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Basically the proof FOR Jesus's exsistance can be found in the follow
sources:

Cornelius Tacitus (Annals), Celsus (The True Word), Suetonius (The Lives
of the Ceasars), Pliny the Younger (Letters), Thallus (Lost Work),
Flavius Josephus (The Antiquities of the Jews), The Talmund, and the
Bible itself.

We'll go over these one at a time:

Cornelius Tacitus (55-120 A.D.) wrote in his annals the following quote: "Christians derived their name and origin from Christ, who, in the reign
of Tiberius, had suffered death by the sentence of the procurator
Pontius Pilate" - (Annals 15.44)

Problems: Scholars widely accept this as a Christian interpolation.
Pilate is refered to as a procurator - He was a Prefect -
A totally different title. He refers to the man as
"Christus" which means "Annointed One" or "Messiah" - NOT
as Jesus which would have been required to name someone
by their NAME instead of their TITLE. It is unlikely
that Tacitus would have found reference to a Messiah in
Roman Records.

Celsus wrote in "The True Word" which was written about 178 A.D. The historicity of Jesus is presupposed. Celsus's account agrees closely
with the stories of Jesus found in Talmudic literature, which probably
were its major source.

Problems: The time that this was written was at least a hundred
years too late for it to be a considered source. Since
the writings agree with Talmunic literature it was most
likely a copy but it is almost surely a forgery or
writings based on oral tradition and not fact.

Suetonius (69-122 A.D.) wrote in "The Lives of the Ceasars" around 120
A.D. He mentions an agitator named "Chrestus" - "Since the Jews
constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus..." The
passage has been used to confirm the historicity of Jesus but it is
unlikely that it refers to Jesus.

Problems: Many scholars maintain that it is likely that Suetonius
is not referring to Jesus at all but to some messianic
Jewish agitator named "Chrestus". We know on independent
grounds that there were Jewish mesianic groups in Rome at
this time. Other scholars have suggested that perhaps
because of the sameness of the two words Suetonius
wrongly was led to believe that the rioters were
Christians. But even if he was referring to Christian
rioters, this hardly provides any evidence for the
historicity of Jesus.

(** Continued in Another Message **)

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Beth,
http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080
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