Lost years of Jesus (also called his silent years, lost years, or missing years) generally refers to the period of life between his childhood and the beginning of his ministry as told 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  (with no evidence) that Jesus was  working as acarpenter, at least some of the time, with his accepted fatherJoseph, from the age of 12 to 29.

     In the late medieval period, there appeared Arthurian legendsthat the young Jesus had been in Britain.  In the 19th and 20th centuries theories began to emerge that, between the ages of 12 and 29 Jesus, visited India or studied with the Essenes in the Judea desert.   Modern mainstrean scholarship has generally rejected these theories and holds that nothing is known about this time period in the life of Jesus.

     There are any number of ideas that try to explain the resurrection of Jesus, proposing that Jesus did not die on the cross, but merely fell unconscious ("swooned"), and was later revived in the tomb in the same mortal body. This 200-year-old hypothesis is still the subject of debate in popular circles, but it is generally accepted that Jesus died during the process of crucifixion.

     The use of the "lost years" in the "swoon hypothesis", suggests that Jesus survived his crucifixion and continued his life, instead of what was stated in the New Testament that he ascended into Heaven with two angels.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