As I've mentioned in previous posts, he probably was an influential preacher of his time who was executed for causing political trouble. All the magical stories are probably just that, stories. Things like that were attributed to many others, too, like raising the dead, healing the sick, the virgin birth and performing other miracles. And of course, the resurrection. Many early Christian concepts can also be traced back to other religions of the time, the Trinity is supiciously reminiscent of the Hellenistic cult of Hermes Trismegistus (thrice-great Mercury).

What should be kept in mind is that HIS OWN PEOPLE, the Jews, never bought the story. The cult of Christianity caught on in Rome and the rest of the Hellenistic World among the Gentiles, pushed by people like Paul, but his own countrymen, while recognizing him as a holy man, never called him Messiah.

Read Hugh Schonfield's "The Passover Plot" to get the Jesus story from a Jewish perspective (hell, of all people, they out to know, or at least be consulted!).