Cont'd from Brittanica:
"Because of the theological motifs & presuppositions in
the faith of the early church in respect to Jesus, it is
difficult to write with certainty an authentic life of
Jesus."
None of the sources of his life & work can be traced to
Jesus himself; he did not leave a single known written
word. Also, there are no contemporary accounts written of
life & death. What can be established about the historical
Jesus depends almost without exception on christian
traditions, especially on the material used in the
composition of the gospels of Mark, Matthew & Luke which
reflect the outlook of the later church & its faith in
Jesus."
Then they cited a few non-christian sources:
1)"Jesus was mentioned by Roman Historian Tacitus written
@ AD110. In his account of the persecution of Christians
under the emperor Nero..."
2)an enquiry of the governor of Asia Minor, Pliny the
Younger, in his letter to the emperor Trajan(ADlll) about
how he should act in regard to the christians comes from
the same period.
3)Josephus, the Jewish historian depicted the history of
his people & the events of the Jewish Roman War(66-70)only
incidentally remarks about the stoning in AD62 of "James,
the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ...."
"These independent accounts prove that in ancient times
even the opponents of Jesus never doubted the historicity
of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on
inadequate grounds at the end of the 18th, during the
19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries.
What d'ya think of that, Sam? ;O)Looking forward to your
answer.
Ann |
