| If the only references to the trial of Jesus came from Christian sources, there might be reason to wonder if such a trial ever took place--or indeed, even if Jesus ever existed. Fortunately, there are two important surviving references to the trial of Jesus in non-Christian writings. One comes from Publius Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian who was hostile to the Christian movement. The other comes from Josephus, a Jewish historian. Each of these historians confirms three central facts: that there was a leader of a movement called Jesus (or Christ), that Jesus was executed, and that the movement that Jesus was part of survived his death. |
| Tacitus was a member
of the Roman consular nobility committed to the senatorial ideals of the
Roman republic. He detested both Christians and Jews.
Tacitus wrote of the fire that consumed much of Rome in 64 C.E. during the reign of Nero and the chaos which followed the fire. Then Tacitus reported that Nero fixed blame for the disaster on Christians: |
| Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures 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 one of our procurators, Pontius
Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment,
again broke out not only in Judaea, and the first source of the evil, but
even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of
the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly,
an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information,
an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing
the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was
added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were
torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed by
the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight
had expired.
Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed. |
| Josephus was an aristocratic
Jewish historian. The Sanhedrin placed Josephus in command of Galilee
during the uprising against the Romans. He later settled in Rome
following Nero's persecution of the Christians. The major purpose
of his writings seems to have been to commend Judaism to Romans.
A pharisee of priestly descent, Josephus wrote critically of the Zealots,
who he blamed for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E.
Christian scribes edited the writings of Josephus, probably adding references that surfaced in some versions to the performance of miracles by Jesus and to the ascension of Jesus three days after his death. Historians reconstructing the account of Josephus generally omit those references as interpolated. Josephus makes two references to Jesus. In one reference, he refers to the stoning to death of James in 62 C.E., calling James "the brother of Jesus who is called Christ." The other, more significant reference to Jesus follows: |
| About the same time there lived Jesus, a wise man for he was a performer of marvelous feats and a teacher of such men who received the truth with pleasure. He attracted many Jews and many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate sentenced him to die on the cross, having been urged to do so by the noblest of our citizens; but those who loved him at the first did not give up their affection for him. And the tribe of the Christians, who are named after him, have not disappeared to this day. |
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