I'm currently reading 'The Meaning of Jesus: Two visions' by NT Wright and Marcus Borg. Much of the book explores the idea of the 'quest for the historical Jesus'. It is a hugely important question. Borg appears to look at the historical data with more of a objective perspective; while Wright relys on 'Faith' on many of his interpretations.
One of the things which I've found helpful is the idea that Borg uses, the 'Pre and Post Easter Jesus'. What was Jesus really like pre-Easter, taking into account all of the written data was post the Easter story, most written a long time after his death.
Keeping this in mind one of the questions which entered my head was what would 'Borg's Jesus' vs 'NT Wrights' make of the crimes done in 'Christ's' name, such as, Slavery, the inquisitions in Spain, anti-semitism. Would Jesus have stopped the Crucifixion? Maybe slipped into the obscurity of history?
I suspect if Jesus had been around at any of these horrific times he would have still been crucified....