What I have argued is simply put. We really have three possibilities: 1) Joseph, who married the pregnant Mary, is the father; 2) A mysterious figure, perhaps a relative named Pantera, was the father; 3) the father of Jesus is simply unknown.  I don’t include here the theological view that Jesus had no human father since I don’t think it can be considered a serious historical option. Tales of heroes and “divine men,” fathered by a god, abound in the Greco-Roman period, see a few examples here. No serious historian takes these as anything other than mythology and legend. So that leaves us with our three options.

In my treatment in The Jesus Dynasty I end up saying that if we were to fill out Jesus’ “birth certificate” we would most likely have to put under Father, “Unknown.” But I do explore in a preliminary way the name Panthera and its variants (Pandira, Pandera, Pantira, Pantiri). You can read my basic overview, titled “The Jesus Son of Panthera Traditions” here. One of the intriguing possibilities I explore is the possible connection of a 1st century CE tombstone in Germany, of a Roman officer named Pantera, with the traditions regarding Jesus’ father. There is more about that tombstone here, plus discussions of whether Pantera is a real name or a pun, as has often suggested, incorrectly I argue, here, here, and here. Joseph Raymond has recently written a piecehere that sheds further light on the tombstone and the Pantera tradition.

Beyond the historical sources and the archaeology I have also explored some poetic and legendary treatments of the Pantera traditions by Thomas Hardy and James Whitehead,here and here. In fact I became involved in the publication of Whitehead’s impressive poems on Pantera, a sample of which you can read here. I highly recommend this lovely little chapbook, for which I wrote the introduction.