SECULAR TEXTS

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The Christian faith is absolutely grounded in history. The historicity of Jesus is well accepted by scholars and historians... and we find many non-biblical references to Christ in secular histories. These accounts of Christ are most often unsympathetic to the Christian movement as Christians worshiped Jesus as God and not the Roman sponsored smorgasbord of "gods". Presented are several examples.

 

★ Tacitus:

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56-120 AD) was a prominent Roman orator, public official, and historian, widely regarded as the greatest Roman historian and one of the greatest Latin prose stylists. His major works, the Annals and the Histories, are invaluable primary sources for the history of the Roman Empire in the first century AD.

 

Tacitus reporting on Emperor Nero's decision to blame the Christians for the fire that destroyed Rome in 64 AD, (passage in Book 15, Chapter 44 of his Annals) wrote:

 

“Nero fastened the guilt on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome.”  (This "mischievous superstition" is most likely a reference to the Resurrection.)

 

★ Pliny the Younger:

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, known as Pliny the Younger (61-113 AD), was a prominent Roman lawyer, author, and magistrate. He is best known for his extensive collection of surviving letters. Pliny the Younger's Letter 96 of Book X to Emperor Trajan, written around 112 AD, describes his procedures for handling individuals accused of being Christians in his province. An excerpt from that letter offers an important source of evidence about Jesus and early Christianity:

 

“…they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”

 

★ Lucian of Samosata:

Lucian of Samosata (125-180 AD) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician, and author. He was widely known for his witty, skeptical style, which he used to ridicule superstition, religious practices, and the philosophical schools of his time. His primary and most extensive reference to Christianity is found in his work, The Passing of Peregrinus. He wrote of the early Christians as follows:

 

“The Christians worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. It was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.”

 

★ Flavius Josephus:

Flavius Josephus (born Joseph ben Matthias, 37-100 AD) was a 1st-century non-Christian Roman-Jewish historian, military leader, and scholar. His writings are crucial for understanding Second Temple Judaism, the context of early Christianity, and the First Jewish-Roman War. In his work 'Jewish Antiquities', written around 93 or 94 AD, he writes on two occasions mentioning Jesus. This passage found in Book 18, Chapter 3, is referred to as the Testimonium Flavianum (Latin for "Testimony of Flavius"). However, because we do not have an original copy of the Testimonium Flavianum (all surviving manuscripts are later copies), there is debate over the wording in the primary passage of reference and as to whether or not it was later embellished.

 

The second, less impactful and undisputed reference, describes the death of “James” by the Jewish Sanhedrin. This James, says Josephus, was “the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ.”

 

The primary passage of reference states:

 

“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man; for he wrought surprising feats. He was the Christ. When Pilate condemned him to be crucified, those who had come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared restored to life and the tribe of Christians has not disappeared.”

 

A consensus reconstruction removes the overtly Christian phrasing and results in phrasing close to this:

 

"About this time lived Jesus, a wise man. He was a teacher of people who accepted the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of gentile origin. Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to be crucified. Those who had loved him at first did not cease to do so. And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared."

 

This reconstructed version serves as the basis for scholarly agreement that Josephus did make a historical reference to Jesus, his execution, and the continuation of his followers, but from a non-Christian, likely neutral or slightly negative, perspective.