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Jesus Outside the Bible: Part 1 – Historical Silence

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“Apart from the New Testament writings and later writings dependent on these, our sources of information about the life and teaching of Jesus are scanty and problematic” – F.F. Bruce, New Testament History.

“The only definite account of his life and teachings is contained in the four Gospels for the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. All other historical records of the time are silent about him. The brief mentions of Jesus in the writings of Josephus, Tacitus and Suetonius have been generally regarded as not genuine and as Christian interpolations; in Jewish writings there is no report about Jesus that has historical value. Some scholars have even gone as far as to hold that the entire Jesus story is a myth… ” – The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia

The various problems with numerous discrepancies and disputable dates of the canonical gospels suggest that these texts do not constitute entirely helpful or reliable biographies of Jesus Christ. It would thus be useful to turn our attention elsewhere for additional clues as to who Jesus was. However, when we go looking for material outside of the New Testament that might validate the events described there, we come up empty-handed, both textually and archaeologically.

In other words, there is no contemporaneous evidence outside of the New Testament to attest to Christ’s advent and ministry – or even his existence.

The silence is singularly outstanding, in consideration of the repeated assertions in the gospels that Christ was famed far and wide, causing a fracas with the local and imperial authorities, and, upon his death, creating astonishing and awesome miracles and wonders the world had never seen before, including not only an earthquake and the darkening of the sun and moon, but also dead people rising from their graves and visiting people in town! [Matthew 27:50-53] – Can you say “night of the living dead”!?

These “great crowds” and “multitudes”, along with Jesus’s fame, are repeatedly referred to in the gospels, including in the following:

  • Matthew 4:23-45, 5:1, 8:1, 8:18, 9:8, 9:31, 9:33, 9:36, 11:7, 12:15, 13:2, 14:1, 14:13, 14:22, 15:30, 19:2, 21:9, 26:55
  • Mark 1:28, 10:1…etc
  • Luke 4:14, 4:37, 5:15, 14:25…etc
  • 1 Corinthians 15:3-7

One would think that if all these things happened, someone somewhere would have written about them or otherwise recorded them for prosperity. But, inspecting the literary, historical and archaeological record of the time produces nothing. The dearth of evidence is not for want of suitable reporters, as during the first century the following historians and writers depicted life in and around the Mediterranean, including in some of the very places that Jesus and his disciples purportedly move about:

Aulus Perseus (60 CE)
Columella (1st cent. CE)
Dio Chrysostom (c. 40 – 112 CE)
Justus of Tiberius (c. 80 CE)
Livy (59 BCE – 17 CE)
Lucanus (fl. 63 CE)
Lucius Florus (1st – 2nd cent. CE)
Petronius (d. 66 CE)
Phaedrus (c. 15 BCE – 50 CE)
Philo Judaeus (20 BCE – 50 CE)
Phlegon (1st cent. CE)
Pliny the Elder (23 – 69 CE)		Plutarch (c. 46 – 119 CE)
Pomponius Mela (40 CE)
Rufus Curtius (1st cent. CE)
Quintilian (c. 35 – 100 CE)
Quintus Curtius (1st cent. CE)
Seneca (1 BCE – 65 CE)
Silius Italicus (c. 25 – 101 CE)
Statius Caelicius (1st cent. CE)
Theon of Smyrna (c. 70 – 135 CE)
Valerius Flaccus (1st cent. CE)
Valerius Maximus (fl. c. 20 CE)

Oddly enough, not one of these writers recorded any of the amazing and earth-shaking events reported in the gospels, even though this period was one of the best documented in history and although some of these authors lived or traveled in the same small area in which the gospel story was set. Neither Jesus nor his disciples are mentioned by any of them – not a word about Christ, Christianity or Christians!

Thanks for reading,

Continue reading:

Jesus Outside the Bible: Part 2 – Flavius Josephus

Jesus Outside the Bible: Part 3 – Pliny, Tacitus and Suetonius

Notes:

Excerpted from “Who Was Jesus – Fingerprints of the Christ” by D.M. Murdock, Stellar House Publishing, 2007

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4 responses to “Jesus Outside the Bible: Part 1 – Historical Silence”

  1. Allan Folsom Avatar
    Allan Folsom

    Josephus? (or is he discredited)

    Reply
    1. elpidiovaldes Avatar
      elpidiovaldes

      Hi,

      Please see the top 10 reasons why Josephus is a discredited source:

      1) It “Testimonium Flavianum” was not quoted or referred to by any Christian apologists prior to Eusebius, c. 316 CE.

      2) Nowhere else in his voluminous works does Josephus use the word “Christ”, except in the passage which refers to James ‘the brother of Jesus who was called Christ’ (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, Chapter 9, Paragraph 1), which is also considered to be a forgery.

      3) Since Josephus was not a Christian but an orthodox Jew, it is impossible that he should have believed or written that Jesus was the Christ or used the words “if it be lawful to call him a man,” which imply the Christian belief in Jesus’ divinity.

      4) The extraordinary character of the things related in the passage–of a man who is apparently more than a man, and who rose from the grave after being dead for three days–demanded a more extensive treatment by Josephus, which would undoubtedly have been forthcoming if he had been its author.

      5) The passage interrupts the narrative, which would flow more naturally if the passage were left out entirely.

      6) It is not quoted by Chrysostom (c. 354-407 CE) even though he often refers to Josephus in his voluminous writings.

      7) It is not quoted by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople (c. 858-886 CE) even though he wrote three articles concerning Josephus, which strongly implies that his copy of Josephus’ Antiquities did not contain the passage.

      8) Neither Justin Martyr (110-165 CE), nor Clement of Alexandria (153-217 CE), nor Origen (c.185-254 CE), who all made extensive reference to ancient authors in their defense of Christianity, has mentioned this supposed testimony of Josephus.

      9) Origen, in his treatise Against Celsus, Book 1, Chapter 47, states categorically that Josephus did NOT believe that Jesus was the Christ.

      10) This is the only reference to the Christians in the works of Josephus. If it were genuine, we would have expected him to have given us a fuller account of them somewhere.

      Please see part 2 of my “Jesus Outside the Bible” series to learn more about Josephus: https://elpidiovaldes.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/jesus-outside-the-bible-part-2-%E2%80%93-flavius-josephus/

      And just for fun, here’s part 3: https://elpidiovaldes.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/jesus-outside-the-bible-part-3-%E2%80%93-pliny-tacitus-and-suetonius/

      Thanks,

      Reply
  2. Alvin Ducre Avatar
    Alvin Ducre

    Origen, in his treatise Against Celsus, Book 1, Chapter 47, states categorically that Josephus did NOT believe that Jesus was the Christ.

    Jesus is mentioned. This discredits your appurtenances.

    Reply
    1. elpidiovaldes Avatar
      elpidiovaldes

      Hi Alvin,

      Surely you noticed that my comment on Origen was in response to a questions regarding the subject of Josephus itself and has nothing to do with the premise of my article, as I do not reference Origen at all.

      If you’re suggesting that because Origen mention “Jesus” in his writings somehow discredits my premise, then you are left looking very foolish as Origen is thought to have been born easily a century and a half after the death of “Jesus” which puts him in the second century. You’d be wise to note that my article focused on writers and/or historians from the first century.

      Would you like to try again?

      Reply

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