Jesus outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence

by Robert E. Van Voorst

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2000

Overview

Did Jesus actually exist? Much has been written recently on this subject, including numerous books examining the New Testament record of Jesus’ life. Now Robert Van Voorst presents and critiques the ancient evidence outside the New Testament—the Roman, Jewish, pre-New Testament, and post-New Testament writings that mention Jesus. This fascinating study of the early Christian and non-Christian record includes fresh translations of all the relevant texts. Van Voorst shows how and to what extent these ancient writings can be used to help reconstruct the historical Jesus.

Key Features

• Clear and interesting writings from contemporary biblical scholars
• Perfect for students, laity, pastors, and professors

Contents

Top Highlights

“He has obtained this information from former Christians, and corroborated it with information obtained under torture from two women deacons. As such, it is not a witness to Jesus independent of Christianity.²⁷ What is related about Christ confirms two points made in the New Testament: first, Christians worship Christ in their songs (Phil. 2:5–11; Col. 1:15–20; Rev. 5:11, 13), and second, no Christian reviles or curses Christ (1 Cor. 12:3). Pliny, however, shows no knowledge of Christian writings in this letter.” (Page 29)

“Among Jews, however, which all interpreters including Benko hold to be Suetonius’s focus here, this name is not attested at all.” (Page 33)

“Romans had little interest in the historical origins of other groups, especially ‘superstitions.’” (Page 71)

“Those who deny Jesus’ historicity rarely refer to the work of traditionalists, except to label it as credulity. In the middle are scholars who see the Gospels as a mixture of authentic historical material and theological interpretation of Jesus as it developed between his time and that of the Evangelists.” (Page 7)

“Sometime around 175 c.e., shortly after Lucian’s Peregrinus, the Neo-Platonist thinker Celsus wrote an attack on Christianity entitled True Doctrine (Αληθῆς Λόγος). This work is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity.” (Page 64)

Praise for the Print Edition

The book is a marvelous achievement and deserves a wide reading even by those who are already familiar with the sources. Nuggets of insight and illuminating suggestions often appear in the details and in the footnotes. For example, Van Voorst makes the intriguing proposal that Tacitus may have learned about Christians as part of his responsibilities as a member of the priestly college of the Quindecimviri sacris faciundis (p. 52). Inevitable trivial disagreements over minor points will not prevent one from admiring the caution, sensitivity, and literary skill that Van Voorst employs in his arguments. Most scholars will not seriously dispute his conclusion that the New Testament still remains the most important collection of sources for the study of the historical Jesus.

—Allen Kerkeslager, The Review of Biblical Literature

Product Details

• Title: Jesus outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence
• Author: Robert E. Van Voorst
• Publisher: W. B. Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2000
• Pages: 262

About Robert E. Van Voorst

Robert E. Van Voorst is a New Testament Studies Professor at Western Theological Semininary, as well as a pastor. He is the author of several scholarly works on the New Testament.