it clear what he thought of himself. Because of the brevity of his public activity, no unequivocal answer can be given to the question of his own self-assessment.2 The testimony of the Belgian authorities in the Congo is as helpful in his case as are the archives of the governor Pilate, or the records in the chancellery of the high priest in the case of Jesus. The early Christian accounts about Jesus are not as untrustworthy as people today often think. The first three Gospels not only present a