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| Early icon image of Jesus |
Four
films were needed for that task? Sounds
like overkill. After all, there’s not
much to say. Evidence of a real Jesus is
hard to come by.
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| Philo |
The
only writers who lived in Judea at the time Jesus must have lived never mention
him. In all of Philo of Alexandria’s
voluminous writing, Jesus never makes an appearance, although the famed Jewish-Egyptian philosopher desperately sought evidence of God on Earth
and created the concept of “logos” (the word) that John picked up for his
Gospel. More significantly, Philo died
in the 40s and lived through all the years Jesus had to have been alive.
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| Josephus |
Josephus,
the renowned Jewish historian of the first century, also did not mention Jesus, but did cite
other would-be messiahs. At least 16
earlier church fathers are known to have commented on Josephus without noting a strange paragraph in his text that begins “At about this time lived Jesus, a wise man,
if indeed one might call him a man...” That's because the passage was added later. If such a passage had existed in the
original, they would not have complained, as they did, that Josephus overlooked
Jesus.
A
later Christian author, presumed to be church historian Bishop Eusebius, was so
upset by Josephus’ omission that, in the fourth century, he forged a paragraph
about Jesus and inserted it into the text.
He is thought to be the author because he's the first to mention it. Unfortunately for him, earlier versions of Josephus’ works do not
contain the fraudulent addition.
Some
historians claim that Josephus knew more about Jesus and early Christianity,
but didn’t want to offend the Romans.
Besides being an attempt to read Josephus’ mind, they ignore the uncomfortable fact that
he wrote extensively about other would-be messiahs, lambasting their
pretensions and accusing them of fostering unrest.
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| Artist's image of Paul |
Paul,
the first true missionary for the religion that grew up around Jesus, did include mentions of the historical Jesus in his epistles: he was
“born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4) and was “descended from David, according to
the flesh” (Romans 1:3). He also tells
us Jesus was Jewish, devoted his ministry to Jews and was crucified. He doesn't
even indicate when Jesus lived or cite a single teaching.
Modern
Christian apologists have claimed that Paul omitted the biographical details
because he was writing to people who knew the life of Jesus and had no reason
to elaborate. That can’t be true. Paul founded small colonies of believers around
the Mediterranean – his epistles mostly are addressed to the different groups –
and was forced to respond when other evangelists went to the same people with a
different message. The authentic history
of Jesus would have been a very strong asset for him. He simply didn’t include any.
In
Paul's view, Jesus was a common man of little distinction until chosen by God
on the cross as the messiah and messenger to mankind. That, of course, is not the later dogma of
Christianity, which believes in Jesus as God incarnate.
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| Didache |
Other
documents that mention Jesus are equally limited. For example, one early document called the
Didache began as a sectarian Jewish document, probably written around 70 C.E. The original version contained moral
teachings and predictions of the destruction of the current world order. Later Christians revised it, adding a story
of Jesus and rules of worship for early Christian communities.
Still,
the Didache makes no mention of a virgin birth or miracles. Jesus is called the “son” of God in the
Didache, but only in a figurative sense.
In Jewish thinking, everyone is a son of God anyway. There’s no account of the crucifixion of
Jesus, although the Didache does mention a cross in the sky as a sign of Jesus.
The twelve apostles are referred to as representing the 12 tribes of
Israel.
Extant
Roman histories provide even less information about a human Jesus. Here are all the known comments about Jesus
in Roman literature:
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| Tacitus |
Cornelius Tacitus (55-120 A.D.):
“Consequently,
to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most
exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians
by the populace. Christus, from whom the
name had its origin, suffered under the extreme penalty during the reign of
Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most
mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only
in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become
popular.”
That
would seem to be a big help, but for the date of the text. Writing long after the death of Jesus,
Tacitus could have gotten any information about Christians from members of the
religion, rather than from actual historical document. His phrasing, “suffered under,” which is
inherently Christian, seems to indicate that.
Moreover, early Church fathers did not cite his comment nor does the
reference to Christians show up in Tacitus' writing until a translation was
issued hundreds of years later.
Actually,
no reference to Jesus by a non-Christian author is mentioned by Church fathers
until the 4th century.
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| Lucian |
Lucian, a second-century Greek satirist:
The
Christians, you know, worship a man to this day — the distinguished personage
who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. … You see,
these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are
immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary
self-devotion which are so common among them; and then 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. All this
they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods
alike, regarding them merely as common property.”
The
late date suggests Lucian got his information from a Christian and not from an historical
source.
 |
| Suetonius |
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillas, chief
secretary of Emperor Hadrian.
There
are two references, appearing in his books from 117-138 A.D. In his account of Emperor Claudius’ reign,
Suetonius wrote, “Claudius banished from Rome all Jews who were continually
making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestos.” Then, on the reign of Nero: “Nero likewise
inflicted punishment on the Christians, a sect of men who held a new and
maleficent superstition.”
Again,
the information is scant. Is Chrestos a
misunderstanding for Christ or another person altogether? After all, Chrestos was a term often applied
to pagan gods. Besides, “Jews” actually
may be “god-fearers,” people who mixed Jewish beliefs with pagan beliefs and
who were not typically of Jewish descent.
Suetonius,
a prominent historian in his day, is actually referring to a time period close
to when the false messiah Theudas was crucified. The passage may be a nod to Theudas'
followers in Rome, who did riot in protest to his death at Roman hands.
The
text also seems to imply that Chrestus was in Rome, spearheading the
uprising. Christians claim that the
passage refers to Jesus, and unrest began after Paul brought news of him to
Rome and that Suetonius was only mistaken about Jesus himself being in
Rome. Regardless, the information is too
limited and too removed from Jesus’ time to be of any historical help.
There
are simply no other works to turn to outside the New Testament that deal with Jesus. As you can see, few of the comments actually contain
even a shard of information about the historical Jesus. They simply verify that Christian belief existed
by the time of the writing.
Even
the Gospels aren’t much help determining if Jesus ever lived. “Although (the
New Testament accounts are the chief records, they are neither clear nor
complete,” noted the Dartmouth Bible (pg 844).
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| Artist's concept of Ebionites |
Nevertheless,
there are some inferences that can be made that support the existence of
an historical Jesus. In the first place, Paul only met
Jesus in a reverie outside Damascus. He
would have been far better off insisting that his otherworldly meeting with
Jesus was far more valid than anyone else’s experience with the living person,
but he didn’t. Instead, Paul accepted
that the people he called “the pillars of the church” had known the real
person.
Then, too, there
really was a group of believers in Jerusalem.
They called themselves Nazarenes, but are better known historically as Ebionites,
which means “poor ones." They were given
that insulting nickname because of their impoverished condition. The Nazarenes, who are also labeled
Jewish-Christians by modern historians, viewed themselves as a reform movement
within Judaism.
They
organized a synagogue, and, like all Jews, worshiped and brought animals for
ritual sacrifice at the Temple. They
observed the Jewish holy days, circumcised their male children, followed Kosher
dietary laws, and practiced the teachings of Jesus as they interpreted them to
be. They saw Jesus as a prophet and sage, but not as a deity. The Ebionites also disliked Paul and insisted
he was not Jewish. In their extant
writing, they claim the apostle distorted their beliefs.
Caught
between Judaism and Christianity, they soon faded away. However, they did exist and were not likely
to venerate an imaginary person.
Finally,
the Talmud, the Jewish collection of laws,
rabbinical discussion and stories, mentions Jesus. The sages of that day did not cite imaginary
people.
On
that basis, there’s no hesitancy on the part of most historians to agree that
Jesus lived. Four documentaries won’t
enhance that. However, historians divide
quickly over the question if Jesus is God.
That’s belief, requiring no historical foundation, which is
fortunate since none exists.
The
reality is that we know next to nothing about the true life of a man who may
have been the most influential human who has lived in the last 2,000 years.
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| Guignebert |
As Charles
Guignebert, Sorbonne professor of Christianity, wrote 80 years ago in his epic
book Jesus: “Jesus was born, he lived, he was crucified
and he died. Everything else is pure
conjecture.”
Note: Much of this blog is drawn from the book, The Gospel Truth, available on Amazon,
Twitter and other sites.
Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history. He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.
You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net. He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols; and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion. His most recent book is Passover in Prison, which
details abuse of Jewish inmates in American prisons. His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.
He can also be followed on Twitter.
You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1
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