The Existence of Jesus

The Existence of Jesus
The existence of Jesus is a very controversial issue. Although not much physical evidence exists to prove the historical existence of Jesus, there is enough evidence to prove anyone wrong about his having not existed. What evidence is there for the existence of historical Jesus? What evidence is there against the existence of historical Jesus? Can his existence be proved beyond doubt?

There is a good amount of extra biblical evidence that Jesus did in fact exist. For example, Flavius Josephus “…was a Jewish historian who was born in 37 CE. In his book, Antiquities of the Jews, he described Jesus as a wise man who was crucified by Pilate.”[1] This historian has been known to be correct in what he recorded, thereby making him a reliable source. Another piece of evidence is that the body of Jesus has been found, however not much information is readily available about that except that there were certain marks in the bones that show piercing, marks on the back and in the bones which look like that marks from a common Cat of Nine Tales from back in his time, and blood forming in certain spots consistent with the burial.

There is also a good amount of extra biblical evidence against the existence of Jesus. For example, there are no documents written which date between 7 A.D. and 33 A.D.1 Another example is what is said on the Indiana State University website: “…the
canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The usual claim is that these are ‘eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus made by his disciples.’ The reply to this argument can be summed up in one word--pseudepigraphic. This term refers to works of writing whose authors conceal their true identities behind the names of legendary characters from the past. Pseudepigraphic writing was particularly popular among the Jews during Hashmonean and Roman periods and this style of writing was adopted by the early Christians.

The canonical gospels are not...