Neil Shenvi on Non-Christian Corroboration for the Gospels

"Exclusively from non-Christian sources like Josephus, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, we learn the following: There was a Jewish man named Jesus who lived in first-century Judea.  He had a brother named James.  He was called the Christ or Messiah by his followers.  He did some kind of seemingly miraculous deeds.  He was brought to the Roman authorities by the Jewish religious leaders and was crucified under Pontius Pilate.  The movement he founded was first checked by his execution but later reemerged and spread as far as Rome.  The early Christians chanted to Jesus 'as if to God' and refused to worship other gods, even on pain of death.  They met regularly, shared a communal meal, and pledged to live moral lives.

In other words, we would have a very rough outline of Jesus' life and the early Christian movement entirely from non-Christian authors.  The same confirmation is available for many other public figures who play a role in the New Testament narratives.  A recent article from the Biblical Archaeology Review documented a list of twenty-three political figures mentioned in the New Testament whose existence has been confirmed by archaeological finds, such as inscriptions or coins, or by non-Christian writers like Josephus or Tacitus.  These figures include Augustus, Tiberias, Herod the Great, Salome, Philip the Tetrarch and Pontius Pilate, all of whom are mentioned in the Gospels in the appropriate geographical and political contexts.  To them, we could add a handful of nonpolitical religious figures such as Annas, Caiaphas and John the Baptist, whose existence is similarly confirmed by non-Christian writers.

This corroboration of the historicity of Jesus's life and the Gospels' historical setting by non-Christian authors shows that comparisons to fairy tales or myths are inappropriate.  The tale of Hansel and Gretel takes place 'once upon a time,' not 'in Bavaria during the reign of Rudolph I.'  It seems impossible to argue that Jesus was a fictional creation like Grendel or Sisyphus and yet still found his way into the works of numerous non-Christian historians."1 

Shenvi argues for the Gospels more in-depth in his new book Why Believe?  Get your copy here.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Footnote:
1. Neil Shenvi, Why Believe? A Reasoned Approach to Christianity, p. 35-36.

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