In some curious and extreme circles, some would suggest that Jesus never even existed. Such a claim seems unreasonable since even non-canonical resources provide good details on the life of Jesus. From Craig Blomberg, “Jesus of Nazareth: How Historians Can Know Him and Why It Matters“
It is, of course, historically prejudicial to exclude automatically all Christian evidence, as if no one who became a follower of Jesus could ever report accurately about his life and teachings, or to assume that all non-Christian evidence was necessarily more “objective.” But even using only such non-Christian sources, there is ample evidence to confirm the main contours of the early Christian claims: Jesus was a Jew who lived in Israel during the first third of the first century, was born out of wedlock, intersected with the life and ministry of John the Baptist, attracted great crowds especially because of his wondrous deeds, had a group of particularly close followers called disciples (five of whom are named), ran afoul of the Jewish religious authorities because of his controversial teachings sometimes deemed heretical or blasphemous, was crucified during the time of Pontius Pilate’s governorship in Judea (26–36 C.E.), and yet was believed by many of his followers to have been the Messiah, the anticipated liberator of Israel. This belief did not disappear despite Jesus’ death because a number of his supporters claimed to have seen him resurrected from the dead. His followers, therefore, continued consistently to grow in numbers, gathering together regularly for worship and instruction and even singing hymns to him as if he were a god (or God).
Contemporary reactions to this composite picture sometimes complain that this seems like a rather sparse amount of information. On the other hand, until the last few centuries, history and biography in general almost exclusively focused on the exploits of kings and queens (or their cultural equivalents), military conquests and defeats, people in official institutional positions of power in a given society, and the wealthy more generally, not least because it was primarily these people who could read and/or afford to own written documents. Jesus qualified for attention under none of these headings. Moreover, no non-Christians in the first several centuries of the Common Era had any reason to imagine that his influence would grow and spread the way it did in the millennium and half ahead. So it is arguable that it is actually rather impressive that as much has been preserved outside of Christian circles as has been. And of course, most ancient testimony to any person or event has been lost over the centuries, so many other references to Jesus might have existed that we simply no longer know about.
Paradoxically, Jesus did end up being a conquering king, but in a way unlike any other king that exists in history. Most kings kill in order to further their conquests and reign. Jesus, the King of kings, died so that other may have life, and so death and sin would be conquered. Impressive indeed, and the fuel for the expansion of this kingdom live on because of the work the resurrected King continues to do today.
* For more resources that validate the statements above, Dr. Blomberg quotes:
The most thorough and even-handed presentation and assessment of these data appears in Robert E. van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), from which the English translations of Tacitus, the Talmud, and Josephus have been taken. Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), is particularly helpful from a Jewish perspective on the clear references and various additional possible allusions in the rabbinic literature. What Josephus originally wrote has been disputed, but a reasonable consensus suggests that the only Christian interpolations were to affirm Jesus’ messiahship and resurrection rather than simply note that his followers alleged that they occurred. See John P. Meier, “Jesus in Josephus: A Modest Proposal,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 52 (1990): 76–103.
Brian: are these actual conversations and arguments that you have run into? I’ve heard of and read about these arguments, the “non-historical Jesus,” but have never encountered it. How pervasive do you think this is?
Perhaps you could provide a list of extra-Biblical sources on the ministry of Jesus, as I can’t seem to find more than a general acknowledgment that he lived and was a Jewish rabbi and rabble-rouser. thanks
Bryan,
Good seeing you today. I look forward to reading this article but, glancing at the footnotes my skepticism was incited. Most of the sources he cites operate from a biblical bias and are far from objective historical documents. There seems to be a question if the author can honestly apply historical methodology to address his hypothesis.
Andrew, are you the same Andrew from Grosse Pointe Michigan?
And to answer your question, I am one former believer who has come to assume Jesus is a well-constructed legend established by apocalyptic Jews and expanded into Orthodoxy by Constantine’s state religion. I doubt he ever existed. He probably did not exist as communicated in the Gospels.
You all are bringing up good questions. Rather than write a long response, let me just direct you to some sources that go deeper than I could.
First, the article itself explains that some extra-biblical sources include: “Josephus (a first-century Jewish historian), several different portions of the Talmud (an encyclopedic collection of rabbinic traditions finally codified in the fourth through sixth centuries), the Greek writers Lucian of Samosata and Mara bar Serapion, and Roman historians Thallus, Tacitus, Pliny, and Suetonius” (Blomberg, 1-2).
Second, as noted above, most of the article relies on the NT documents more than the non-canonical documents noted above. If one wants to dig much deeper in this matter by only studying extra-biblical sources then Blomberg suggests Robert E. van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).
I hope the above is helpful for further direction.