Evidence from non-Christian sources

Corroboration and Archaelogy of the

New Testament

Acts – A History1. Proper port to port travel (13.4-5; 14.25)

2. Note about the sailor’s landmark Samothrace (16.11)

3. Location of the river Gangites outside Philippi (16.13)

4. Altar to an “unknown god” in Athens (17.23)

5. Death sentence for Gentiles in the temple (21.28)

6. Antipatris as a stopping point to Caesarea (23.31)

7. Tendency for south winds to change to northeasters (27.13)

8. Correct water depth off Malta and word for measuring (27.28)I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Athiest, Pg. 256-259

John – A History

1. Archaeology confirms the place of Jacob’s well (4.6)

2. Location and description of the pool of Bethesda (5.2)

3. Exactly 15 stadia from Jerusalem to Bethany (11.18)

4. The Jews exclaiming, “We have no king but Caesar!” (19.15)

5. Flow of blood and water from spear piercing (19.34)

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Athiest, Pg. 263-268

Gallio

• Acts 18.12 – “While Gallio was proconsul of Achai”

• A.D. 52

• Gallio

• Proconsul

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Erastus of CorinthRom. 15.26,28 – “For Macedonia and Achaia have been

pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem…Therefore, when I finished this,…I will go on by way of you to Spain.”

Rom. 16.23 – “Erastus, the city treasurer greets you”

"Erastus in return for his aedileship laid (the pavement) at his own expense.” – John McRay

Arch of Titus

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Arch of Titus

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Ossuaries

• Ossuary of Caiaphas (1990)

• Grandaughter’s Ossuary (2011)

• “Alexander son of Simon” (1941)

• “James the son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”

Census in Luke 2

• Lk. 2.2 – “First census while Quirinius was governor of Syria

• Quintus Aemilius (son of Quintus) Secundus of the Palatine tribe, in the service of the Divine Augustus, under Publius Sulpicius Quirinius the legate of Caesar in Syria, was decorated with [these] honors: First August Legion; Prefect of the Second Fleet; Also conducted a census by order of Quirinius in the Apamene community of 117,000 citizens…

Darkness

• Julius Africanus discussing the darkness at the crucifixion writes – • “Thallus, in the third book of his histories,

explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun – unreasonably, as it seems to me”

• Phlegon, Greek author (137 A.D.)• 4th year of 202nd Olympiad (33 A.D.)• “the greatest eclipse of the sun”; “it became night

in the sixth hour”

The Case for Christ. Pg. 111

Pliny the Younger (110 A.D.)

“They [the former Christians] assure me that the sum total of their error consisted in the fact that they regularly assembled on a certain day before daybreak. They recited a hymn antiphonally to Christus as if to a god, and bound themselves with an oath not to commit any crime, but to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, breach of faith, and embezzlement of property entrusted to them. After this it was their custom to separate, and then to come together again to partake of a meal, but of an ordinary and innocent one.”

The Jesus Legend. Paul Eddy & Gregory Boyd Pg. 175

Anti-Christians

• Celsus (177 A.D.) describes Jesus as – • Born from adultery• Having a small following of sailors and tax collectors• Having displayed sorcery and magic learned in Egypt• Been reported resurrected by hysterical women

• Lucian of Samosata• [The Christians’] first lawgiver persuaded them that they

are all brothers of one another after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping the crucified sophist himself and living according to his laws. Therefore they despise all things equally and regard them common, without certain evidence accepting such things.”

Tacitus (115 A.D.)

“Therefore, to stop the rumor [that the burning of Rome had taken place by order], Nero substituted as culprits, and punished in the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue.”

The Jesus Legend. Paul Eddy & Gregory Boyd Pg. 179

Josephus (93 A.D.)

Josephus (93 A.D.)

Matt. 13.55 – “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

Josephus (93 A.D.)

Matt. 13.55 – “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

Gal. 1.29 – “James the Lord’s brother”

Josephus (93 A.D.)

Ant. 20.9.1 –

“Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned”

Matt. 13.55 – “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

Gal. 1.29 – “James the Lord’s brother”

Josephus (93 A.D.)

Ant. 20.9.1 –

“Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned”

Matt. 13.55 – “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

Gal. 1.29 – “James the Lord’s brother”

Ant. 18.3.3 -

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Josephus (93 A.D.)

Josephus (93 A.D)

Ant. 18.3.3 -

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Josephus (93 A.D)

Ant. 18.3.3 -

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Josephus (93 A.D)

Ant. 18.3.3 -

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Josephus (93 A.D)

Ant. 18.3.3 -

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Gospel According to Non-Christians

1. Lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar2. Lived a virtuous life3. Was a wonder worker4. Had a brother named James5. Was acclaimed to be the Messiah6. Was crucified under Pontius Pilate7. Was crucified on the eve of Jewish Passover8. Darkness and an earthquake occurred when he

died9. His disciples believed he rose from the dead10.His disciples were willing to die for their belief11.Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome12.His disciples denied the Roman gods and

worshiped Jesus as GodI Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist. Pg. 223

Bibliography

Croppped. "JamesOssuary-1-" by Paradiso - English Wikipedia. Licensed under Attribution via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JamesOssuary-1-.jpg#/media/File:JamesOssuary-1-.jpg

Cropped. "JamesOssuaryInscription-1-" by Paradiso - English Wikipedia. Licensed under Attribution via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JamesOssuaryInscription-1-.jpg#/media/File:JamesOssuaryInscription-1-.jpg

Bibliography

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998. Print.

Geisler, Norman L., and Frank Turek. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004. Print.

Eddy, Paul R., and Gregory A. Boyd. The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007. Print.