Are there any eyewitness testimonies of Jesus during his own time period? Is there any evidence for Jesus’ existence at all?
If we start by asking ourselves whether a person by the name of Jesus of Nazareth has been crucified under Pontius Pilate,and that such person was regarded as being the founder of a religious system, then, the answer is in the affirmative. We have Roman documents to prove it.
**Tacitus(c. 55 -117 CE) **
"…Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius, but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. "
What pernicious superstition other than the resurrection can be implied in this case. Therefore, to claim that less than 20 years
after the crucifixion, the christian teaching of the resurrection was heard all over the Roman provinces, is not mearly a myth, but a certainty. Now the question remains for those who deny the historical Jesus, what event started all this?
SUETONIUS (c.115CE)
"As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of
Chrestus, he (Claudius, who reigned A.D. 41-54) expelled them from Rome."
Although Suetonius is of the second century himself, he speaks of a disturbance in the Province of Rome, just a couple of decades after the believed resurection.Suetonius had ready access to the Imperial and Senatorial archives.
Notice that just after over a decade or so, the Roman government is greatly concerned by the uprising of the christian movement to the point of expelling them from the city of Rome.
Notice also how the Roman document, which Seutonius relied on for his information, agrees perfectly with the writings of Paul.
Acts 18:2: There he (Paul) met a jew named Aquila, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscillia, because Claudius had ordered all the jews to leave Rome".
** Acts 17:5 "…the jews were jealous ; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.**
Acts 17:13 " When the jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up."
Paul’s journey in Act 18 is believed to having been in the year 52 AD. less than twenty uears after the crucifixion.
Next comes Josephus, who writes about John the Baptist, James, the Lord’s brother, and Jesus Himself. Clearly as an historian, Josephus wrote about things that were well known and highly influencial when pointing to the history of the Jews, not about so-called events which was known to only a handful of people. So, again, this claims the christian belief as being prominent during the time of Josephus.
Andre
)
