Is the life and death of Jesus Christ documented anywhere outside of the Bible? If so where?

Question

I have already posted this question previously but received answers that lacked references and details. I appreciate your interest in my question but please don't answer this with opinions (whether agnostic, atheist, Christian, etc...). I am interested in answers from people who actually have some expertise related to this topic or have studied history. Please tell me how you know what you know and give me books or websites to refer to. Thank you so much!

Answer 1

The Jewish Historian Josephus wrote about himn a bit.  He suggests a different end to J.C. though.

Answer 2

In terms of contemporary or near-contemporary sources - no. Not at all.

'Choking on the Camel', linked below, is worth reading. The website it links to is no longer there, nor is the book it references in print that I can find. However, I'm halfway through 'The Jesus Mysteries', which makes similar arguments.

Answer 3

Apart from some of the apocryphal Christian Gospels, the life and death of Jesus is not mentioned in any detail by ancient sources, except for Christian writers.  

There are brief references to Jesus by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, who wrote around 90 to 95 AD (or CE).  The authenticity of Josephus' statements has been questioned.  Certainly, if they are original they appear to have been altered by later Christian copyists.  Their value, if they are part of Jospehus' original text, even if altered, is that they provide an independent witness to Jesus as a genuinely historical character who lived in the first half of the first century AD.

A Roman provincial governor, Pliny the Younger (112 AD), and two Roman historians, Cornelius Tacticus (115 AD) and Gaius Suetonius Tanquillas (c.130 AD), make brief references to "Christ" and "Christians".  This does not prove that Jesus was an historical person, but does illustrate that he was believed to be such in the early part of the second century AD.

The Jewish Talmud, in a passage dating probably from the second century AD, refers to Jesus (Yeshu) being hanged  on the eve of the Passover for practising sorcery and leading Israel astray from the true faith.  This passage gives no description of Jesus' death or any other information about him.

Later passages in the Talmud mention Jesus, either refering to his death or alleging that he was illegitimate and couldn't have been the Messiah.  Although late in compostion, they may well reflect much older traditional Jewish antichristian opinion.

A much later Jewish document, dating from the fifth century AD, the Toledoth Jesu, refers to a plot by Jesus' disciples to steal his body.

(By the way,  I am a bit concerned by the anti-semitic tone of the "Talmud" website recommended by Konstantinos.)

The apocryphal gospels (those which were eventually excluded from the New Testament) are generally considered to be written later than the canonical (NT) gospels, although some of them may preserve early material.  They may be divided into two groups:  collections of sayings attributed to Jesus, and collections of stories about Jesus.  (Some of the sayings and stories are similar to those recorded in the New Testament.)

The sayings gospels are: The Gospel of Thomas, The Dialogue of the Saviour, The Gospel of the Egyptians, Papyrus Oxyrinchus 840, The Apocryphon of James.  The recently "discovered" Gospel of Judas probably belongs with the sayings gospels.

The gospels containing stories about Jesus are: The Secret Gospel of Mark [possibly a modern forgery in my opinion], Papyrus Egerton 2, The Gospel of Peter, The Gospel of the Hebrews, The Acts of John, The Gospel of the Nazoreans, The Gospel of the Ebionites, The Protevangelium of James, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, The Epistula Apostolorum,  and The Acts of Pilate.

Answer 4

I would watch this video. Give it about 1 minute or two...it's a little stupid in the beginning but it makes some interesting points after that.

Answer 5

No, there is no historical Jesus, IE there is no mention of him in any contemporary record, the Gospels are all we have. There are two citations in Josephus, but they are believed to be third century fakes by most scholars. I've studied and blogged about this:

http://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2008/07/...

Answer 6

I hope that you give the 'best answer' to Obadiah Blinge.  It is by far the best here and I certainly could not improve on it.

It is too bad that he keeps his questions and answers private and does not allow any email communication, he appears to be an interesting individual.