RE: Proving The Resurrection By the Minimal Facts Approach
July 11, 2015 at 8:29 pm
(This post was last modified: July 11, 2015 at 8:34 pm by Randy Carson.)
WRITTEN ROMAN REFERENCES TO JESUS
Pliny the Younger (c AD 112)
In Letter 10 to the Emperor Trajan , Pliny makes a clear reference to the followers of Christ who gathered illegally (due to some restrictions that were in place) to "sing hymns to Christ as to God." Does this remind us of anyone we know?
Tacitus (c. AD 115)
As Bart Ehrman notes:
"...it is obvious in this instance that [Jesus] is the one being referred to and that Tacitus knows some very basic information about him. He was called Christ., he was executed at the order of Pontius Pilate, and this was during the reign of Tiberius. Moreover, this happened in Judea, presumably, since that was where Pilate was the governor and since that was where Jesus' followers originated. All of this confirms information otherwise available from Christian sources...." (Bart Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist?, 55).
Gee, maybe those Christian writings were more reliable than we thought...
Pliny the Younger (c AD 112)
In Letter 10 to the Emperor Trajan , Pliny makes a clear reference to the followers of Christ who gathered illegally (due to some restrictions that were in place) to "sing hymns to Christ as to God." Does this remind us of anyone we know?
Tacitus (c. AD 115)
As Bart Ehrman notes:
"...it is obvious in this instance that [Jesus] is the one being referred to and that Tacitus knows some very basic information about him. He was called Christ., he was executed at the order of Pontius Pilate, and this was during the reign of Tiberius. Moreover, this happened in Judea, presumably, since that was where Pilate was the governor and since that was where Jesus' followers originated. All of this confirms information otherwise available from Christian sources...." (Bart Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist?, 55).
Gee, maybe those Christian writings were more reliable than we thought...