Theos-Talk Archives (October 2000 Message tt00216)

Drpsionic@aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 10/18/00 10:12:50 PM Central Daylight Time,
> bartl@sprynet.com writes:
> 
> << Too bad that, outside of the Gospels, there is not one iota of
> historical evidence that Jesus even existed.
> >>
> 
> Well, there are the references in Josephus, and Suetonius refers to him
> indirectly as does Tacitus.

When linguistically examined, it is clear that the references in
Josephus were added a couple of centuries after the fact.

> One can make the same argument against just about everyone else in the
> ancient world. After all, aside from Plato, what do we really know about
> Socrates?

Nothing. But we are not asked to believe that Socrates existed. If he
were a figment of Plato's imagination, it would make no difference. In
terms of the value of the New Testament, we could say the same about
Jesus. When people ask us to believe in specifics about Jesus, however,
and make them directly related to events in the present time, then
historical evidence becomes relevant.

Bart Lidofsky