Dec 18, 2025
Most ViewedDid Jesus exist
Consensus among mainstream historians and biblical scholars is that a historical person called Jesus of Nazareth did live in first‑century Palestine; this judgment rests on multiple early Christian an...
Josephus
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23 resultsOct 22, 2025
Most ViewedIs there historical evidence outside the Bible to support Jesus' resurrection?
Non-Christian ancient writings confirm that Jesus of Nazareth was known, executed under Roman authority, and that early followers claimed he rose from the dead; . Modern treatments vary: apologetic ac...
Dec 12, 2025
Most ViewedWhich non-Christian Roman historians mention Jesus and what did they say?
Three Roman-era non‑Christian writers commonly cited as mentioning Jesus are Tacitus, Suetonius and Pliny the Younger; Tacitus (Annals, c. 116) says “Christus” suffered under Pontius Pilate and that C...
Nov 7, 2025
Did jesus rise from the dead
The claim that Jesus rose from the dead is a contested historical and theological assertion: advocates argue a cluster of , while critics maintain the sources are late, biased, and incapable of provin...
Dec 16, 2025
Which Roman historians mention Jesus by name rather than as a Christian claim?
Roman-era writers who mention Jesus by name include Tacitus (who calls him Christus and records his execution under Pontius Pilate) and the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus (who refers to Jesus in Anti...
Nov 8, 2025
How do non-Christian sources (Josephus, Tacitus) corroborate Gospel accounts of Jesus?
Non‑Christian writers Tacitus and Josephus provide independent ancient attestations that align with the Gospels on three core points: a historical figure called Jesus/Christ existed, he was executed u...
Dec 20, 2025
What non‑Christian ancient sources mention Jesus and how do historians assess their reliability?
Scholars point to a small cluster of non‑Christian ancient sources that mention Jesus — most notably the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus — and judge them useful for confirmin...
Nov 7, 2025
How reliable are the New Testament books as historical sources?
The New Testament’s reliability as a historical source is contested: recent scholarship emphasizes strong manuscript evidence, archaeological corroboration, and genre-contextual readings that support ...
Dec 13, 2025
What is the Testimonium Flavianum in Josephus works?
The Testimonium Flavianum (TF) is a short passage about Jesus found in Book 18, chapter 3 of Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews and has been the focus of intense scholarly debate over authenticity and...
Jan 13, 2026
What Greek terms (e.g., 'Palaistine') appear in classical sources and what did they denote?
Classical Greek sources use the toponym Παλαιστῑ́νη (Palaistínē) and adjectival forms derived from it (e.g., Palaistinós) to designate a coastal and inland district of Syria between Phoenicia and Egyp...
Dec 14, 2025
What role did Pontius Pilate and Roman law play in Jesus' crucifixion?
Pontius Pilate, as the Roman prefect of Judaea (c. 26–36 CE), was the only official with authority to order crucifixion in Roman provinces; multiple modern scholars and reference works say Pilate “gav...
Dec 12, 2025
Which ancient historians mention Jesus outside the New Testament?
Ancient non‑Christian writers who are commonly cited as mentioning Jesus outside the New Testament are not found in the current provided sources; instead the supplied reporting focuses on the dating a...
Nov 7, 2025
What historical writing is more reliable than New Testament
The claim that a particular historical writing is categorically “more reliable than the New Testament” is contested: scholars treat reliability as a function of genre, purpose, proximity to events, an...
Jan 20, 2026
What is the scholarly consensus on the date and compositional layers of 1 Enoch’s Parables (chs. 37–71) and their influence on Second Temple Judaism?
Scholars broadly agree that the Parables (1 Enoch 37–71) are a later, composite layer within the 1 Enoch corpus, likely crystallizing in the late first century BCE to early first century CE, and that ...
Jan 19, 2026
Was Jesus real?
Mainstream historians conclude that a historical figure called Jesus of Nazareth very likely existed as a 1st‑century Jewish teacher who was baptized and later executed by Roman authorities, a positio...
Jan 6, 2026
Which ancient texts outside the Bible mention Moses or events linked to him?
Scholars and antiquarians have long pointed to a scattered corpus of non‑biblical writings that mention Moses or traditions associated with him: classical Greco‑Roman historians and Jewish Hellenistic...
Jan 5, 2026
How do early Christian writers like Pliny the Younger and Suetonius corroborate or differ from Tacitus and Josephus about early Christianity?
Early non-Christian writers—Tacitus and Josephus—provide brief but pointed references that align on key facts about Jesus and the emergent Christian movement (crucifixion under Pilate; growth and orig...
Jan 2, 2026
How has the Massacre of the Innocents been used in art, politics, or moral debates from the Middle Ages to the present?
The Massacre of the Innocents—Matthew’s account of Herod ordering Bethlehem’s infants killed—has been a resilient cultural motif from the medieval church to contemporary art, used as devotional commem...
Dec 21, 2025
What do Jewish sources from the Second Temple period say about Jesus, if anything?
Most surviving Jewish writings composed during the Second Temple era do not speak directly about Jesus by name; instead the period’s literature and later Jewish responses provide the context in which ...
Dec 4, 2025
What is the history of the location of the temple for God that Solomon had built?
Solomon’s Temple — the biblical “First Temple” — is consistently described in ancient sources and modern summaries as built in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah (the Temple Mount / threshing floor of Araunah/...