Jesus in non-Christian writings

[Mina Mounir]

Hello,
what are the available sources we have , whether Jewish or Roman, that can tell about the " historical Jesus" ?

is there a book or something gathers these witnesses and evidences ?

[Matthew]

I believe the first reference to Jesus comes from a Jewish historian named Josephus, who also recorded the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

It is my impression that early in the first century, people either became Christian believers or they didn't. Those that did became our earliest fathers and mothers of the church.

Those that didn't, however, wrote about the Christians as a group, and the potential "problems" they posed, and how they should be dealt with.

[Jim Wilson]

There is a chapter devoted to this question in "The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content" by Bruce Metzger. It is Chapter 4, beginning on Page 89 of the 3rd Edition. According to Metzger there are two Jewish sources:

First, Flavius Josephus who lived from 37 to about 100. He published a work called "Jewish Antiquities" which has two references to Jesus. Second, the Babylonian Talmud which contains a half dozen brief references, some highly negative.

Pagan references include Pliny the Younger (62 to 113), and Tacitus (55-117) who writes in his "Annals", "Their name comes fom Christus, who in the reign of Tiberius as emperor was condemned to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate." Metzger comments, "The importance of this testimony to the historicity of Christ is hard to exaggerate. Tacitus is universally acknowledged to be one of the most reliable of Roman historians, whose passion for sober and accurate reporting was joined with a critical sense rare in his time." (Page 94) There is also a brief reference in Suetonius (70-160).

Metzger concludes, ". . . The early non-Christian testimonies concerning Jesus, though scanty, are altogether sufficient to prove . . . that he was a historical figure who lived in Palestine during the early years of the first century, that he gathered a group of followers about himself, and that he was condemned to death under Pontius Pilate. Today no competent scholar denies the historicity of Jesus." (Page 95)

I hope this is of some assistance.

Best wishes,

Jim

[Mina Mounir]

dear Jim,
thanks so much .. i think the book will be useful... I'll look for it

[Vasiliki D.]

Here is a link to a (non-Orthodox) site that quotes historical evidence in support of the "existance" of Jesus Christ, not necessarily Orthodox but it is interesting:

http://www.westarkchurchofchrist.org/library/extrabiblical.htm

[Mina Mounir]

The Treatise On Resurrection, by uncertain author of the late second century, to Rheginos:
"The Lord ... existed in flesh and ... revealed himself as Son of God ... Now the Son of God, Rheginos, was Son of Man. He embraced them both, possessing the humanity and the divinity, so that on the one hand he might vanquish death through his being Son of God, and that on the other through the Son of Man the restoration to the Pleroma might occur; because he was originally from above, a seed of the Truth, before this structure of the cosmos had come into being."
"For we have known the Son of Man, and we have believed that he rose from among the dead. This is he of whom we say, 'He became the destruction of death, as he is a great one in whom they believe.' Great are those who believe."
"The Savior swallowed up death. ... He transformed himself into an imperishable Aeon and raised himself up, having swallowed the visible by the invisible, and he gave us the way of our immortality."
"Do not think the resurrection is an illusion. It is no illusion, but it is truth. Indeed, it is more fitting to say that the world is an illusion, rather than the resurrection which has come into being through our Lord the Savior, Jesus Christ."
". . . already you have the resurrection ... why not consider yourself as risen and already brought to this?" Rheginos was thus encouraged not to "continue as if you are to die."
I think this is a too early to see such an advanced testimony , it is a very early witness to the christological faith of the christians of that time. if the writer didn't type " late second century" , I would expect that it is a 5th or 6th century writing.

[Kusanagi]

There is a little book I bought from light and life many moons ago about Pontius Pilates' side of the story about what had happened during the trial and afterwards to himself. It's supposedly dates back to at least the 1st Century and the original copy in Latin is in the Pope's library.

[Mina Mounir]

i found here the letter of Pilate to tebarius on Jesus' death
Letter From Pontius Pilate to Tiberius on Jesus@@AMEPARAM@@/docinfo/7239411?access_key=key-s3t8oyaih1cyd6g4r4a@@AMEPARAM@@7239411@@AMEPARAM@@ key-s3t8oyaih1cyd6g4r4a (http://www.scribd.com/doc/7239411/Letter-From-Pontius-Pilate-to-Tiberius-on-Jesus)
is there any discussion or data about its authenticity?
thanks

[Aidan Kimel]

Take a look at this book: F.F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).