Assuming Jesus was a real historical person, did he ever work as a carpenter once he learned the trade from Joseph? If so, what did he make… furniture etc?
I mean, talk about antique value!
There must be some stories about this?
…a cross?
Nothing in the Gospels speaks to this with any specificity.
There are references to Jesus as a carpenter (“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?”, Mark 6:3) and as the son of a carpenter (“Is not this the carpenter’s son?”, Matthew 15:55), but as far as I know, there is nothing in the Christian canon about what, if anything, he did as a carpenter. So, anything else would be pure speculation.
Also, this article notes that the word which is typically translated as “carpenter” in English could also be translated as “laborer” or “builder,” so it may not be strictly a reference to carpentry. It may be more of a reference to Jesus’s background as the son of a laborer, rather than a member of the scholarly class.
Oh, boo! Should have seen that one coming…
Right, I was fairly sure there wasn’t much if anything in the canonical gospels.
I was thinking more along the lines of speculative fiction?
While the information contained there is not incorrect, I do wish to warn people of one thing. That site tried to push me to sign up for a series by known charlatan Dennis Prager, of the the sham university “Prager University.” It makes misinformation heavy videos on YouTube.
I’m not sure why they’d think that some talk show pundit would have great insight into the Ten Commandments, but apparently they do.
I had actually gotten this site mixed up with Christianity Today Magazine.
I defer to the renowned Dr. Foley on this matter.
I’ve heard that the original word indicates someone who constructs the wooden parts of buildings. And when he said that he could rebuild the Temple in three days, his actual experience as a builder is tied into the metaphor.
didn’t Prager have one of those "psychic/I talk to ghosts and dead people " around the time sci-fi had john Edwards on? I wonder what his fundie friends would think of that …
You’re right in assuming that this would be an obvious basis for some very dodgy relics. One example is the painting of Mary and Jesus in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, said to have been painted by St Luke on a table top previously made by Jesus in Joseph’s workshop.
It’s entirely possible that Jesus was not a carpenter in any sense of the word. I commented on this three years ago, citing a comment I made twenty years ago. From that thread:
Regarding Jesus being the “son of a carpenter,” have a look at this thread from way back in 2002. It’s not necessarily a sure thing:
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-125771.html
My contribution:
RedNaxela ’s response:
My father had pretty good carpentry skills. Among other things, he made an extensive complex of nicely put-together bookshelves for our living room.
My furniture efforts have been limited to refinishing.
That was just for the quote. In reality it would take at least a week assuming no permit delays.
Mine are 2x8s and concrete blocks.
It is said that Palestine was wetter a few thousand years ago, but now wood is scarce. Makes me think that anyone who was a builder was more likely to be a stone-mason. Maybe wood-workers made small things like chests or furniture. The antiquities that I saw there 40 years ago didn’t appear to feature wooden interiors or framing. But I wasn’t looking up to study the construction and most of them were dark and shadowy inside.
Maybe as @kenobi_65 said above, it suggests that Jesus wasn’t an idle wealthy person living off the backs of others, but rather a skilled commoner: a useful person even when he wasn’t working miracles etc.