Jesus almost certainly didn't exist

and in the unlikely event that he did, the Jewish war, not his death was the great event of the century.

Perhaps the best entry point to a realistic understanding of Christian origins is to ask the question, Where were Jesus's parents living immediatly prior to Jesus's birth? I find these days a surprising number of people struggle to give any answer to this question. Nearly everyone knows that Jesus is supposed to have been born in Bethlehem. And many will also know the story that he was born in a manger in a stable, because there was no room at the inn. And that Jesus's parents were staying in an inn because they had come up from Nazareth in Gallilee. So many get to the answer that Jesus's parents lived in Nazareth and hence "Jesus of Nazareth".