Unknown years of Jesus

The unknown years of Jesus (also called his silent years, lost years, or missing years) generally refers to the period between his childhood and the beginning of his ministry, a period not described in the New Testament.

The "lost years of Jesus" concept is usually encountered in esoteric literature (where it at times also refers to his possible post-crucifixion activities) but is not commonly used in scholarly literature since it is assumed that Jesus was probably working as a carpenter in Galilee, at least some of the time with Saint Joseph, from the age of twelve till thirty, so the years were not "lost years", and that he died on Calvary.

In the late medieval period, there appeared Arthurian legends that the young Jesus had been in Britain. In the 19th and 20th centuries theories began to emerge that between the ages of 12 and 30 Jesus had visited Kashmir, or had studied with the Essenes in the Judea desert. Modern mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected these theories and holds that nothing is known about this time period in the life of Jesus.

The use of the "lost years" in the "swoon hypothesis", suggests that Jesus survived his crucifixion and continued his life. This, and the related view that he avoided crucifixion altogether, has given rise to several speculations about what happened to him in the supposed remaining years of his life, but these are not accepted by mainstream scholars either.

Following the accounts of Jesus' young life, there is a gap of about 18 years in his story in the New Testament. Other than the generic statement that after he was 12 years old () Jesus "advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men" (), the New Testament has no other details regarding the gap. While Christian tradition suggests that Jesus simply lived in Galilee during that period, modern scholarship holds that there is little historical information to determine what happened during those years.

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