Originally Posted by Mutt

There's evidence for a historical Jesus, not a lot and it's been debated and still is but most Bible scholars are of the opinion he was a real person.

This passage is the strongest evidence there is for a historical Jesus, written in Antiquities of the Jews by the historian Flavius Josephus in the first century.

"But the younger Ananus who, as we said, received the high priesthood, was of a bold disposition and exceptionally daring; he followed the party of the Sadducees, who are severe in judgment above all the Jews, as we have already shown. As therefore Ananus was of such a disposition, he thought he had now a good opportunity, as Festus was now dead, and Albinus was still on the road; so he assembled a council of judges, and brought before it the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some others, and having accused them as law-breakers, he delivered them over to be stoned."

The debate centers around whether Christians a couple of centuries later added this, since there are no original copies of the book there will never be a definitive answer. I've read the arguments on both sides and I'm more convinced it's authentic than not.

I don't think a bunch of Jews got together and created a fictional character - I believe they created fiction around a real person.