, as well the albums of his other Solid Rock Imports artists, including Swedish band Edin-Adahl, South African Victor Phume, and Swedish white metal band Leviticus, Norman signed an agreement with Royal Music of Sweden to distribute in Europe, and with a newly established Christian distribution company for North American distribution.

Included in this Thirty Years collection was Norman's 1986 album ''Down Under (But Not Out)'', which was a retrospective of "thirty years of artistry", through both Phydeaux and Royal Music. A cassette version had earlier been given free to new subscribers to ''On Being'', an Australian Christian magazine. This album, which included songs from his years with People! through to the mid-1980s, contained the autobiographical song, "Why Can't You Be Good?", which references the difficulties in his first marriage.

''White Blossoms from Black Roots: The History and the Chronology: Volume One'', was planned to be the first of five albums that would a chronological retrospective that would showcase the evolution of Norman as a songwriter, featuring a juxtaposition of styles from 1956 to 1986. However, soon after the CD pressings of ''White Blossoms from Black Roots'' had been sent to the distribution company, "the FBI arrested the head of the company for check forgery and seized all of the merchandise", resulting in loss of access to his artwork, and digital tape masters, as well as to the material prepared for other Solid Rock Imports artists. The collapse of the distribution company affected other Christian artists and smaller gospel labels. While ''White Blossoms'' was released in 1989, it would be re-released in 1997 as part of a 40th anniversary The Best of Larry Norman project, with some songs removed and others added.

Also in 1986, Royal Music released ''Rehearsal For Reality'' (also known as ''Rehearsal 4 Reality''), a compilation album that included some previously released songs, but also six new songs, including three instrumentals, and "More than a Dream" written by British poet Steve Scott.

Benson Records (1989)

Later in 1986, Norman was signed to Benson Records, and made a cameo appearance in a music video with Christian artist Geoff Moore and the Distance for a cover version of his song "Why Should the Devil (Have all the Good Music?)". Norman "almost found belated American CM acceptance", and attended the conservative Dove Awards in 1987. In August 1988 Norman toured the USA with Swedish Christian metal band Leviticus opening for him.

During 1986 Norman recorded ''Home At Last'', which was not released until 1989, due to legal problems (which Norman described euphemistically as "transitional circumstances" in 1989). In 1989 Norman explained why ''Home at Last'', the third album in his Second Trilogy, was released before the other two albums: "When it was suggested that my "comeback", after ten years absence, might be a difficult passage back into the public arena, it was decided that ''Stranded in Babylon'' might be too radical a message for the first release. ''Behind the Curtain'' was perhaps too chilling a look at the modern church, social conditions, and personal dilemmas". ''Home At Last'', Norman's first album on a major US CCM label, was a double album that was promoted by its distributor, Benson Records, as Norman's "comeback album", announcing "Larry Norman's Back". Rather, it was a personal and "autobiographical album" that contained "a loose collection of songs written between 1956 and 1989...[that] covered the years of ground between his childhood, career, divorce, and dysfunctional family life", including several previously unreleased songs that focused on his family and his sense of home, which was distributed through Benson Records. Recorded in 1986, ''Home At Last'' featured Norman singing "Letters to the Church" with his then wife, Sarah Finch, which was a retitled version of "Letter to a Friend"; two other songs about his relationship to Randy Stonehill: "Queen of the Rodeo" and "He Really Loves You". In response both to televangelist Jimmy Swaggart's June 1987 book ''Religious Rock 'N' Roll: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'', which had criticized the music of Norman and other Christian rock artists, and Swaggart's February 1988 admission of adultery with a prostitute, Norman wrote the song "Selah", which had its last verse censored by Benson, which was: "My songs are spiritual fornication,/ that's what this television preacher said./ I guess he knows a lot about fornication,/ I heard he wrote some sermons in a prostitute's bed." The song "Somewhere Out There", which was written for his infant son Michael, reached #12 on Christian radio charts in 1989.

Despite extensive promotion by Benson, ''Home At Last'' generally received negative reviews, including that of Rupert Loydell who described it as "a disorganised, half-produced, and ultimately unsatisfying hotchpotch of songs". It was also criticized for its lack of political statements. Norman himself later dismissed this album in a Belgian press conference as "just a collection of tapes I had... some were even recorded before the plane accident." In 1989 Norman wrote that he was "extremely happy with Benson. I've never had so much support and commitment from a record company before".

Health issues (1988-1991)

Just before the beginnings of the fall of the Soviet Union, after a concert in Tallinn, Estonia, on 15 November 1988, Norman and his brother Charles, and the Finnish band Q-Stone were scheduled to play a show in Leningrad. Norman relates that he and his brother became ill after eating a meal that had been prepared as a "special menu" for them. Shortly afterwards, a trio of nurses ("built like football players") appeared in his room and wanted him to go to the hospital. Norman became suspicious and refused. The concert was canceled by (Soviet) army personnel twenty minutes after the band began to play. After this incident, Norman and Charles were ill for a year. When they had recovered, Norman returned in April 1990 and sold out four concerts in the private military hall in Kiev and seven concerts at Moscow's 35,000 seat Olympic Stadium. After these successful shows at the stadium, Norman decided to open a branch of Solid Rock Records in the city.

In February 1989 Norman collapsed during the JAM (Jesus and Music) '89 Festival at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia. In 2008 the tour promoter Australian Kevin Cooper recalled that Norman "collapsed on the stage mid-song, and most of the audience thought that he was playing around. When I called out from the back that he needed help, the stage crew and other artists were quick to get to him with some drinking water and they were able to revive him. He was never well on that tour, and on that very hot day, I think he had heat exhaustion to contend with, on top of his other health issues". After Cooper took Norman to the hospital, and after he received the correct medicine, Norman recovered, but Cooper indicates that he was still concerned at whether the tour could continue.

In 1989, Norman said: "I love the church and my sisters and brothers, but I didn't always feel welcome. And the church never felt like home". In 1989 Norman was awarded the Christian Artists' Society Lifetime Achievement Award in a surprise ceremony at Estes Park, Colorado.

Spark Music

In 1989 Norman began a distribution arrangement for Europe with Spark Music, a small Dutch indie label," that was owned by GMI Partners, which was headed by Hans Groeneveld, that would last until 1998. In August 1989 Norman appeared with his brother and the Finnish band Q-Stone at the Flevo Totaal Festival in the Netherlands in front of an estimated 10,000 fans, which was recorded and released by Spark in 1990 as ''Live at Flevo with Q-Stone''. According to Norman, within a month of its release "it was already the biggest-selling live Christian album ever released". In 1998 Norman performed at Flevo backed by Beam, a young Dutch band, to a mixed reception as Norman's label wanted a new set of songs to be released on another live album, ''Shouting In The Storm'', which sold poorly in Europe, and led to GMI dropping Norman from the label. In 2007 Norman wrote that GMI had become difficult to work with, and that his release from the label was an answer to prayer: "Being lied to was more discouraging than never receiving any royalties and never having received accurate sales statements and I wished I were out of the contract".

Faith healing

At the close of his February 1991 British tour, in the Surrey home of Ze and Dave Markee, who had been the bass player in Eric Clapton's band, Norman received prayer for his long-term health problems from Pastor John Barr (died January 2001), the Senior Pastor of the Elim Way Fellowship in Canning Town, London, and the Director of Freedom Road Ministries. Norman maintained that through this prayer God repaired the damage to his brain and he was able to function again. In 1993 Norman stated: "A man prayed for me. I heard a lot of noises in my head, a lot of heat and from that day the man prayed for me my brain has become so clear, so I've been excited, wondering how quickly can I make a new record now I have my old brain back, it's a good brain, not the damaged brain that I had. That's also a comparison that now my brain is healed so I can make music like I used to make." William Ayers described Norman's healing in 1991: "He felt like twelve years of his life had been spent at the bottom of a black hole. He tried hard to climb out of it, watching it engulf and destroy his private life and diminish his personal ministry. Now, after meeting John Barr, he feels like he is back from the dead. He doesn't need medicine. He's been healed."

''Stranded in Babylon'' (1991)

The creative rush that followed Norman's healing was expressed on ''Stranded in Babylon'' which saw him collaborate with his younger brother Charles "Charly" Norman. After four months in the recording studio in Sweden, and overdubbing in Norway by the Albino Brothers (Norman and his brother, Charly), in 1991 Norman released through Spark Music the European version of ''Stranded in Babylon'', an album which was recorded in Sweden in 1988. Hailed by both critics and fans as one of his best albums, it was praised as "a superb new album which sees a return to the form he showed to full effect on those classics like 'Only Visiting This Planet' and 'So Long Ago The Garden' back in the mid seventies" with 13 new "songs [that] are cleverly arranged and produced, with plenty of pertinent lyrical imagery and the sly wit of yore amongst the electric guitar solos and breezy (sampled?) saxophones" by Norman and his brother, Charly, who share all of the musical duties. ''Stranded in Babylon'' was named Album of the Year by Christian rock journals. ''Stranded in Babylon'' was conceived as the second album in a projected Second Trilogy that was planned to include (in order) a still unreleased ''Behind the Curtain'', and the previously released ''Home at Last''. Included on this album is "God Part III", which draws on John Lennon's "God" and the U2 riposte ("God II"); "Come Away", written about his 1973 meeting on the streets of Shepherd's Bush with prostitute Holly Valentine, who later became a Christian; and the autobiographical "Under The Eye", "which tells how Larry has, despite the last decade, always been watched and cared for". "Under the Eye" references "all the trouble and strife/And the things which went wrong and lasted so long", and "The mystery of love, the push and the shove/ Of friendship betrayed, of plans I mislaid,/ The oceans I crossed, the things that I lost/ And the world in my hand as dreams turned to sand", including his 1978 plane accident and his subsequent brain damage: " I crashed in a plane, I really damaged my brain/ And then I layed in my bed with all this music in my head./ The years have rolled by, I've watched the past die/ But feelings remained like mercy much strained./ Like a seed left unsown, like a leaf that was blown/Like a man who was blind, there was a lock on my mind", but also his 1991 healing: "Then a man came to me and he held out the key/ And the lock hinge was blown, I had never been alone". Norman's February 1992 heart attack delayed the release of the US version of this album until 1994.

After the release of ''Stranded in Babylon'' in Europe in 1991, Norman and his band toured Europe on the "Babylon Tour", performing concerts in Sweden, Finland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Holland, Norway, Belgium, USSR, and Poland, before returning to the USA.

Later years

About 1992 Norman's father retired and sold Phydeaux to Bill Ayers, a family friend of Joe Norman, who was previously employed to facilitate the distribution of both Phydeaux and Street Level Records. At that time Street Level Records came under the umbrella of Christian Community Placement Centre (CCPC), which undertakes foster care programs in Salem, Oregon. In 1991 Norman recorded a live concert he gave to raise funds for CCPC, which was released in 1994 as ''Children of Sorrow'', which featured cover art drawn by his son, Michael Norman.

Heart attack (1992)

Norman's creative resurgence was cut short by a nine hour heart attack on 28 February 1992 in Los Angeles, which was initially misdiagnosed as esophagitis by the staff at Cedars Sinai Hospital, and resulted in a near fatality and permanent heart damage. As his medical insurance had been canceled in 1988, Norman sold Solid Rock to help pay for his medical bills. Norman did not perform again until June 1992, when, still needing to raise funds for his medical expenses, Norman performed an acoustic "unplugged" concert in Texas (where he had been born) what he then believed might be his last ever concert. This concert was recorded and released in 1994 as ''Totally Unplugged'' Two days after the concert, Norman collapsed on the sidewalk, and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was hospitalized for almost two weeks. According to the 1995 ''Phydeaux Newsletter'': "It was discovered that some of the medicine prescribed for him during the first hospitalization, like Prilosec, was actually weakening the beat of his heart. He had suffered heart failure. After it was felt that he had recovered sufficiently, he was released back into the care of a Los Angeles physician. He was advised to do no more concerts unless the change in medicines improved his ability to breathe and helped him regain the strength to walk without feeling faint.

After these coronary events, Norman struggled to perform live. At the April 1993 Ichthus Music Festival in Wilmore, Kentucky, Norman announced that he would be soon be unable to perform future concerts due to his declining health. On 19 June 1993, after a concert in Drachten, Holland, Norman was hospitalized for ten days. costing him his entire tour fees of $10,000. Norman indicated at this time: "I've had three different types of heart attacks. I've had the first kind, which was myocardial infection (sic) where my heart stopped and I lost forty per cent of the tissue, it's dead. The next time I had problems with congestive heart failure, and this time I had ventricular arrhythmia tachycardia which is where the heart beats very fast. It gets confused and pushes the blood away from the heart so you can't breathe very easily, you're not getting enough oxygen, and you're not getting enough blood." On 16 July 1993 Norman performed his first concert since his most recent hospitalization in the Netherlands, which again Norman believed would be his last with a band, in an outdoor area in the forests of Sweden with a group of local musicians that Norman recruited and named the Judaic Vikings. Among the songs performed, was a recently composed "Goodbye Farewell', which addressed his health concerns but also expressed his faith in God: "The light grows dim but in this hour/ I have no tears to cry./ My heart is full, my joy complete. /Goodbye, my friends, goodbye./ I feel no loss of hope as I've grown older./ Only this world's weight upon my shoulder./ My heart beats to a slower song,/ So softly in my veins./ The night is warm, but in my sleep/ I dream of heaven's reign". In 1994 this concert would be released as the album ''Omega Europa'', and sold as "Larry's farewell rock and roll band concert".

In February 1994 Norman was hospitalized in Los Angeles. After his discharge, and as a consequence of the January 1994 Northridge earthquake, which damaged his Los Angeles apartment, Norman moved into a small room in his parents' house in Salem, Oregon so that he could help take care of his father who had developed Alzheimer's disease, and who would eventually require admission to an adult care facility. Soon after Norman moved to Oregon, Norman campaigned to raise votes for the Stop Child Pornography issue on the Oregon State Ballot, and "celebrated his seventh year of ministry to the runaways and abused kids who are helped through the proctor homes and foster care of the CCPC outreach".

Despite his physical limitations, during 1994 Norman did "a handful of concerts to try and raise money for his heart operation", According the 1995 Phydeaux Newsletter, Norman "had to fly in two or three days early, to rest – then do the concert, and stay an extra two or three days to rest. Even with rest, these trips were very hard on him but he felt he had no choice but to try and raise money for his operation." In addition to his ''Children of Sorrow'' album, on 12 June 1994 Norman released ''A Moment in Time'', a concept album which contained rough mixes of ten new songs (including "Long Hard Road" co-written with Dizzy Reed) written while he was in hospital and recorded in the studio for the as yet unreleased ''Pushing Back the Darkness'' album, that also raised funds for CCPC to fight child pornography.

In 1994, a limited edition lithograph print of a "Simpson-ified" Larry Norman performing "Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music?" was drawn and signed by Bill Morrison, the illustrator of the Simpsons comic books, to raise funds for Norman's medical fund. In addition to the Simpsons Comics release, a Simpsons watch was also produced featuring the yellow, three-fingered likeness of Larry Norman.

In the aftermath of ''Cornerstone'' magazine's 1992 exposure of popular Christian comedian Mike Warnke, who had claimed falsely to be an ex-Satanic priest, in 1994 "a certain journalist speculated that Larry probably hadn't been in an airplane accident in 1978, and inferred that he also probably hadn't really suffered a serious heart attack. There was a lot of confusion. This started a series of rumors. Then the rumors began to snowball into different variations and people were confused about sending a donation for his heart operation." In a 1995 interview in ''Visions of Gray'' magazine, Norman addressed these rumors, with specific details about both his 1978 accident and his heart problems. In answer to the allegations, Norman responded:

"unless certain people in the journalistic community believe I'm gifted enough to fake my E.K.G. ... If I can display my medical files and x-rays and prove my airplane accident and heart attack, then the millionaires in the Christian media, who seemed to have implied that I'm a liar, can buy me the defibrillator which I need to help me stay alive. I've been in the hospital many times in the last three years. So if by heart attack you mean one of the more recent problems you can examine my E.K.G. on the back of the ''Totally Unplugged'' album".

By early 1995, Norman had been hospitalized thirteen times. However, Norman was accused of occasionally exaggerating the truth to get attention. During an interview, Christian reporter Bob Gersztyn expressed his skepticism to Norman about him having a defibrillator: "I started to doubt that he really had a defibrillator. But when I voiced my concern, he opened his shirt in the middle of the restaurant we were sitting in, to reveal the implant in his chest. I felt like Thomas, in the 20th chapter of John".

In August 1995 ForeFront Records released ''One Way: Songs of Larry Norman'', a tribute album that included covers of 14 Norman's classic songs by ForeFront artists, including dc Talk; Audio Adrenaline, Grammatrain; and Rebecca St. James, whose father , David Smallbone, booked and promoted Norman's first concerts and distributed Norman's early records in Australia, including his eponymous 1977 album, (which is also known as ''Starstorm''). In April 1998 Norman indicated he was a member of Andrae Crouch's church, the Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ then located in Pacoima, California, although he did not attend regularly since he moved to Salem, Oregon.

''Tourniquet'' (2001)

The creative collaboration with his brother bore more fruit on his 2001 album ''Tourniquet'', an album of all new songs, which was produced by the Albino Brothers (Larry and Charles Norman). Of the nine songs "Turn" was written by Charly Norman, with two others being co-written by him with Larry, and Charly's band, then called Softcore, providing the musical backing. Intended to be a pre-release to ''Behind the Curtain'', the as yet unreleased first album in Norman's Second Trilogy, first mentioned in 1983, ''Tourniquet'' was described by Dougie Adam as "perhaps Larry's deepest, most articulate album ever ... [and] even more hard hitting than 'Only Visiting This Planet' or 'Stranded in Babylon'". In his latter years whenever Norman made rare live performances, it would often be accompanied by his brother's band, Softcore (later renamed Guards of Metropolis).

In November 2001 Norman underwent a quadruple-bypass heart surgery. On 27 November 2001 Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in a special ceremony held at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, along with Elvis Presley, Keith Green, Kurt Kaiser, Doris Akers, The Rambos, Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters, and Albertina Walker. As Norman was still in hospital and unable to attend the ceremony, his son Michael accepted the honor on his behalf. The Gospel Music Association said:

Larry Norman's music – an unlikely mix of love songs, the Gospel message, and wry commentary on American culture – exemplified the goals, ideals, and standards of everything the original architects of contemporary Christian music intended for it to be.

The Essential Series (2002–2004)

Norman's illness resulted in an accelerated number of releases (or re-releases) of his recordings to raise funds for his medical bills. In order to meet Norman's hospital bills, in November 2002 Solid Rock Records began releasing the Essential Series on CD-R, a set of seven Norman albums, with 142 songs (including 16 previously unreleased songs), which comprised: ''Instigator'', which included rough mix versions of two previously unreleased songs, "Butterfly" and "Kulderachna", both removed from 1973's ''So Long Ago the Garden''; ''Agitator'', which included three unreleased bonus tracks, "Sweet Silver Angels", "God, Part 2", and "People In My Past"; ''Liberator'', which included songs that were aimed at "liberating Christians who felt trapped inside the church and also providing a cultural doorway to allow those who felt dismissed and isolated by Christianity to find their way into fellowship with Christ regardless of the church's response toward them"; ''Collaborator'', which featured songs representing "the combined efforts of Charles and Larry [Norman] from lyrics and melodies to arrangements and production", including three unreleased songs: "Perfect World", "Don't Wanna Be Like You", and "Jesus Is God", recorded about 2000; ''Emancipator'', included two unreleased songs of Norman singing with Randy Stonehill: a Christian version of the folk song "He Was a Friend of Mine", which had been popularized by The Byrds and Bob Dylan, which was re-titled "He is a Friend of Mine", and "I Love You", the song Stonehill and Norman co-wrote in 1971 for Stonehill's ''Born Twice'' album; ''Infiltrator'', which sees love as "the most powerful infiltrator in the world", is a collection of Norman's love songs, and includes two new releases: a cover of David Noble's "Waves of Grace", and "Stranger, Won't You Change"; and ''Survivor'', included the full 8-minute version of "Dark Passage", an unreleased third verse of "Baby Out of Wedlock", and "One Star Remains", which is Judee Sill's "My Man On Love" from her 1971 eponymous debut album. In 2002 Norman continued to request prayer and financial assistance from his fans. Billed as "Larry Norman's Last Concert", on 18 October 2003 the Church of the Nazarene in Beaverton, Oregon organized a concert to celebrate Norman's 45 years in music, and to raise funds for Norman's medical bills. At the concert, his first in two years, "a very thin and frail" Norman performed "stripped down versions" of his classic songs in a solo set, followed by a set backed by Charles Norman, Jason Carter, Kristin Blix and Karson Swedberg. Additionally, his sister, Nancy Jo Norman-Overmeyer, sang with him on two songs, and his son, Michael Norman, also sang along. The concert was recorded and released as ''The Final Concert'' in 2004, but re-released later in 2004 as ''70 Miles From Lebanon'', as well as with a DVD of the same name. In January 2004 Norman had a new defibrillator and pacemaker installed. The 2004 ''Sessions'' album, which had six previously unreleased Norman songs (including covers of an old hymn, a traditional folk song, and songs by Bob Dylan, and Emmy Lou Harris) that were backed by Mark Lemhouse and Charles Norman's Softcore, as well as rare songs by Jesus Music veterans Dave Mattson, Randy Stonehill, Tom Howard, Keith Green, Steve 'N' Stonebrooke, and Daniel Amos, was sent to those who contributed $100 or more to his medical fund.

By 2006 Norman was almost blind in his right eye due to dozens of retinal hemorrhages, causing him to crash his car on 31 October 2006.

Norman performed his last official solo concert on 4 August 2007 in New York City, which was recorded and released as the ''FINALé'' DVD.

Among the last songs Larry Norman recorded were two (''Back To The Dust'' and ''Walking Backwards'') with the German Christian singer/songwriter Sarah Brendel for her record "Early Morning hours". Brendel has long adored Larry Norman for his unique and unblemished style. She was able to meet him in the summer of 2007 in Berlin and talked with him about a record session together. At the end of July 2007 Larry recorded a song called "Ya Gotta Be Saved" with The Crosstones, which was released in January 2010.

Death

After an extended illness, Norman died at 2:45 AM on February 24, 2008, aged 60, at his home in Salem, Oregon with family and friends present. The previous day he had posted a message regarding his illness on his website: "I feel like a prize in a box of Cracker Jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home. I won't be here much longer. I can't do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. [...] I want to say I love you. I'd like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. [...] Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again". After a public memorial service held March 1, 2008, at The Church on the Hill, Turner, Oregon, Norman was buried in Salem's City View Cemetery, and his tombstone reads: "Larry Norman Evangelist Without Portfolio 1947–2008 Bloodstained Israelite".

Awards and honors

In 1989 Norman was awarded the Christian Artists' Society Lifetime Achievement Award. On 27 November 2001 Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium, and was voted into the CCM Hall of Fame in January 2004 by the readers of ''CCM'' magazine. In 2007 Norman was inducted into the ''San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame'', both as a member of People!, and as a solo artist. At that time Norman reunited for a concert with People! In 2009 Norman was among those honored in a tribute segment of the Grammy Awards.

Personal relationships

Norman was married twice with both marriages ending in divorce.

Pamela Fay Ahlquist

In the summer of 1971 Norman met Pamela Fay Ahlquist. She had been a finalist in the 1971 Miss Minnesota Universe Pageant, then a stewardess for Northwest Orient Airlines. Pamela indicated in September 1972 that she had been involved in "the fast life of the jet set" which included illegal drug use.

After "a brief whirlwind courtship", Norman and Pamela were married on 28 December 1971 in Minnesota. During their honeymoon, Norman and Pamela stayed in a barn at the Love Inn (now called Covenant Love Community), a ministry started in 1967 by Scott Ross and his wife Nedra, formerly of the Ronettes, in Freeville, New York. Other stops on their honeymoon included L'Abri, a Christian community started by Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer, who had a profound influence on Norman.

After their wedding, Pamela worked as both a model and actress in commercials. In 1978, Norman and Pamela separated, and on 2 September 1980 they were divorced. Norman discussed his first marriage in several interviews: ''Buzz Magazine'' (1981); Australian Christian magazine ''On Being'' in 1985; and in a June 1989 article. Norman attributed his marital problems to Pamela's frequent infidelity, her pre-existing drug addiction, and deception. According to Norman, they were divorced because "My wife had decided she wanted to marry somebody else." In ''Fallen Angel'' Pamela shifts blame for their divorce to Larry, and confirms that it was Larry who served divorce papers on her. Pamela subsequently appeared as an actress in several television programs. She lives in Carmel, California with her husband, Joey, and runs a modeling agency.

Sarah Mae Finch

Norman married Sarah Mae Finch on 27 April 1982 in Santa Barbara, California. Sarah was the sister-in-law of Stephen J. Cannell and had previously been married to Randy Stonehill from 1975–1980. They first met at the Los Angeles First Congregational Church's Cedar Lake Camp at Big Bear, California in 1969, and later dated when she was still a high school student at the Marlborough School in Los Angeles.

Norman described his marriage to Sarah in an interview in ''On Being'' magazine in 1985:"In April I married a wonderful Christian woman...She was raised in a wealthy family and privately educated. She's a really creative musician from a family of artists...When she became a Christian she turned her back on that world and began working with troubled children at a Montessori school. She was married to a man who liked his liquor and other women more than her. He squandered her life's savings and then left her for another woman. He got remarried two months after his divorce. She's been mending a broken heart for years. She refused to date anyone because she wasn't interested in ever getting married again, and I felt the same way. I just couldn't imagine starting a relationship with anyone ever again."

In August 1985 Norman and his wife Sarah had their only child, Michael David Fariah Finch Norman, who was born ten weeks prematurely in Los Angeles, After Michael's birth Sarah was diagnosed with post-partum depression, which inspired Norman's song "Baby's Got the Blues", which was released on ''Stranded in Babylon'' in 1991.

By 1995 their marriage ended in divorce. Sarah subsequently re-married.

Norman was engaged briefly to Heidi Bartruff in the 1990s.

Randy Stonehill

The relationship between pioneer Christian rock musicians Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill, sometimes described as the Lennon/McCartney of Christian rock, was a controversial one during its more than forty years from its inception in 1967 until Norman's death in February 2008. For over a decade Randy Stonehill was Norman's protégé, colleague, collaborator, and one of his best friends, but disagreements about finances and relationships resulted in a twenty-year estrangement, and a brief reconciliation.

Postmortem developments

On 24 April 2008 Norman was honored at the 39th GMA Dove Award ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, which was broadcast live on the Gospel Music Channel. On 8 February 2009 Norman was among those honored in a tribute segment of the 51st Grammy Awards broadcast on the CBS television network.

Anthology

While the project was conceived and initiated before Norman's death, on 27 May 2008 the Arena Rock Recording company released ''Larry Norman – Rebel Poet, Jukebox Balladeer: The Anthology'', "a posthumous collection" of a selection of Norman's pre-1978 songs "designed to belatedly introduce a mainstream audience to Norman's music". ''Rolling Stone'' magazine described the album as "compelling proof Christian rock doesn't always turn out cheery or charmless or swaddled in yellow and black".

Family controversy

In July 2008 ''World'' magazine reported that Norman had fathered a child with an Australian woman Jennifer Wallace (née Robinson) during a tour in Australia in 1988 that she organized. According to McCallum, she has made the information public because Norman had broken a "promise" to include the young man, Daniel Robinson (born July 1989), in Norman's will. British Celtic Rock singer Sammy Horner wrote and released a song "Larry's Son" soon after Wallace went public with her claims.

''Fallen Angel'' documentary (2008)

''Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman: A Bible Story'' is a controversial 2008 documentary on Norman's life by film producer David Di Sabatino, maker of a previous documentary on Lonnie Frisbee. Originally ''Frisbee'' included many of Norman's songs, but EMI, who owns most of Norman's songs, did not grant release to the filmmaker. Norman refused to cooperate also in the making of ''Fallen Angel'', as did Norman's second ex-wife Sarah. ''Fallen Angel'' includes interviews by many who were close to Norman more than thirty years ago including his first wife, Pamela Newman, Randy Stonehill, Terry Scott Taylor, and Philip Mangano, the business manager of Solid Rock. ''The OC Weekly'' reports that Norman himself refused to be interviewed for the project. A cease and desist notice initiated by Norman's family temporarily prevented the public display of ''Fallen Angel'', and prompted Di Sabatino to file his own lawsuit against Norman's Solid Rock on 20 March 2009. On 6 July 2009 the case was settled out of court, thus allowing the film to be shown. One reviewer sees the film depicting Norman as "Machiavellian, particularly in his dealings with his artists".

On 30 December 2008 Randy Stonehill's album ''Paradise Sky'', the official soundtrack to ''Fallen Angel'', was released by Bryan Duncan's Red Road Records, which was advertised as ''Paradise Sky: A Tribute to Larry Norman'', attracting some criticism: "It’s hard to see how Randy Stonehill recording new versions of his own songs, but this time without the involvement of the late Larry Norman, is in any sense a tribute. One has to wonder about the wisdom of stirring the pot by even going there, when this could have simply been promoted as Stonehill revisiting his early work for the sake of the music, period. While ten of the 11 songs were originally on albums produced by Norman, the other "Even the Best of Friends", is the one written that alludes to the breakdown in his relationship with Norman.

In April 2010 authorized Norman biographer Allen Flemming, who has described himself as a close friend of over 30 years, created the website "Failed Angle: The Truth Behind Fallen Angel" to dispute some of the claims made in the movie with material such as e-mails, letters, tape recordings, and legal documents, kept by Norman.

Analysis and evaluation of Norman's music

In 1991 Norman explained the philosophy behind his music:

All of my albums had been made for the pre-Christian mind, the non-believer. Side One was always an introduction of gospel concepts; the existence of God, the reasonable personality of Christianity, the sanity of faith in Jesus and trust in His Holy Spirit. Despite the listener's possible aversion to Church because of experiences from their past, I wanted them to know that I was on their side; a believer understanding their non-belief, but encouraging them to give their life to Jesus. Side Two of my albums were always more assertive, didactic, and opinionated just on the chance that the listener might be interested in exploring the message more deeply. I considered myself a sort of rock and roll missionary, rather, a spy behind enemy lines; intending to help subvert the rule of the realm through personal witness. I took this missionary stuff very seriously but thought of myself in the position that a warrior might find himself if he didn't have the support of his own regiment; from 1956 to 1970 I had felt pretty much alone. By 1975 I no longer felt alone, but did somehow feel angry that records weren't being made for non-believers but aimed specifically "in-house" for a growing commercial Christian market.

According to American Christian music historian John J. Thompson:

Norman’s albums were richly layered in the best tradition of acts like The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Crosby, Stills and Nash, with a dark, apocalyptic streak that referenced nightmares, visions, broken relationships and the constant understanding that he, and the rest of his fellow believers, were truly not of this world. His message engaged the culture with authenticity and conviction, and his imagination articulated the disconnectedness felt by so many people in the aftermath of the 1960s. He seemed to be reclaiming Jesus from the Pharisees and universities and bringing Him back to the streets. He found common ground between the left-of-center political culture of the Vietnam era and the radical message of Jesus Christ. It was a perfect storm of culture and creed, and it set the stage for an entire movement to come up behind him—and eventually pass him by.'

Relationship with the Church and the CCM industry

Larry Norman's relationship with the wider Christian church, and with the Christian music industry, has been contentious for a number of years. In September 2007 Norman wrote: "I love God and I follow Jesus but I just don't have much affinity for the organized folderol of the churches in the Western World". Sarah Pulliam indicates that: "Although Norman left a large footprint, he also became estranged from the music industry because of strained relationships. He was eventually diagnosed with bipolar trauma". According to Portland news/radio station KXL, Norman's early social positions caused a stir among many conservative Christians. Norman's songs were wide-ranging, addressing such matters as politics (''The Great American Novel''), free love (''Pardon Me''), the passive commercialism of war–time journalists (''I Am The Six O'Clock News''), witchcraft and the occult (''Forget Your Hexagram''), alienation (''Lonely by Myself''), religious hypocrisy (''Right Here In America'') and many topics largely outside of the scope of his contemporaries. Norman's views against racism and poverty caused him to receive multiple death threats in the 1970s. Barry Alfonso described Norman's message and its reaction:

Norman's message was confrontational, challenging conservative Christians as well as nonbelievers. Onstage, he criticized churches for their lack of commitment to the disadvantaged, a habit that made it sometimes difficult to get bookings at Christian coffeehouses. His upstart attitude, though, won him a loyal following among young believers across America.

In 2006 Norman reflected on the difficulties he had with the Church over the years:

"I did 200 concerts a year for two years and then stopped. I never appeared at the same church more than once which is bread and butter to most artisans on tour. As one promoter put it, "I burned every bridge I came to" even before crossing it. But I thought the American Christian churches were not fond enough of the "hard" theologies of Jesus and were completely neglectful of feeding the poor, visiting those in prison, going into the hospitals and sharing the good news on the highways and byways, or even to the neighbours living next to them. Most people I asked said they had never witnessed to anyone, because they didn't know how to. And now I found that I was bashing my head against a church wall. In America the church did not like me. And no wonder. I was telling my young audiences to invite prostitutes and drug addicts and homosexuals to come to their church. And my songs were slyly disrespectful of organized religion, a position the young people identified with and their parents and pastors couldn't quite put their finger on. Nothing I said or sang was unscriptural. And I didn't speak against the church. I wasn't a protester. I wasn't ANTI anything, but I was FOR Jesus."

A widespread ban on Norman's music existed in some Christian stores. This ban was due not only to Norman's social positions, but his preferred company as well. Said Norman in a separate interview: "The churches weren't going to accept me looking like a street person with long hair and faded jeans. They did not like the music I was recording. And I had no desire to preach the gospel to the converted. In 2008 Philip Cooney attempted to explain the causes of Norman's problems with some Christians:

One of the problems for the church establishment was that Norman did not seem to be writing hymns. Not only was the music rock, the words were full of strange images or open references to subjects such as sex and drugs, and he often failed to "name the name" of Jesus. In understanding the reasons for this, it becomes easier to see that Norman was using principles that are still important for Christians today. Norman is one who saw the society around him in the USA not as a bastion of Christian morality, nor as an enemy to be shunned, but as a cross-cultural mission field. The use of Jesus' command " Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15), and the image of the 'agape' mouth containing the cross of Calvary on his record sleeves make this clear. Like all those who are serious about mission, he tested God's call, prepared through Bible study and prayer, made sure that he understood the gospel, and chose to speak in a language that would be understood by those he sought to reach in Jesus' name. Norman displayed a sympathetic understanding of that unchurched culture, but an equally strong desire not to compromise the integrity of the gospel.

Norman denied he was trying to start a revolution with his music, he just wanted "to learn how to explain God without using any of the language or ideas that had been taught in the church". In a 1979 interview Norman explained: "I would like the work that I do, and all my artists do, to break down the limited concepts of what Christian music should be and show what it can be and must be if it's ever to reach people like us. Basically Randy [Stonehill] and I write songs, that we can recommend to street people, harlots, junkies, politicians, ... businessmen". In an interview in Campus Life magazine, Norman defended his approach: "My primary emphasis is not to entertain. But if your art is boring, people will reject your message as well as your art".

By 1982 Norman had gained some acceptance as a substitute for secular rock artists. For example, The Encyclopedia of Christian Parenting recommended: "If your child develops an interest in TV star magazines or rock records, you may want to encourage a Christian orientation by giving Campus Life or Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, or Barry McGuire records as gifts".

In an interview after Solid Rock records had broken up, "Norman said that he was very unhappy about the reaction of Christian artists to their success. He faulted most of them for basking in acceptance (and money) from Christians. ... Norman felt that many artists were becoming Christian celebrities and ignoring their mission to the unbeliever. In particular, he was unhappy that Christian artists were unwilling to play clubs and other secular venues, and he was very put off that artists were not "preaching" between songs and making the Gospel clear—in confrontational terms." Commenting on Christian music in 1984, Norman said: "I'm pleased with what's happening in England and Europe...but I'm not totally thrilled about the commercialisation of Christian music in America." Two years prior to the 1984 interview, he had complained that Christian music generally meant "sloppy thinking, dishonest metaphors, and bad poetry" and stated that "I've never been able to get over the shock of how bad the lyrics are."

In 1989, Norman said: "I love the church and my sisters and brothers, but I didn't always feel welcome. And the church never felt like home". Also in 1989 Norman was awarded the Christian Artists' Society Lifetime Achievement Award in a surprise ceremony at Estes Park, Colorado. British pop singer Cliff Richard, who recorded three of Norman's songs on his 1977 ''Small Corners'' album, indicated: "Larry was one of our greatest contemporary Christian songwriters, who made it his business to prove that the devil did not 'have all the good music'!" Christian Rock historian John J. Thompson assessed the significance of Norman and his career in 2008: "It is certainly no overstatement to say that Larry Norman is to Christian music what John Lennon is to rock & roll or Bob Dylan is to folk music". and previously in his ''Raised by Wolves: The Story of Christian Rock & Roll'':

Despite the controversy, hype, and low points, Norman's impact on Christian music cannot be overstated. As a songwriter, Norman crystallized the heart of the Jesus Movement; as an artist, he pushed the creative envelope well beyond what had been considered appropriate; as a producer, he brought to prominence some of the most significant artists in Christian music; and, as a businessman (undoubtedly his weakest suit), he ran a label that brought some of the most important albums into the world. He also modeled a successful independent recording career as an alternative to working for a label."

After many years of a negative relationship with Norman, many CCM artists have credited Norman as an influence on their music, particularly in the sub-genre of Christian rock. He is often cited as influencing both Keith Green and Randy Stonehill in their conversions to Christianity. Both eventually became Christian music artists. Stonehill has commented: "If not for Larry Norman, we might all be doing Christian polka or something, but not Christian rock." Susan Perlman, one of the founders of Jews for Jesus traces the beginnings of her conversion to Norman sharing his faith with her on the streets of Manhattan in 1972. Grammy-nominated Australian singer and songwriter Paul Colman, who has covered Norman's Sweet, "Sweet Song of Salvation", on his 2009 album, ''History'', acknowledges Norman's influence on his music:

It was Larry Norman however that really captured Paul's imagination. The Colman family saw Larry perform live many times in the 70's and 80's in Melbourne, Australia. Paul recalls, "I remember seeing this guy up there on stage at Dallas Brooks Hall in the heart of Melbourne on his own with an acoustic guitar, a microphone, a razor sharp wit and songs that really went deep into me. Somewhere inside my heart and mind I said 'I want to do that! It was actually about 18 years later that I stood in that exact spot and sang my own songs to a packed house."

Others who were influenced by Norman include American CCM musician Steve Camp, who co-wrote "If I Were a Singer" with Norman, which appeared on Camp's 1978 debut album, ''Sayin' It with Love'', who describes Norman as his mentor, and with whom he lived for several months learning the craft of songwriting; Canadian CCM musician Carolyn Arends. Songwriter Bob Hartman, credits Norman and his 1972 song "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?" in his establishing Petra; Peter Banks of British progressive rock/New Wave band After the Fire traces his involvement in "the mainstream music business" to Norman and his album, ''Only Visiting This Planet''. Others who acknowledge Norman's influence on their career or music include American drummer Hilly Michaels, who recorded with Norman and Randy Stonehill in 1970; Grammy Award-winning recording artist and rapper TobyMac, who described Norman as "socially relevant, spiritually significant and passionate about challenging his generation to new heights of love", considered Norman his "greatest lyrical influence"; Mark Salomon, the lead singer of Christian metal band Stavesacre and thrash metal band The Crucified, who reveals that it was Norman's concert performance that connected him to Christian music; and Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph.

Norman has granted interviews to magazines covering Contemporary Christian music and accepted industry awards. When asked about the relationship between CCM and his own music, Norman has replied "I'm happy if I've been an encouragement to other artists." British poet and musician Steve Scott, who worked closely with Norman at Solid Rock, maintains:

"Regardless of the pros and cons of Solid Rock and all the stories that swirl around Larry Norman, I do think he's made an immensely valuable, foundational contribution to the whole contemporary Christian music industry... and I don't understand how someone that everyone nods towards and acknowledges as seminal ends up apparently scrabbling to pay for medical bills. In my opinion, the ccm industry owes that guy so much for opening the door for so many people. ... The guy took all the bullets, created the market.... I'm just saying that in real world terms... he's owed a lot more than he's currently getting from those parts of the machine that benefited most from his pioneering work."

To rock and folk music

Larry Norman was "the first artist to successfully infiltrate rock music with a heartfelt, blatant christian message". By 1971, ''Time'' magazine was reporting on the growth of the Jesus movement, the magazine stated, "It's like a glacier...it's growing and there's no stopping it." ''Time'' went on to say of Norman: "(he was) probably the top solo artist in the field", Norman later distanced himself from ''Time's'' characterizations of his involvement.

Over 300 artists have covered his songs, including Sammy Davis, Jr. Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and American singer-songwriters like John Mellencamp and David Eugene Edwards (of 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand) have also claimed to be fans of Larry Norman's music.

According to rock historian Walter Rasmussen, Pete Townshend once said that The Who's 1969 album ''Tommy'' was inspired by the rock opera "Epic" by People! (which he could behold every night when on tour with People!). However, Townshend has since denied the connection.

To punk/alternative rock

Following tours by the first wave of punk musicians in the British Isles in the mid-1970s, the post-punk band U2 was formed in Dublin, Ireland. Active simultaneously in the local punk music scene and the "Shalom Fellowship," some members of U2 eventually became "fans" of Larry Norman's music. Both artists performed, making unannounced appearances, at the U.K.'s Greenbelt Festival in 1981.

Charles Thompson IV discovered Larry Norman's music at age 13 after moving to California and seeing him in concert. Thompson said of Norman during this period: "I don't think Larry Norman was necessarily respected by religious people...he had more of a rebellious rock'n'roll kind of an image." "I dressed like him, I looked like him, he was my total idol." While at college in Massachusetts, Thompson adopted the stage name Black Francis, and formed The Pixies along with Joey Santiago, Kim Deal, and David Lovering. According to Kim Deal, the title of the Pixies' 1987 EP ''Come On Pilgrim'', as well as a similar line from the song "Levitate Me," derive from a Norman catchphrase used during live performances. In the 1987 recording and subsequent performances of the Pixies song "Levitate Me," lead singer Black shouts "Come on Pilgrim, you know He loves you!" while imitating Larry Norman's accent. While recording the Pixies' album ''Surfer Rosa'', producer Steve Albini recognized the Pixies' references and realized that he and Black both "had an affection" for Norman's music. They discussed Larry Norman at length during the recording process of the album. With the increased popularity of alternative rock in the 1990s, The Pixies earned increased recognition for their work. They were invited by U2 to join them on the Zoo TV tour in 1992. At one show, Black was introduced to Larry Norman by members of U2, who had informed him beforehand that Larry would be coming to the show. Black's solo album ''Frank Black and the Catholics'', recorded in 1997 and released in 1998, featured a cover of Larry Norman's song "Six-Sixty-Six." Beginning in 2004, The Pixies embarked on a reunion tour. During this time, in June 2005, frontman Black joined Larry Norman for what was expected to be his final US concert. The pair performed Norman's 1978 song "Watch What You're Doing."

Emil Nikolaisen of indierock/shoegazers Serena Maneesh fame has publicly stated that he is fond of Larry Norman's ''So Long Ago The Garden'', and also took part in several tribute concerts following Larry's passing.

Select discography

Since the 1960s, Norman's work has appeared on over 100 albums, compilations, and concert bootlegs. These recordings have been released under various labels and with various artists. Some of his principal albums are:

Upon This Rock (1969)

Street Level (1970)

Bootleg (1972)

Only Visiting This Planet (1972)

So Long Ago the Garden (1973)

In Another Land (1976)

Something New under the Son (1981)

Home At Last (1989)

Stranded in Babylon (1991)

Tourniquet (2001)

Works

''The Long Road Home: Vaudeville, Dancing and How My Mother Met My Father''. Salem, OR: Solid Rock Rublications, 2007.

Notes and references

Further reading

Beaujon, Andrew. "God Only Knows: The Legacy of Larry Norman". ''Spin'' 24:5 (May 2008):120.

Carpenter, Bil. ''Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia''. Backbeat Books, 2005.

Cusic, Don. "Larry Norman". In ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music: Pop, Rock, and Worship'', ed. Don Cusic (ABC-CLIO, 2009):311–315.

Eskridge, Larry. "'One Way': Billy Graham, the Jesus Generation, and the Idea of an Evangelical Youth Culture", ''Church History'' 67:1 (March 1998):83–106.

Howard, Jay R. "Contemporary Christian Music: Where Rock Meets Religion". ''The Journal of Popular Culture'' 26:1 (5 March 2004):123 – 130.

Howard, Jay R. and John M. Streck. "The Splintered Art World of Contemporary Christian Music". ''Popular Music'' 15:1 (January 1996):37–53.

Platt, Karen Marie. "The Original Christian Street Rocker: Larry Norman." ''Contemporary Christian Music'' 3:9 (March 1981): 8–11, 25.

Price, Deborah Evans. "Larry Norman 1947–2008". ''Billboard'' 120:10 (8 March 2008):22.

Stowe, David W. ''No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism''. UNC Press Books, 2011.

Styll, John W. "Trials, Tribulations and Happy Endings". ''CCM'' 3:9 (March 1981):5.

See also

List of songs recorded by Larry Norman

External links

Official British Site

Obituary in ''The Times'', 7 March 2008

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1947 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Arena Rock Recording Company artists * Category:Musicians from Oregon Category:American Christians Category:People from Corpus Christi, Texas Category:People from Salem, Oregon Category:Jesus movement Category:Street ministry Category:Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:American performers of Christian music Category:Musicians from Texas

de:Larry Norman nl:Larry Norman no:Larry Norman pl:Larry Norman pt:Larry Norman ru:Норман, Ларри fi:Larry Norman sv:Larry Norman

name	Audio Adrenaline
background	group_or_band
origin	Grayson, Kentucky
genre	Christian rockAlternative rock
years active	1989–2007
label	ForeFront Records
associated acts	dc Talk, Newsboys, MercyMe, Know Hope Collective
website	http://www.audioa.com
current members	Mark StuartWill McGinnissTyler BurkumBen CissellBrian Whitman
past members	Bob HerdmanBarry BlairDavid StuartPhil VaughanJonathan SchneckRon Gibson
notable instruments	}}

Audio Adrenaline was a Christian rock band that formed in the late 1980s at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Kentucky. During the band's 17-year existence, they were awarded two Grammy awards, multiple Dove Awards and they released 17 number one singles. They were regular performers at the annual Creation Festival, Spirit West Coast festival and Agape Music Festival. Audio Adrenaline also performed at the Alive Festival every year up to their last performance in June 2006.

History

Audio Adrenaline, along with other Christian music acts like dc Talk and Newsboys, helped fuel a revolution in the "alternative" Christian music genre. This was started by bands like Under Midnight, Mortal, Circle of Dust and the indie labels Blonde Vinyl, Frontline/Myx, Tooth & Nail, and 5 Minute Walk.

Over the course of the band's career, several other Christian artists were influenced by Audio Adrenaline. These bands include MercyMe, Sanctus Real, and Hawk Nelson. Interviews with these bands are available at the Audio Adrenaline website.

Early history

The band was formed in 1986 under the name of A-180 by Mark Stuart, Barry Blair, Will McGinniss, David Stuart, and Phil Vaughan, who all attended Kentucky Christian University. The next year, the band temporarily disbanded when Mark went to Haiti for a semester. Upon Mark's return to Kentucky, the band reformed with Ron Gibson on drums. They became a popular local band, booked by the school nearly every weekend; traveling as far west as Texas, north to Chicago, south to Florida. The band did over 100 shows during this time and recorded two independent releases under the name A-180. The first was ''You Turn'' in 1989 and ''Reaper's Train'' in 1990. Reaper's Train featured the original version of the song "DC-10", also found on the first Audio Adrenaline release.

The band's big break would come in the form of Bob Herdman. Herdman approached A-180 with two songs he had written, one of them called "My God", and asked A-180 to record it. After "My God" was recorded at Landmark Recording Studio, Ohio, A-180 asked Herdman to join them as their songwriter. The demo tape was sent to radio stations and scaled the charts quickly. The song caught the attention of Toby McKeehan (from dc Talk), who brought it to the executives at ForeFront Records. The label decided to offer a record deal to A-180 but had them change their name to "Audio Adrenaline". The name Audio Adrenaline comes from an incident in which Bob Herdman had been listening to some loud and fast music; he was so enthralled by it that he apparently exclaimed "This is like... audio adrenaline!" while jumping wildly.

Late in 1991, David Stuart left the band to focus more on his family. Ron Gibson also left in December 1991 as he claimed Forefront Records was guiding the band into hip-hop and away from the band's rock roots, as evident in the band's first release.

1990s

After signing their deal with Forefront, the band started writing and recording songs similar to "My God". Their first album under Forefront, the self-titled ''Audio Adrenaline'', was released in 1992. It included "DC-10", the only track from the original A-180 recordings. The album was well received selling 75,000 copies. This album also marked the first time that guitarist Tyler Burkum shared lead vocals with Mark Stuart. They followed it with their ninth album, ''Worldwide'', released in 2003. ''Worldwide'' went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album in 2004, the first of two Grammys for the band. In 2004, the band, along with former member Bob Herdman, founded a project in Haiti called the Hands and Feet Project, in which the band built an orphanage for children.

The band's tenth album, ''Until My Heart Caves In'', was released on August 30, 2005. The album featured most of the lead vocals by Tyler Burkum, with only a few sung by Stuart. ''Until My Heart Caves In'' received another Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album in 2006. "Clap Your Hands" was also played on ESPN with football game highlights.

On January 18, 2006, Audio Adrenaline announced that they were retiring from active music ministry. The band cited Mark Stuart's "ongoing vocal challenges" stemming from vocal cord damage as the primary factor. On July 27, 2006, the band played at the popular Christian music Creation Festival for the last time. They had performed there every year since they had begun as a band. On August 1, 2006, they released their final compilation album, ''Adios'', a farewell album containing two new tracks as well as more of the band's greatest hits.

For their final national tour in February until April 2007, Audio Adrenaline opened for MercyMe on the "Coming Up To Breathe Tour". The band performed their last live concert on April 28, 2007, at the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu, Hawaii. Their final project, which was released on August 28, 2007, is a live CD–DVD combo entitled ''Live From Hawaii: The Farewell Concert''. The album earned two nominations at the 39th GMA Dove Awards, winning Long Form Music Video of the Year.

Reunions

On March 21, 2008, Australian festival Easterfest announced that Audio Adrenaline would be getting back together for a world exclusive concert at Easterfest '09 in Queens Park, Toowoomba.

Books

On September 1, 2003, the band released its first book ''Dirty Faith: Becoming the Hands and Feet of Jesus'', with Think Books. Co-written with Mark Matlock, the book discusses reaching out to the needy and features an organization called Mission Year.

On September 5, 2006, the band released ''Hands & Feet: Inspiring Stories and Firsthand Accounts of God Changing Lives'', with Regal Books. It takes the reader on a journey to Haiti with the band as they build houses for the children there. The reader also meets Drex and Jo Stuart, the parents of frontman Mark Stuart. The book gives an explanation of life in one of the poorest nations on earth. It also tells of the band's building of The Hands and Feet Project (an orphanage for poor, hungry children).

Band members

Mark Stuart — vocals, guitar (1989–2007, founding member)

Will McGinniss — vocals, bass guitar (1989–2007, founding member)

Dave Stuart — keyboards, vocals (1986, 1991, founding member)

Ron Gibson — drums (1988–1991)

Bob Herdman — keyboard, guitar (1991–2001, founding member)

Barry Blair — guitar, vocals (1989–1996, founding member)

Ben Cissell — drums (1995–2007)

Tyler Burkum — guitar, vocals, keyboard (1997–2007)

Touring musicians

Brian Hayes — drums (1993–1995)

Brian Whitman — guitar, vocals (2005–2007)

David Stuart — keyboard, vocals (1986–1991 "You Turn" and "Reaper's Train")

Ron Gibson — drums (1988–1991: "You Turn" and "Reaper's Train")

Jonathan Schneck — backup guitar, backing vocals (2003–2005, Now with Relient K)

Brian McSweeney — guitar, vocals (1996–97, replacing Barry Blair; 2007, filled in for Tyler Burkum for final shows) Jared Byers — drums (2007, filled in for Ben Cissell for final shows)

Mike Biddle — keyboards, backing vocals (2009)

Side projects

Mark Stuart was involved in ''!Hero the Rock Opera'', playing as Petrov. ''!Hero'' was a modern adaption of the story of Christ performed along with dc Talk band member Michael Tait, presently the frontman of the Newsboys. Also involved in this production was popular CCM pop vocalist Rebecca St. James, playing the part of Maggie, and rapper T-Bone as Jairus.

Mark Stuart and Will McGinniss have launched a post-retirement speaking venture titled "Audio Unplugged" formerly known as "Audio Talks". They are available "for a night of encouragement, testimonies, Audio A classics and worship."

Discography

Tapes (A-180)

!Year	!Album Title	!Record Label
1989	''You Turn''	Landmark Recording Studio
1990	''Reaper's Train''	Landmark Recording Studio

Albums

!Year	!Album Title	!Record Label(s)	!RIAA Certification
1992		ForeFront
1993	''Don't Censor Me''	ForeFront
1996		ForeFront
1997	''Some Kind of Zombie''	ForeFront
1999		ForeFront
2001		ForeFront
2003		ForeFront
2005	''Until My Heart Caves In''	ForeFront

Live albums

!Year	!Album Title	!Record Label(s)
1995		ForeFront
2007	''Live From Hawaii: The Farewell Concert''	ForeFront

DVDs

!Year	!Album Title	!Record Label(s)
2001		ForeFront
2003		ForeFront
2006	''Adios: The Greatest Hits (Special Edition CD/DVD)''	ForeFront
2007	''Live From Hawaii: The Farewell Concert CD/DVD''	ForeFront

Compilations

!Year	!Album Title	!Record Label(s)
2001		ForeFront
2006	''Adios: The Greatest Hits''	ForeFront
2008	''Greatest Hits''	ForeFront/EMD
2009	''The Ultimate Collection''	Chordant

Singles

"Some Kind of Zombie" (1997)

"Big House (Live)" (1997)

"Underdog" (1999)

"Dirty/Ocean Floor" (2003)

"Miracle" (2004)

"King" (2005)

"Melody (Lost In Wonder)" (2005)

"Get Down" (2006)

"Goodbye" (2006)

Music videos

"PDA" (''Audio Adrenaline'', 1992)

"AKA Public School" (''Don't Censor Me'', 1993)

"Big House" (''Don't Censor Me'', 1993)

"We're A Band" (''Don't Censor Me'', 1994)

"Never Gonna Be As Big As Jesus" (''Bloom'', 1996)

"Free Ride" (''Bloom'', 1996)

"Some Kind of Zombie" (''Some Kind of Zombie", 1997)

"Blitz (featuring The O.C. Supertones)" (''Some Kind of Zombie'', 1997)

"Get Down" (''Underdog'', 1999)

"Hands and Feet" (''Underdog'', 1999)

"Ocean Floor" (''Lift", 2001)

"Rejoice" (''Lift'', 2001)

"Church Punks (live)" (''Worldwide'', 2003)

"Leaving 99 (live)" (''Worldwide'', 2003)

Awards

Grammy Awards

2004 Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album of the Year for ''Worldwide''

2006 Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album of the Year for ''Until My Heart Caves In''

Dove Awards

1996 Long Form Music Video of the Year – "Big House" (''Don't Censor Me'')

1998 Modern Rock Recorded Song of the Year – "Some Kind of Zombie" (''Some Kind of Zombie'')

2000 Rock Recorded Song of the Year – "Get Down" (''Underdog'')

2003 Rock Album of the Year – ''Lift''

2008 Long Form Music Video of the Year (''Live from Hawaii: The Farewell Concert'')

References

Further reading

External links

Official Audio Adrenaline website

Hands and Feet Project

Bob Herdman

Audio Adrenaline Members Reflect on the Songs that Inspired a Generation.ADIOS: The Greatest Hits

Adios, Audio Adrenaline Interview of Will McGinniss on Beliefnet.com

Category:Christian rock groups from Kentucky Category:ForeFront Records Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Carter County, Kentucky Category:Musical groups established in 1989 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2007

de:Audio Adrenaline es:Audio Adrenaline nl:Audio Adrenaline pt:Audio Adrenaline

background	solo_singer
instrument	Piano, vocals
name	Chuck Girard
birth date	August 27, 1943
genre	Vocal quartetSurf rockJesus musicContemporary ChristianWorship music
associated acts	Love SongThe CastellsThe Hondells
label	Good News RecordsSeven Thunders Records
years active	1961–present
website	Chuck Girard Home Page }}

Chuck Girard is a pioneer of Contemporary Christian music. He was born August 27, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, and moved to Santa Rosa, California in his young teens. He was a founding member of Love Song, the first Christian rock band to become popular in the United States.

He became a solo artist in 1975, and wrote & performed the hit songs "Sometimes Alleluia" and "Rock 'N' Roll Preacher", both of which were featured on his debut ''Chuck Girard'', an album that featured the band Ambrosia prominently throughout.

He is the father of Alisa Childers, a member of Zoegirl.

Discography

Secular albums

The Castells ''So This Is Love'' (Era Records, 1961)

''The Best of the Castells'' (K-Tel, 2000)

The Hondells ''Go Little Honda'' (Mercury Records, 1965)

''The Hondells'' (Mercury Records, 1964)

The Ghouls ''Dracula's Deuce'

Mr. Gasser & The Weird-Ohs ''Silly Surfers''

The Revells ''The Go Sound of the Slots''

Singles

The Castells

"Make Believe Wedding" (1961) US #98

"Sacred" (1961) US #20

"So This Is Love" (1961) US #21

The Hondells

"Little Honda" (1964) US: #9

"My Buddy Seat" (1965) US: #87

"Younger Girl" (1966) US: #52

With Love Song

''Love Song'' (Good News Records, 1972)

''Final Touch'' (Good News Records, 1974)

"Feel the Love" (live double LP) (Good News Records, 1977)

"Welcome Back" (live CD) (Maranatha/Word, 1995)

Solo Albums

''Chuck Girard'' (Good News Records, 1975)

''Glow in the Dark'' (Good News Records, 1976)

''Written on the Wind'' (Good News Records, 1977)

''Take it Easy'' (Good News Records, 1978)

''The Stand'' (Good News Records, 1980)

''The Name Above All Names'' (Seven Thunders Records, 1983)

''Fire & Light'' (Seven Thunders Records, 1991)

''Voice of the Wind'' (Seven Thunders Records, 1994)

''Heart of Christmas'' (Seven Thunders Records, 2001)

''Evening Shadows'' (Seven Thunders Records, 2008)

Compilations

''First Love'' (Exploration Films, 1998)

References

External links

Chuck Girard's Official Website

First Love DVD

TheBeginningsConcert.com

Category:Living people Category:American male singers Category:American performers of Christian music Category:Love Song members Category:Six the Hardway members Category:1943 births

name	Lonnie Frisbee
birth name	Lonnie Frisbee
birth date	June 06, 1949
birth place	Costa Mesa, California, United States
nationality	American
death date	March 12, 1993
death place	Orange County, California
years active	1966-1991 (25 years)
style	Power evangelism, gifts of the Spirit
influenced	Calvary Chapel, Jesus Movement, Vineyard Movement, House of Miracles, Chuck Smith, John Wimber, Mike MacIntosh, and Greg Laurie
religion	Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity
occupation	Pentecostal evangelist and minister
spouse	Connie (divorced in 1973) }}

Lonnie Frisbee (June 6, 1949 – March 12, 1993) was an American Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s. Despite, or possibly because of, his hippie appearance and being a man who struggled with homosexuality, he had notable success as a minister and evangelist especially in the signs and wonders faith movement of the 1970s and 1980s.

Contemporary accounts attributed his accomplishments to his incredible anointing of the Holy Spirit. Frisbee was a key figure in the Jesus movement and eyewitness accounts of his ministry documented in the 2007 Emmy-nominated film ''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher'' explain how Lonnie became the charismatic spark igniting the rise of Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard Movement, two worldwide denominations and among the largest evangelical denominations to emerge in the last thirty years. It was said that he was not one of the hippie preachers, "there was one." The term 'power evangelism' comes from Frisbee's ministry. Some of his harshest critics for heavy use of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit came from the churches he helped found. He also influenced many prophetic evangelists including Jonathan Land, Marc Dupont, Jill Austin and others. Frisbee co-founded the House of Miracles commune and was its main architect, converting many. The House of Miracles grew into a series of nineteen communal houses that later migrated to Oregon to form Shiloh Youth Revival Centers, the largest and one of the longest-lasting of the Jesus People communal groups.

Frisbee functioned both as an evangelical preacher also privately socialized as a gay man before and during his evangelism career. This is held in tension with the fact that he said in interviews that he never believed homosexuality was anything other than a sin in the eyes of God and both denominations prohibited gay sexual behavior. Both churches later disowned him because of his active sexual life, removing him first from leadership positions, then ultimately, firing him. He was shunned and "written out of the official histories." As part of his ostracism from his former churches his work was maligned but he forgave those who tried to discredit him before his death from AIDS in 1993.

Early life and career

Frisbee was raised in a single parent home and was exposed to "sketchy, dangerous characters" as a child. Frisbee's brother claimed Lonnie was raped at the age of eight and documentarian David di Sabatino postulated that an incident of that nature "fragments your identity." His father ran off with another woman and his mother tracked down and married the jilted husband. He showed great interest in the arts and cooking. He won awards for his paintings and even appeared as a featured dancer on ''Shebang''. He exhibited a "bohemian" streak and regularly ran away from home. As a teen he became part of the drug culture, as part of a spiritual quest, and at fifteen he entered Laguna Beach's gay underground scene with a friend. His "spotty" high school education left him barely able to read and write. At 18 he joined thousands of other flower children and hippies for the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967. He described himself as a "nudist-vegetarian-hippie".

Frisbee's unofficial evangelism career began as a part of a soul-searching LSD acid-trip as part of a regular "turn on, tune in, drop out" session of getting high. He would often read the Bible while tripping. On one pilgrimage with friends to Tahquitz Canyon outside Palm Springs instead of finding meaning again in mysticism and the occult Frisbee started reading the Gospel of John to the group and eventually led the group to Tahquitz Falls and baptized them. A later acid-trip in the same area produced "a vision of a vast sea of people crying out to the Lord for salvation, with Frisbee in front preaching the gospel." His "grand vision of spreading Christianity to the masses" alienated his family and friends. Frisbee left for San Francisco where he had won a fellowship to the San Francisco Art Academy. He soon met members of Haight-Ashbury's Living Room mission. At the time, he talked about UFOs and practiced hypnotism and spoke about dabbling in occult and mysticism. When Christian missionaries first met him, they said he was talking about "Jesus and flying saucers". Frisbee converted to Christianity, and joined the first street Christian community, The Living Room, a storefront coffeehouse commune of four couples in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco started in 1967. He quit the art academy and moved to Novato, California to set up a commune and later reconnected with his former girlfriend Connie whom he then married. The community was soon dubbed The House of Acts after the community of early Christians in the Acts of the Apostles. Frisbee designed a sign to put outside the house, but was informed that if he gave it an official name, it would no longer be considered a mere guest house and would be subject to renovations. The community took the sign down to avoid the financial obligation. Frisbee continued painting detailed oils including of missions.

Jesus movement, Calvary Chapel

Chuck Smith, meanwhile, had been making plans to build a chapel out of a surplus school building in the City of Santa Ana, near Costa Mesa when he met Frisbee. Smith's daughter's boyfriend John was a former addict who had turned to Christianity and when Smith wanted to meet a hippie John brought home Frisbee who was hitch-hiking so he could meet people to tell about Jesus and salvation. Lonnie and his wife Connie joined the fledgling Calvary Chapel congregation and Smith was struck by Lonnie's charisma, "I was not at all prepared for the love that this young man would radiate." Frisbee became one of the most important ministers in the church when on 17 May 1968 Smith put the young couple in charge of the Costa Mesa rehab house called "The House of Miracles" with John Higgins and his wife Jackie, within a week it had 35 new converts. Bunk beds were built in the garage to house all the new converts. Lonnie led the Wednesday night Bible study which soon became the central night for the church attracting thousands. Frisbee's attachment to the charismatic Pentecostal style caused some disagreement within the church since he seemed focused more on gaining converts and experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit than on teaching newer converts Biblical doctrine. Chuck Smith, however, took up that job and welcomed Frisbee into his church. Frisbee's appearance helped appeal to hippies and those interested in youth culture, and Lonnie believed that the youth culture would play a prominent role in the Christian movement in the United States. He cited Joel the prophet and remained upbeat despite what the young couple saw as unbalanced treatment as Frisbee was never paid for his work yet another person was hired full-time as Smith's assistant. The counterculture of hippies and surfers hung around the beaches and music and the resulting dancing was the main form of communication. Frisbee would walk the beaches during the day and convert the young people and bring them back to the church for the nightly services.

The House of Miracles grew into a series of nineteen communal houses that later migrated to Oregon to form Shiloh Youth Revival Centers, the largest and one of the longest lasting of the Jesus People communal groups which had 100,000 members and 175 communal houses spread across North America. This may have been the largest Christian communal group in US history.

From 1968 - 1971 Frisbee was a leader in the Jesus movement bringing in thousands of new converts and his influence over Calvary Chapel leaders including Mike MacIntosh and Greg Laurie, whom he mentored.

Fame

"Jesus Freaks", or "Jesus People" as they were often called, were documented in media including the Kathryn Kuhlman ''I Believe In Miracles'' show where Frisbee was a featured guest talking about Jesus, prophets and quoting scripture. By 1971, the Jesus Movement had broken in the media with major media outlets such as ''Life'', ''Newsweek'' and ''Rolling Stone'' covering it. Frisbee, due to his prominence in the movement, was frequently photographed and interviewed. It was also in 1971 that Frisbee and Smith parted ways because their ideological differences had become too great. Smith discounted Pentecostalism, maintaining that love was the greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit while Frisbee was strongly involved in theology centering on spiritual gifts and New Testament occurrences. Frisbee announced that he would leave California altogether and go to a movement in Florida led by Derek Prince and Bob Mumford which taught a pyramid shepherding style of leadership and was later coined as the Shepherding Movement.

In 1973, the Frisbees divorced because Lonnie's pastor had an affair with his wife. Frisbee mentions this in a sermon he gave at the Vineyard Church in Denver, Colorado, a few years before he died. Connie later re-married. Lonnie left the organization.

Vineyard Movement

Meanwhile, in May 1977 John Wimber was laying the groundwork for what would become the Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, he had witnessed the explosive growth of Calvary Chapel and sought to build a church that embraced the healings and miracles that he had previously been taught were no longer a part of Christian life. He began teaching and preaching about spiritual gifts and healings which did occur but it wasn't until May 1980 when Lonnie testified that the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit took hold of the church. Lonnie was invited by John Wimber to go to what was then a Yorba Linda branch of the Calvary Chapel movement, to preach. Since his early days at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Lonnie had made a shift in his emphasis from evangelism to the dramatic and demonstrative manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. After speaking Lonnie invited all the young people 25 and under to come forward and invited the Holy Spirit to bring God's power into their lives. Witnesses say it looked like a battlefield as young people fell and began to shake and speak in tongues. The young kids, many in Junior High and High School, were so "filled with the Spirit" that they soon started baptizing friends in hot tubs and swimming pools around town. The church catapulted in growth over the next few months and the event is credited with launching the Vineyard Movement. After this time, Frisbee and Wimber began traveling the world, visiting South Africa and Europe. Frisbee was a much sought-after preacher with his "Jesus-like" look getting him instant recognition from South Africa to Denmark. Eventually some church officials felt that his inability to overcome what the church considers sexual immorality became too big a hindrance to his ability to minister. An article in ''The Orange County Weekly'', headlined "The First Jesus Freak," chronicles Frisbee's life, in which Matt Coker writes, "Chuck Smith Jr. says he was having lunch with Wimber one day when he asked how the pastor reconciled working with a known homosexual like Frisbee. Wimber asked how the younger Smith knew this. Smith said he’d received a call from a pastor who’d just heard a young man confess to having been in a six-month relationship with Frisbee. Wimber called Smith the next day to say he’d confronted Frisbee, who openly admitted to the affair and agreed to leave."

In a 2005 interview by ''Christianity Today'' film reviewer Peter Chattaway with David Di Sabatino, the documentary director of ''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher'', the two spoke about addressing Lonnie's homosexuality with his family. Said Di Sabatino, "I brought to light some things that not a lot of people knew. I've been in rooms with his family where I've had to tell them that he defined himself as gay, way back. Nobody knew that. There's a lot of hubris in that, to come to people who loved him and prayed for him, and to stand there and say, "You didn't really know this, but..." In the same interview Di Sabatino also stated, "His early testimony at Calvary Chapel was that he had come out of the homosexual lifestyle, but he felt like a leper because a lot of people turned away from him after that, so he took it out of his testimony—and I think that's an indictment of the church." Di Sabatino commented on Frisbee's homosexuality as a flaw and stated that Frisbee's brother claimed Frisbee was raped at the age of 8 years old and postulated that an incident of that nature "fragments your identity, and now I can't say that I'm surprised at all." In other research Di Sabatino revealed that Frisbee had come from a broken home and entered into Laguna Beach's gay underground scene with a friend when he was fifteen.

Death

Lonnie Frisbee contracted AIDS and died from complications associated with the condition. At his funeral at the Crystal Cathedral, Calvary Chapel's Chuck Smith eulogized Frisbee as a Samson-like figure; that being a man through whom God did many great works, but was the victim of his own struggles and temptations. Some saw this as further maligning Frisbee's work and an inappropriate characterization at a funeral service. Others, such as Frisbee friend John Ruttkay, saw the Samson analogy as spot on, and said so at his funeral. Frisbee was interred in the Crystal Cathedral Memorial Gardens.

''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher''

Jim Palosaari narrated ''"Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher"'' and the documentary received an Emmy Award nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (San Francisco/NorCal chapter).

Finished in March 2005, ''Frisbee'' was first accepted to the Newport Beach Film Festival where it sold out the Lido Theater not far from where in the late 1960s the Frisbees ran the Blue Top commune, a Christian community of young hippie believers. The documentary was also accepted to the Mill Valley (2005), Reel Heart (2005), Ragamuffin (2005), San Francisco International Independent (2006), New York Underground (2006) and Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian (2006) film festivals. The edited movie showed on San Francisco's KQED in November 2006, and was released in DVD form in January 2007.

A soundtrack featuring the music of The All Saved Freak Band, Agape, Joy and Gentle Faith was released in May 2007. A pre-release version of the DVD was produced that featured 21 recordings of songs by Larry Norman alone, as well as others by Randy Stonehill, Love Song, Fred Caban, Mark Heard, and Stonewood Cross. However, due to licensing issues most of the music was changed for the final release.

See also

Duane Pederson

Jesus music

Mel White

Troy D. Perry

References

External links

''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher'', official site

Lonnie Frisbee's testimony (preaching) on Mother's Day at Pastor John Wimber's Church, May 11, 1988, part 2; audio only with extensive photo slideshow. It is believed by some that this very meeting inspired the Vineyard Church movement (trailer on video gives date of 5-11-88, however vineyardusa.org states that this occurred in 1980).

Lonnie Frisbee ministering at Tom Stipe’s Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Denver, Colorado

Lonnie Frisbee related videos on YouTube

photo of Frisbee

Category:1949 births Category:1993 deaths Category:American Christian clergy Category:American evangelicals Category:American Pentecostals Category:Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity Category:Christian evangelicalism Category:Christian ministers Category:Jesus movement Category:Hippie films Category:LGBT Christians Category:LGBT clergy Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:Religious scandals Category:Christian mystics

hu:Lonnie Frisbee