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• There is no evidence for the existence of the Historical Jesus outside the New Testament.
• John the Apostle, the “beloved Disciple”
• Jesus is the Messiah, superior to all prophets, including John the Baptist; Convinces Christians that religious belief and practice should be rooted in Jesus.
• Sometime in the last decade of the century (90 – 100 A.D.)
• To the Christian churches established around the Roman Empire by end of first century
• Palestine was considered a bothersome, minor, province in the large Roman Empire, do not be surprised to find little written evidence from the pagan Roman historians concerning the wandering Jewish preacher and teacher, Jesus of Nazareth.
• Some Romans have noticed the existence of the ever-increasing group of believers in Jesus, the Christians.
• The Christians claimed they emerged because this Jesus who was put to death now lived.
• Their message under the guidance of the Holy Spirit spread by men like St. Paul reached every corner of the Roman Empire.
• As a result, some Roman historians had to take notice of the group and ultimately of their founder.
• From those early years, we have mention of Jesus and his followers in three separate Roman writers: Suetonius, Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger.
• Suetonius, a Roman author, compiled biographies of the first 12 Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar onward, and in his Life of Claudius, he says that Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome on account of the riots in which they were constantly indulging, at the indignation of Chrestus.
• Tacitus, a Roman historian, writes in his Annals (1544) about the great fire in Rome in 64 A.D., stating that Emperor Nero believed to have started the fire, and falsely blamed the Christians in Rome.
• Pliny the Younger, a master letter writer, was appointed as imperial legate of the Roman province of Bithynia, Asia Minor in 111 A.D., and in one of his letters to Emperor Trajan, he advised the emperor how to treat the rapidly spreading religious group known as the Christians.
• Two years later, in 69 A.D., Josephus' prediction became a reality when Vespasian was proclaimed emperor.
• Jesus 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 first did not forsake him.
• James the Just, identified as the apostle and one of the leaders of the Church, was also mentioned by Josephus in the 20th book.
• Many scholars find problems with the version of the text that Josephus wrote, suggesting that certain passages which support Christian belief were later added by a Christian copyist.
• The Church father Origen maintained that Josephus, a non-believer, did not question the actual historical existence of Jesus.
• The primary source of information for Jesus and his message and mission is the form of literature known as the Gospels.
• Gospels are neither autobiography nor biography, but faith summaries that describe the belief of early Christians about Jesus: that He is the Gospel; He is the Good News.
• Josephus predicted that Vespasian, the commander-in-chief of the Roman Army in Palestine, would become emperor, and his life was spared.
• The Gospels have their roots in the words and works of Jesus of Nazareth and in his interaction with his disciples and other groups.
• Josephus composed a 20 – volume history of the Jews entitled the JEWISH ANTIQUITIES.
• One of the interesting passages in all ancient literature is found in the 18th book of Josephus where he gives an account of various troubles the people of Judea suffered under the governorship of Pontius Pilate (26-36 A.D.).
• Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived around 37 A.D., fought against Romans in the great revolt on 66 – 70 A.D., and was appointed commander of the Jewish forces in Galilee.
• About this time, Jesus, a wise man, performed wonderful works and taught the truth to those who received it with pleasure.
• Josephus became a friend of the Roman Emperor Vespasian.
• Josephus tried to demonstrate that the real messiah was not to be a Jew, but none other than Vespasian himself.
• If the story of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents is to be accepted at face value, Jesus had to be born shortly before Herod’s death.
• The Gospels date Jesus’ birth before 4 B.C.
• Josephus noted in the 20th book that Annas the younger, the son of the High priest mentioned in the Gospels, put to death in 62 A.D.
• The scholars date Jesus’ birth before 4 B.C. because Denis the Little recorded Herod the Great’s death in that year.
• In the 18th book of his history, Josephus mentioned John the Baptist and called him a good man.
• The oral preaching of the early church focused on the spread of the good news of Jesus' victory over sin and death.
• The Gospels were also written to preserve the authentic testimony of Jesus as the eyewitnesses were beginning to die or be martyred.
• The date of Jesus' death is known to be near Passover in the month of Nissan (the Jewish lunar month roughly equivalent to our last week in March and first three weeks in April) on the year 30 A.D.
• Jesus died in the reign of Pilate at three o'clock in the afternoon on Friday (Mt 28: 46), probably in 30 A.D.
• The Gospels were written to ensure that the early Christian community could measure the preaching
• The first generation of Christians eventually had to write down in an organized way the "good news of Jesus" to measure the preaching of certain teachers against the authentic tradition and remembrance of Jesus.