Expert: J.M.J. West - 3/20/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi. Is there substantive proof of the historical Jesus? Thank you- Steve

ANSWER: Yes.  The New Testament.  It contains hundreds of references to the man Jesus of Nazareth, who called himself the Messiah and the Son of God, and was crucified.  St. Paul writes often about various people who WITNESSED the risen Christ (let alone the pre-crucified Christ).  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all wrote gospels explaining who this person was, and referencing names of people who met him - some at least who would have been alive at the time of Christ...

...But generally when such a question is asked, it usually is prefaced with "outside of the Bible", so let's see what we can dig up (however, one really ought not to simply discredit the New Testament simply because it's the set of books canonized by the church)...

The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious "Christians" ("named after Christus" which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius.

The Chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, Suetonius, wrote that there was a man named "Christus" who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44 ).  Remember that "Christ" (Latin, means "anointed", like "Messiah" in Hebrew) was the title of Jesus of Nazareth, not his name per se (though, if he is who he claims to be, then it would seem to be both).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian of the period, and his works are cited often.  In his Antiquities he refers to James, "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ." There is a controversial verse (18:3) that says, "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats...He was [the] Christ... he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him." One version reads, "At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders."

The historian Thallus is quoted by Julius Africanus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).

Pliny the Younger recorded for the Emperor Trajan early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper. (Letters 10:96)

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) reports of Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover.  It also records the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Lucian of Samosata - a second-century Greek writer - admits that Jesus was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them. He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves immortal, and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.

Then we have all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Peter, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, the Protoevangelium of James etc.) that all mention Jesus.  Many were meant as religious texts, and most were regarded as spurious for some reason or another, but nevertheless they record his existence.

Coupled with the New Testament documents, the case for at least the EXISTENCE of Jesus (the "historical Jesus") seems pretty sound.  And these (the New Testament documents) are also the best preserved manuscripts from antiquity.  If we cannot trust them to be textually pure (at 5000+ manuscripts agreeing in 99.5% of what they say [differing usually only in word order or minor word choice] across various translations spread across and beyond the Roman Empire's borders) then we cannot trust the second best attested attested work:  Homer's Iliad, which clocks in at about 650 manuscripts agreeing on about 60-70% of their content.  And if we cannot trust that, then we cannot trust any work from the classical period, and entire wings of humanities departments should be shut down for teaching "unverifiable" things...

Does that help?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for a most erudite answer. Do you think the controversial passage of Josephus was added by Christians at a later date? Some scholars seem to think it was as it was not used as a defence by some Christians persecuted in the years after the death of Christ?

Answer
I doubt it.  In part because most Christians wouldn't have felt this need to "prove Jesus existed" by altering the texts of one historian when they had manifold other sources within and without their own tradition to back up the notion of His existence.  I do not have the resources at hand to "conclusively and without a doubt" prove this to be the case, but it's not a terribly serious or damaging claim.

Even were that the case, there are still the others listed above, from the New Testament Gospels to the apocryphal literature of the 1st and 2nd century and the various non-Christian sources cited above.  No Christian was ever concerned with proving the existence of Christ, it's just a given with no real reason to doubt.  His Godhood, his Resurrection, his atonement, his ascension - those are the things Christians have been concerned about showing, explaining and sharing.

No honest historian I've meet in the field would ever take seriously the claim that Christ didn't exist - he's better documented than Caesar crossing the Rubicon, but we never doubt the latter!

Hope that helps!

Pax Christi,

-J.M.J. West