People keep saying there is historical proof of Jesus outside of Holy books.?

Question

I'm not saying that there isn't but I was wondering if I could get some sources on that. As far as I know there is only one writing on Jesus outside of the Bible or the Quran. It would be interesting to read. :)

OUTSIDE of the Bible people. I don't really consider that a credible source.

And for the record, I believe he existed. I just don't believe he was divine.

Josephus is the one I refer to. Anything besides that??

Answer 1

Dear heart, chances are that a 'street' preacher whose name has changed over the centuries to 'Jesus' walked from here to there in a tiny stretch of land in the boondocks of the Roman Empire. There were lots of meandering preachers at that time and place, as there are now on cable television. He was born a Jew, his mother was a Jew, he preached as a Jew, he died as a Jew. Christianity did not really take off until something like three centuries later, and the holy men who pasted it together were smart enough to 'create,' which is what they did, a 'hero,' who quite probably had been nailed to a wooden 'cross' by the Roman oppressors. Remember, a heck of a lot of Jews, and others, were executed by the Romans in those days. Nailing a victim to a tree or a 'cross' was one of several Roman execution methods. There were far more brutal ones. Rebellion was rife, and rebellion was not to be tolerated by the Romans. Jesus was neither the first nor the last. He was a man, yes, but a god? No, of course not.

Answer 2

From Kallan's link:

"The Gospel story, with its figure of Jesus of Nazareth, cannot be found before the Gospels. In Christian writings earlier than Mark, including almost all of the New Testament epistles, as well as in many writings from the second century, the object of Christian faith is never spoken of as a human man who had recently lived, taught, performed miracles, suffered and died at the hands of human authorities, or rose from a tomb outside Jerusalem. There is no sign in the epistles of Mary or Joseph, Judas or John the Baptist, no birth story, teaching or appointment of apostles by Jesus, no mention of holy places or sites of Jesus’ career, not even the hill of Calvary or the empty tomb. This silence is so pervasive and so perplexing that attempted explanations for it have proven inadequate."

Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle

. . . and, to reiterate for the regurgitators of disproven nonsense: the two brief mentions in Josephus are forgeries; ask any scholar . . . and Josephus could not possibly have been an eyewitness to begin with.

Those who COULD have, like Pliny et al . . . are completely silent. But let's look at the first line of the quote above: Jesus of *Nazareth.* Were any of you aware that Nazareth was NOT there when Jesus was supposed to have been growing up in it? It only became inhabited much later . . . at about the time the "Gospels" were being written.

Answer 3

Think of Jesus as a black hole for one second, we know black holes by the affect they have on nearby objects. Following Jesus' death their is documentation of Christian (well a Judeo-Christian) movement starting almost right after 33 A.D. (The 40 A.D. meeting in Antioch). We also know that both early Jews, and the Romans beginning under Nero severely persecuted the early Christians. Yet these Christians had a special spark in their faith that modern Christians lack, so much that they were willing to die for it and be tortured for it.

Why is this, if no such man existed then why did these "eye-witnesses" go so far for their faith in an imaginary guy. So though we have little sources of Jesus' actual life we have plenty of proof of the affect it had in that part of the world.

Also to the Romans Jesus was not that important, sure he performed strange acts, but Palestine was abound with Messiah claimants at the time, there is record from 1st century Jewish historian Josephus, but its authenticity is debated.

Answer 4

The only one I know of was the writings by Josephus and those writings have been proven to have been altered to add the very short entry about Jesus long after the original was written.

Answer 5

Some people cite Josephus, but there is evidence that the comments about Jesus were the work of a later "editor."

Answer 6

People here have given you some answers outside of the Bible, but keep in mind as Keith N Schoville has said: " It is important to realize that archaeological excavations have produced ample evidence to prove unequivocally that the Bible is not a pious forgery. Thus far, no historical statement in the Bible has been proven false on the basis of evidence retrieved through archaeologic research."

Answer 7

Not that I am aware of, there were no eyewitness accounts of him outside of scriptures. Of that I am fairly certain

Josephus Flavius was among the first non christians to write about him, but he was born in 37CE - so his account is hearsay.

As for Tacitus - he was born even later than Flavius, so not only is his account hearsay, but many people believe that the passage about "christus" may have been added by revisionists later on.

Answer 8

Flavius Josephus' 'Antiqueties'
He was a Jew and NOT a believer in Jesus as Messiah.But he lived in the 1rst century and writes a paragraph about Jesus and his followers.Also Tacitus a Roman historian writes about a "man called Chrestus (Christ) causing a stir in Jerusalem.There are more.

Answer 9

I believe there was an ancient Roman coin found with his image on it and there was an ossary found that said "James, brother of Jesus." That caused controversy because if Jesus had a brother, than that means the Virgin Mary, wasn't a virgin anymore if she gave birth to siblings. I believe it was surpressed and little attention was given about the findings. There also was a theory that he traveled abroad, maybe to Europe and I think he also met Buddha. You migh want to look into Asian readings on that. I believe he existed.

Answer 10

The Jewish historian Josephus wrote about Jesus. He might not have acknowledged the divinity of Christ, but he certainly attested to the fact that he walked the earth.