Steve

The New Testament is the most scrutinised, studied and heavily researched ancient text in the world. It has been subjected to exhaustive critical scholarship for at least 150 years. More is known about it than about any other set of documents from that period. Original texts can be dated back to within a few decades of the events they were describing.

There is no doubt that in what we now call the first century AD a new religion began in the ancient world; that its adherents were called Christians, and that this was because of the name of the person whom they were following. He is mentioned in Josephus. He is mentioned in Tacitus. He is mentioned in Severus. There are literally thousands upon thousands of what are called "patristic writings" from the first centuries referring to him.

There just is no serious scholarly case for saying that Jesus was a fictional character, that he didn't even exist. Of course there's no way of showing that what was written about his nature and actions is true. But you might as well say Julius Caesar didn't exist, or Nero.

If you think about it, how do you know that Julius Casear DID exist?

Posted By: Old Git, Dec 2, 11:26:20