{"id":41033,"date":"2021-12-24T14:27:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T20:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=41033"},"modified":"2022-03-07T10:07:34","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T16:07:34","slug":"historians-dont-doubt-jesus-existence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/historians-dont-doubt-jesus-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"Historians Don’t Doubt Jesus’ Existence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Source:<\/strong> John Dickson, “Most Australians may doubt that Jesus existed, but historians don’t<\/a>,” ABC Religion and Ethics, 23 December 2021.<\/p>\n

“When you apply the normal rules of history to Jesus of Nazareth, this figure is plainly a historical one not a mythical one. The early and diverse sources we have put his existence (and much more) beyond reasonable doubt.”<\/p>\n

“Take the famous single-volume\u00a0Oxford Classical Dictionary<\/em><\/a>. … There is a multiple page entry on the origins of Christianity that begins with an assessment of what may be reliably known about Jesus of Nazareth.”<\/p>\n

“Or take the much larger\u00a0Cambridge Ancient History<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in 14 volumes. Volume 10 covers the\u00a0“Augustan Period”<\/a>, right about the time that Tiberius, Livia, Pliny the Elder, and – yes – Jesus all lived. It has a sizeable chapter on the birth of Christianity. The entry begins with a couple of pages outlining what is known of Jesus’ life and death, including his preaching of the kingdom of God, his fraternizing with sinners, and so on.”<\/p>\n

“… we could also turn to the compendium of Jewish history, the\u00a0Cambridge History of Judaism<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in four volumes. Volume 3 covers the\u00a0“Early Roman Period”<\/a>. Several different chapters refer to Jesus in passing as an interesting figure of Jewish history. One chapter – 60 pages in length – focuses entirely on Jesus and is written by two leading scholars, neither of whom has qualms dismissing bits of the New Testament when they think the evidence is against it. The chapter offers a first-rate account of what experts currently think about the historical Jesus. His teaching, fame as a healer, openness to sinners, selection of “the twelve” (apostles), prophetic actions (like cleansing the temple), clashes with elites, and, of course, and his death on a cross are all treated as beyond reasonable doubt. The authors do not tackle the resurrection (unsurprisingly), but they do acknowledge, as a matter of historical fact, that the first disciples of Jesus “were absolutely convinced that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised and was Lord and that numerous of them were certain that he had appeared to them.”<\/p>\n

“By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
\nHe who was revealed in the flesh,
\nWas vindicated in the Spirit,
\nSeen by angels,
\nProclaimed among the nations,
\nBelieved on in the world,
\nTaken up in glory<\/em>” (I Timothy 3:16).<\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: John Dickson, “Most Australians may doubt that Jesus existed, but historians don’t,” ABC Religion and Ethics, 23 December 2021. “When you apply the normal rules of history to Jesus of Nazareth, this figure is plainly a historical one not a mythical one. The early and diverse sources we have put his existence (and much…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[279,73],"class_list":["post-41033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","tag-history","tag-jesus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93873,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-we-know-plato-was-a-real-historical-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":41033,"position":0},"title":"How We Know Plato Was a Real Historical Person","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Multiple ancient writers refer to Plato as a real person Plato is mentioned by numerous ancient authors-some who knew him personally, others who lived shortly after him. These include: Aristotle, his student, who repeatedly and critically refers to Plato in his own works. Xenophon, a contemporary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91681,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-jesus-a-fictional-character-then-so-is-history-itself\/","url_meta":{"origin":41033,"position":1},"title":"Is Jesus a Fictional Character? Then So Is History Itself","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton People say, \"Jesus was a made-up story for control.\" Yet the same people believe Napoleon fought wars, Socrates taught philosophy, and Alexander conquered nations - all without demanding proof. So, let's compare the evidence: Historical Double Standard Socrates never wrote a single word. Everything we know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47293,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-danger-of-doubt\/","url_meta":{"origin":41033,"position":2},"title":"The Danger of Doubt","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Larry Rouse \"If you were to die today, do you know where you will spend eternity?\" This is a question that others have asked me and one that I have asked others. John wrote so that \"you may know that you have eternal life\" (I John 5:13). Men today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-gospels-not-historical-because-they-are-theological-documents\/","url_meta":{"origin":41033,"position":3},"title":"Are the gospels not historical because they are theological documents?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I just saw your study on Jesus being rejected at Nazareth after teaching in the synagogue. I am currently in a graduate-level course before I start my grad studies. I've been looking at your studies for quite some time since I became Christian, and I appreciate your loyalty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20736,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/constantine-created-the-king-james-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":41033,"position":4},"title":"Constantine created the King James Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Left unedited. I read \"The Origin of the King James Version\" and find it very interesting but you never say anything about the actual origin of the King James Bible. In short, this version was created by Emperor Constantine in the year 325AD. At this time, he was losing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14454,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-historians-and-the-bible-disagree\/","url_meta":{"origin":41033,"position":5},"title":"Do historians and the Bible disagree?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you think there is a conflict between the Bible and historians\u00a0regarding when man first existed on this earth? An article in our paper stated aboriginal people were in Australia at least 60,000 years ago. Could this statement be in line with the Bible in regards to time? Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}