I believe Jesus is like Santa Claus. Yes, there was a Saint Nicholas, 4th century bishop of Myra. But he has no relation to the jolly old man in the red suit who lives at the North Pole, drives a sled pulled by eight reindeer, and delivers presents to children all over the world on Dec. 24. Likewise, if there was a man named Jesus somewhere, sometime, who happened to be the nucleus upon which all of the various legends accreted, the character portrayed in the gospels is totally fictional. The gospels have as much relation to this (hypothetical) man named Jesus as Clement Moore’s famous poem has to the 4th century bishop.