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Modern historians generally place the actual date of Jesus' birth between 7 and 4 B.C. due to problems reconciling the Roman and Jewish calendars with the [[Gregorian Calendar]] which is in use today throughout the industrialized world.  

Modern historians generally place the actual date of Jesus' birth between 7 and 4 B.C. due to problems reconciling the Roman and Jewish calendars with the [[Gregorian Calendar]] which is in use today throughout the industrialized world.  

Because there is little contemporary evidence for the existence of Jesus outside the Gospels, and what little there is may derive from the Gospels, some scholars have advanced the theory that Jesus was not a historical figure.<ref>"Book Article Denies the Existence of a Historical Jesus Figure" [http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/12694/ NewswireToday ] </ref><ref>"David H. Lewis [debates] the historicity of Jesus, arguing that New Testament and contemporaneous writings give very little evidence that Jesus actual ever lived." [http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s1517040.htm Escaping the Gravitational Pull of the Gospels] </ref> Most scholars do not reguard lack of historical evidence as disproof of Jesus's existence, however, and the non-historicity thesis has never gained widespread traction, in part because it has never offered a convincing alternative theory for the origin of Christianity that would fit the evidence available.  

Occasionally non-historians deny the [[Historicity of Jesus|existence of Jesus]], <ref>"Book Article Denies the Existence of a Historical Jesus Figure" [http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/12694/ NewswireToday ] </ref>

<ref>"David H. Lewis [debates] the historicity of Jesus, arguing that New Testament and contemporaneous writings give very little evidence that Jesus actual ever lived." [http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s1517040.htm Escaping the Gravitational Pull of the Gospels] </ref>

but few scholars take this seriously. 

[[Tacitus]], the Roman historian, wrote about Jesus in A.D. 115<ref>http://www.digisys.net/users/ddalton/evidence_of_jesus_outside_the_bible.htm</ref>, and [[Josephus]], a Jewish historian who did not believe in Jesus' divinity, wrote about him. <ref>http://www.christian-thinktank.com/jesusref.html</ref>. Dr. [[Gary Habermas]] wrote an extensive analysis of the historicity of the existence of Jesus in his work ''The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ'' which discusses many historical sources which mention Jesus.  

[[Lee Strobel]]'s book ''The Case for Christ'' contains a number of interviews with experts on the historical Jesus and a defense of Jesus's resurrection, and is a good resource on this subject.

[[Lee Strobel]]'s book ''The Case for Christ'' contains a number of interviews with experts on the historical Jesus and a defense of Jesus's resurrection, and is a good resource on this subject.