Changes

=== Overview ===

=== Overview ===

[[File:The Conversion of St Paul by Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie, 1767.JPG|thumbnail|The conversion of the [[Saint Paul|Apostle Paul]].]]

[[File:The Conversion of St Paul by Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie, 1767.JPG|thumbnail|The conversion of the [[Saint Paul|Apostle Paul]].]]

The sources for the historical existence of Jesus are many. The earliest is a collection of letters by [[Saint Paul]], who wrote from the late 40s to the mid 60s (when he was martyred). In these letters, Paul clearly states that he personally knew eyewitnesses of Jesus like James the brother of Jesus and very close disciples like Peter and John going back to 35 or 36 AD, within very few years after the crucifixion and resurrection (30 or 33 AD).<ref name="be1" />  These letters include early creedal professions and hymns whose origins have been traced to within a few years of Jesus’ death and coming from the Jerusalem community. There are also four biographies – the [[gospel]]s of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – written either by eyewitnesses, or by authors who had access to eyewitnesses.  Some scholars have speculated that earlier sources (such as a Passion narrative) were written within a few years of Jesus’ death by members of the [[Jerusalem]] Church and were later incorporated in the gospels. There are also other letters written by the apostles or disciples, including [[Saint Peter]] himself.  A history of the early Church, the Acts of the Apostles contains information on Jesus’ earthly life, including internal source material such as the preserved preaching of Peter.  Important testimony is also found in late first and early second century writings of the [[Early Church Fathers|Apostolic Fathers]].  Jesus’ earthly life was even mentioned by some pseudo-Christian and non-Christian writings, including the Romano-Jewish historian [[Josephus|Josephus Flavius]] – all to be discussed below.

The sources for the historical existence of Jesus are many. The earliest is a collection of letters by [[Saint Paul]], who wrote from the late 40s to the mid 60s (when he was martyred). In these letters, Paul clearly states that he personally knew eyewitnesses of Jesus like James the brother of Jesus and very close disciples like Peter and John going back to 35 or 36 AD, within very few years after the crucifixion and resurrection around 30 or 33 AD.<ref name="be1" />  These letters include early creedal professions and hymns whose origins have been traced to within a few years of Jesus’ death and coming from the Jerusalem community. There are also four biographies – the [[gospel]]s of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – written either by eyewitnesses, or by authors who had access to eyewitnesses.  Some scholars have speculated that earlier sources (such as a Passion narrative) were written within a few years of Jesus’ death by members of the [[Jerusalem]] Church and were later incorporated in the gospels. There are also other letters written by the apostles or disciples, including [[Saint Peter]] himself.  A history of the early Church, the Acts of the Apostles contains information on Jesus’ earthly life, including internal source material such as the preserved preaching of Peter.  Important testimony is also found in late first and early second century writings of the [[Early Church Fathers|Apostolic Fathers]].  Jesus’ earthly life was even mentioned by some pseudo-Christian and non-Christian writings, including the Romano-Jewish historian [[Josephus|Josephus Flavius]] – all to be discussed below.

Obviously, the bulk of the information comes from Christian sources.  This is to be expected.  The common temptation to radically fissure the sources into Christian / non-Christian categories (with the former then being dismissed) is a practice foreign to historical methods.  Historians certainly identify an author's context, motivations, aims, and the like, but to dismiss a source (or whole group of sources) merely because the author(s) was personally invested in his subject is unjustified.  For example, the only detailed source for the Roman general Agricola's conquest of Britain was written by [[Tacitus]], his son-in-law, who was obviously personally interested in the career of his subject, and the glorification of Rome in general.  But Tacitus's invaluable work has formed the basis for historical reconstructions of the conquest, proving to be a wealth of information – and these reconstructions depend principally on just this one written source.  As summarized by Craig L. Blomberg, “…if we can reconstruct reasonably accurate history from all kinds of other ancient sources, we ought to be able to do that from the gospels, even though they too are ideological.”<ref>quoted by [[Lee Strobel]], ''The Case for Christ'' (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), p. 31.</ref>  Such an argument naturally extends to other Christian sources as well.  That said, the evidence from non-Christian sources, even taken alone, is more than enough to establish the minimal claim of Jesus’ existence and influence.

Obviously, the bulk of the information comes from Christian sources.  This is to be expected.  The common temptation to radically fissure the sources into Christian / non-Christian categories (with the former then being dismissed) is a practice foreign to historical methods.  Historians certainly identify an author's context, motivations, aims, and the like, but to dismiss a source (or whole group of sources) merely because the author(s) was personally invested in his subject is unjustified.  For example, the only detailed source for the Roman general Agricola's conquest of Britain was written by [[Tacitus]], his son-in-law, who was obviously personally interested in the career of his subject, and the glorification of Rome in general.  But Tacitus's invaluable work has formed the basis for historical reconstructions of the conquest, proving to be a wealth of information – and these reconstructions depend principally on just this one written source.  As summarized by Craig L. Blomberg, “…if we can reconstruct reasonably accurate history from all kinds of other ancient sources, we ought to be able to do that from the gospels, even though they too are ideological.”<ref>quoted by [[Lee Strobel]], ''The Case for Christ'' (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), p. 31.</ref>  Such an argument naturally extends to other Christian sources as well.  That said, the evidence from non-Christian sources, even taken alone, is more than enough to establish the minimal claim of Jesus’ existence and influence.

===Pauline Epistles===

===Pauline Epistles===

The collection of letters written by Saint Paul discuss Jesus and are the earliest sources on him. Paul was not himself an eyewitness of Jesus until after the resurrection, but was a contemporary of the life of Jesus and personally knew intimately Jesus’ own family members such as James the brother of Jesus (leader of the Jerusalem church) and closest disciples of Jesus, especially Saint Peter and John starting around 35 or 36 AD, near the time of the crucifixion (30 or 33 AD).<ref name="be1" /> Paul's letters are pastoral writings meant to address the needs of particular Christian communities, and as such they are not aimed at providing biographical narratives of Jesus’ life.  Nonetheless, they do mention Jesus, especially his death and resurrection, but also the Last Supper, and they quote Jesus or reference his teachings.  At times Paul qualified his own teachings by stating, “I say, not the Lord”, indicating that he knew Jesus’ teachings.

The collection of letters written by Saint Paul discuss Jesus and are the earliest sources on him. Paul was not himself an eyewitness of Jesus until after the resurrection, but was a contemporary of the life of Jesus and personally knew intimately Jesus’ own family members such as James the brother of Jesus (leader of the Jerusalem church) and closest disciples of Jesus, especially Saint Peter and John starting around 35 or 36 AD, near the time of the crucifixion around 30 or 33 AD.<ref name="be1" /> Paul's letters are pastoral writings meant to address the needs of particular Christian communities, and as such they are not aimed at providing biographical narratives of Jesus’ life.  Nonetheless, they do mention Jesus, especially his death and resurrection, but also the Last Supper, and they quote Jesus or reference his teachings.  At times Paul qualified his own teachings by stating, “I say, not the Lord”, indicating that he knew Jesus’ teachings.

Some mythicists have proposed that Paul refers to Jesus as a celestial, rather than earthly being, which is another concept that is universally rejected by modern historians. Nevertheless, such a hypothesis can be discarded, because all of the information given to us from Paul about Jesus during His earthly ministry refer to specific, earthly events, that are unknown in ancient Judaic literature to have any precedence in celestial or supernatural regions. For example, throughout Paul's letters see that he was aware of numerous things about the teachings and life of Jesus:<ref name="cb" />

Some mythicists have proposed that Paul refers to Jesus as a celestial, rather than earthly being, which is another concept that is universally rejected by modern historians. Nevertheless, such a hypothesis can be discarded, because all of the information given to us from Paul about Jesus during His earthly ministry refer to specific, earthly events, that are unknown in ancient Judaic literature to have any precedence in celestial or supernatural regions. For example, throughout Paul's letters see that he was aware of numerous things about the teachings and life of Jesus:<ref name="cb" />