So many factual errors and half-truths in this article I don't know where to
begin. Apparently, according to this article, there are forgeries in
Josephus, but the Jesus stuff is true. I suppose this skill for spotting
forgeries and truths in Josephus' writings is the same skill they use to
tell which parts of the Bible are worth following and which are just
'optional inconvenient guidelines' that can be ignored. Suetonius used the
word 'Chrestus', not as a misspelling but a word meaning 'the good', not
'Christus', a word meaning 'the annointed one'. Tacitus does use the word
'Christus', not Jesus as the article implies, which could mean any one of
the self-proclaimed saviors running around Rome at that time. Both
Suetonius and Tacitus wrote their references well after the supposed
resurrection. Perhaps the better question to ask, which this article
ignores, is were there any contemporaries of Jesus that mentioned him or his
hard to ignore miracles? Considering that this was one of the most well
documented eras in history it seems pathetic that these few paltry mentions
are all that Jesus can hang his hat on.
turk
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=57&u_sid=1092659
Skeptics may refuse to relent but, yes, there's evidence of Jesus outside
the Bible
Did Jesus even exist?
The question may seem absurd, but years ago some radicals treated him as an
imaginary figure. Today's experts don't take the canard seriously.
But surprisingly, the issue is revived in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, which
claims to examine evidence rationally as it seeks to debunk religions and
hoaxes, ancient and modern. It's published by the secularist Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.
Reviewing Mel Gibson's "Passion" film, committee senior researcher Joe
Nickell asserts: "Historically, apart from later Christian sources, there is
virtually no evidence for Jesus' crucifixion - or even his very existence."
Perhaps Skeptical Inquirer needs to be more skeptical about its skepticism.
Consider: Could a non-person whose crucifixion was a non-event be seen as
real, not in "later" sources but within 20 years (see Paul's early letters)?
The four Gospels appeared in succeeding decades, the equivalent of 2004
books looking back at the Depression, World War II, school desegregation or
the Kennedy assassination.
But Nickell indicates we must reject all New Testament evidence. He doesn't
explain why, but such writers typically complain that the Gospels were
written by partisans and insiders. True enough, but under that standard,
scholars must erase much of secular history as well.
But even if all New Testament records are thrown out, nonbelievers also
provided early evidence of Jesus' existence.
Such references are scarce, but that doesn't surprise E.P. Sanders of Duke
University, author of "The Historical Figure of Jesus" and no
fundamentalist. He says "it is sometimes hard to believe how unimportant
Jesus was during his lifetime, especially outside Palestine."
The most important non-Christian source is "Jewish Antiquities," completed
in A.D. 93 by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.
One passage cites the execution in A.D. 62 of "the brother of Jesus the
so-called Christ, James by name."
A longer reference to Jesus poses a famous problem. Christian and
non-Christian scholars agree that it was retouched by later believers, who
added pious phrases that no Jew employed by pagans would have written.
But scholars say the additions are obvious. If they are deleted, Josephus
provided at least these bare facts: Jesus was thought to be a "wise man" and
"doer of wonderful works," attracted followers, was crucified by Pilate and
started a movement that remained in existence decades later.
Any records the Roman occupiers kept about Jesus would have been lost during
the devastating Jewish rebellion that began in A.D. 66, Sanders figures.
It took time for awareness of this tiny religious movement to reach other
Romans, but three early references have survived:
-Pliny the Younger was sent as imperial legate to Bithynia (in present-day
Turkey) starting in A.D. 111. One of his reports to the Emperor Trajan
described a policy of executing Christians who refused to curse Christ and
worship Roman gods. He said believers would sing an "antiphonal hymn to
Christ as God," followed by a meal.
-Tacitus, who loathed the Christian "plague," recorded around A.D. 115 in
"Roman Annals" that Jesus "was executed by sentence of the procurator
Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius."
-Suetonius wrote about A.D. 120 that the Emperor Claudius banished all Jews
from Rome because they were continually rioting "at the instigation of
Chrestus." Historians think this misspelling of "Christ" means Suetonius
mistakenly thought a troublemaker with that name lived in Rome. The comment
indicates that by A.D. 49, belief in Christ had reached Rome and was
dividing Jews.
Nickell cites support for his skepticism from "Incredible Shrinking Son of
Man" by humanist colleague Robert Price, a member of the left-wing Jesus
Seminar who teaches at the Universal Foundation for Better Living seminary
in Carol City, Fla.
Price's seminary, founded by a Unity School minister, promotes the sort of
New Thought spiritual healing Skeptical Inquirer might debunk - and treats
Jesus as though he actually existed.
Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom
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