THE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST FOUND OUTSIDE OF THE BIBLE

The History of Jesus Christ is found in MANY places other than the BIBLE. However, this does NOT account for A WORLDWIDE MOVEMENT TO WHICH HE GAVE RISE!

Jesus lived and taught in a remote area (Palestine) on the periphery of the Roman Empire. Consequently, most of the accurate records are found in Latin, written by Roman or Greek authors, between 33 and 150 A.D.

Jesus HIMSELF did NOT leave a SINGLE KNOWN written word. All history about His life, work, teachings, persecution, and death, were written by observers, followers, historians, and other writers. Also, there are NO CONTEMPORARY accounts written about His life and death. What IS ESTABLISHED about Jesus depends heavily on Christian Traditions and ancient manuscripts used in writing the first three books of the New Testament.

Non Christian sources are few and contribute NOTHING to the History of Jesus THAT IS NOT ALREADY KNOWN FROM CHRISTIAN TRADITION AND WRITINGS.

Jesus' execution is outlined in the "ANNALS" of the Roman Historian Tacitus (ANNALS XV,44), written circa 110 A.D. A GOOD QUESTION TO ASK IS: Why is such a worthy account of the Death of Jesus showing up 110 Years After his Death?!?! [math error in original]

Tacitus writes: "The name derived from CHRIST, whom the procurator (governor) Pontius Pilate had EXECUTED in the reign of Tiberius."

The "Temporarily Suppressed pernicious SUPERSTITION" (As the Romans Called this now 2000 year old Religion) to which Jesus had given rise in Judæa soon afterward had spread to Rome. Tacitus does not speak of "JESUS" but, rather, "CHRIST" (originally the religious TITLE, MESSIAH, but used VERY EARLY among Christians outside Palestine as the proper name for JESUS).

An Enquiry of the governor of Asia Minor, Pliny the Younger, in his letter to the Emperor Trajan (c.111 A.D.) about how he should act in regard to the Christians (EPISTLE 10,96ff.) comes from the same period. Christians are AGAIN described as adherents of a crude superstition (AGAIN, NOW 2000 YEARS OLD!), who sang hymns to Christ "AS TO A GOD."

Jewish Literature offers a dissuasion in Motif form. This Motif was established by jewish leaders to discourage the people from following Jesus. In the Talmud, a Manuscript of Law, Lore, and Commentary, the picture of Jesus that is offered may be summarized as follows:

"Born an illegitimate son to a Roman soldier called Panther, Jesus (Hebrew Yeshua) worked magic, ridiculed the wise, seduced and stirred up the people, gathered only five disciples about Him, and was hanged (crucified) on the eve of Passover." Further accounts of this story may be found in the writings of a cult of Cabalism that was eventually also ridiculed by the Jews as a fanatical absurd religion and gradually faded from popularity.

This account does not correlate with any other writings about Jesus, including Roman, Greek, Christian, and other Jewish accounts.

These independent accounts PROVE that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity NEVER DOUBTED THE HISTORICITY (Reality) of Jesus, which in fact was not disputed until the end of the 18th, during the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th Century. These disputes were based on inadequate grounds, conjecture, myths, unsupported evidence, and lies. They were perpetrated by writers seeking fame with regard for the validity of their stories due to the newness of the printed word, and the explosion of reading material generated by the industrial revolution.

BIBLOGRAPHY AND FURTHER READINGS

Annals of Tacitus, Circa 110 A.D., Volume XV, Chapter 44, Latin
Epistle of Trajan, Circa 111 A.D., Volume 10, Paragraph 96, Latin
Vita Claudii, Circa 100 A.D., Volume 25, Chapter 4, Latin
Antiquities of Josephus, Circa 70 A.D., Volume 20, Chapter 200, Hebrew
Testimony of Flavius, Circa 70 A.D., Volume 18, Paragraph 63, Hebrew
Jewish Talmud, Hebrew

NOTE: I have given the Titles in English. Most of these works have English Translations, though they are hard to find. A Librarian at a LARGE (U.C., Cincinnati Main Branch, New York Public Library, Library of Congress) should be able to steer you in the right direction.

Carl E. Braaten and Roy Harrisville, "The Historical Jesus and the Kerygmatic Christ (1964)
Heinz Zahrnt, "Es Begann Mit Jesus von Nazareth", German (1960; English Translation "The Historical Jesus"; 1963)
Ernst Fuchs, "Zur Frage nach dem Historischen Jesus" (English Translation; "Studies of the Historical Jesus; 1964)
John Knox, "The Church and the Reality of Christ, (1964)

NOTE: Most of these works have bibliographies of further Historical Documents.

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