Debate with a Christian

[discipulus]

Dr. Edwin Masao Yamauchi is a Japanese American historian, editor and academic. He is Professor Emeritus of History at Miami University, where he taught from 1969 until 2005. Dr. Yamauchi when speaking of the Roman historian Tacitus' reference of Jesus sums up the reference by concluding that it is probably the single most important reference to Jesus Christ outside of the bible. Reporting on Emperor Nero's decision to blame the Christians for the fire that had destroyed Rome in A.D. 64, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote:

Nero fastened the guilt . . . on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of . . . Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome. . . .{1}

What all can we learn from this ancient (and rather unsympathetic) reference to Jesus and the early Christians? Notice, first, that Tacitus reports Christians derived their name from a historical person called Christus (from the Latin), or Christ. He is said to have "suffered the extreme penalty," obviously alluding to the Roman method of execution known as crucifixion. This is said to have occurred during the reign of Tiberius and by the sentence of Pontius Pilatus. This confirms much of what the Gospels tell us about the death of Jesus.

1- Tacitus, Annals 15.44

"Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (/ˈtæsɪtʊs/; c. AD 56 – after 117)"

AS we say, there are no CONTEMPORARY citations for the life of Jesus outside the bible.

LOL....this is a favorite mainline of internet infidels....

No academic would use it, but I will humor you by asking.....

So what? What reference do you have regarding the historiographical methodology that can substantiate your assertion that a necessary condition of historical reliability of an account of someone's life is that there be contemporaneous accounts of said person?