Flavius Josephus
(AD 37?-101?, a Jewish historian) mentions John the Baptist and
Herod - Antiquities, Book 18, ch. 5, par. 2
"Now some of
the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from
God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did
against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod
slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise
virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety
towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing
[with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it,
not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins
[only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still
that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by
righteousness."
Flavius
Josephus (AD 37?-101?) mentions
Jesus - Antiquities, Book 18, ch. 3, par. 3.
Now there was
about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call
him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of
such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him
both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the]
Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men
amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, (9) those that loved
him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them
alive again the third day; (10) as the divine prophets had
foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things
concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him,
are not extinct at this day.
There is
debate among scholars as to the authenticity of this quote
since it is so favorable to Jesus.
Flavius
Josephus (AD 37?-101?) mentions
James, the brother of Jesus - Antiquities, Book 20, ch. 19.
"Festus was
now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the
sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of
Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some
others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an
accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered
them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most
equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at
the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done."
Flavius Josephus
(AD 37?-101?) mentions Ananias the High Priest who was mentioned in
Acts 23:2
Now as soon as
Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used all his
endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and
this by destroying many of the Sicarii. But as for the high
priest, Ananias (25) he increased in glory every day, and
this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of
the citizens in a signal manner; for he was a great hoarder up
of money
Acts 23:2, "And
the high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to
strike him [Jesus] on the mouth."
Tacitus (A.D.
c.55-A.D. c.117, Roman historian) mentions "christus" who
is Jesus - Annals
"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 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 Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome,
where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the
world find their centre and become popular."
Thallus Circa AD
52, eclipse of the sun. Thallus wrote a history of the
Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time.
His writings are only found as citations by others. Julius
Africanus who wrote about AD 221 mentioned Thallus' account of an
eclipse of the sun.
"On the whole
world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were
rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other
districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third
book of his History, calls, as appears to me without
reason, an eclipse of the sun."
Is this a
reference to the eclipse at the crucifixion? Luke
23:44-45,"And it was now about the sixth hour,
and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45
the sun being obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn
in two."
The oddity is
that Jesus' crucifixion occurred at the Passover which was a
full moon. It is not possible for a solar eclipse to
occur at a full moon. Note that Julius Africanus draws
the conclusion that Thallus' mentioning of the eclipse was
describing the one at Jesus' crucifixion. It may not
have been.
Julius
Africanus, Extant Writings, XVIII in the Ante–Nicene
Fathers, ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), vol. VI, p. 130. as cited in
Habermas, Gary R., The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence
for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press
Publishing Company) 1996.
Pliny the Younger
mentioned Christ. Pliny was governor of Bithynia in
Asia Minor. Pliny wrote ten books. The tenth around AD
112.
"They (the
Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed
day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a
hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn
oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud,
theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust
when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it
was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of
food—but food of an ordinary and innocent kind."
Pliny, Letters,
transl. by William Melmoth, rev. by W.M.L. Hutchinson
(Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1935), vol. II, X:96 as
cited in Habermas, Gary R., The Historical Jesus: Ancient
Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College
Press Publishing Company) 1996.
The Talmud
"On the eve
of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before
the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried,
"He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced
sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say
anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his
behalf." But since nothing was brought forward in his favor
he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!"
Gal. 3:13,
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
Luke 22:1,
"Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the
Passover, was approaching. 2 And the chief
priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him
to death; for they were afraid of the people."
This quotation
was taken from the reading in The Babylonian Talmud,
transl. by I. Epstein (London: Soncino, 1935), vol. III, Sanhedrin
43a, p. 281 as cited in Habermas, Gary R., The Historical
Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin,
MO: College Press Publishing Company) 1996.
Lucian (circa
120-after 180) mentions Jesus. Greek writer and
rhetorician.
"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."
Lucian, The
Death of Peregrine, 11–13, in The Works of Lucian
of Samosata, transl. by H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler, 4
vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1949), vol. 4, as cited in
Habermas, Gary R., The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence
for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press
Publishing Company) 1996.
Though Lucian
opposed Christianity, he acknowledges Jesus, that Jesus was
crucified, that Christians worship him, and that this was
done by faith.