Table Of ContentJESUS OUTSIDE THE NEW TESTAMENT
Studying the Historical Jesus
It was once fashionable to claim that Jesus could not be known as a figure of
history and that even if he could be known in that way the result would not be
of interest for faith. Both contentions have been laid to rest over the past
twenty years.
Scholarship has seen archaeological discoveries, advances in the study of
Jewish and Hellenistic literature, a renewed interest in the social milieu of Ju-
daism and Christianity, and critical investigation of the systematic relationship
between those two religions (and others in the ancient world). In the midst of
these discussions — and many others — Jesus has appeared again and again as
a person who can be understood historically and who must be assessed before
we can give any complete explanation of the history of the period in which he
lived. As he and his movement are better understood, the nature of the faith
that they pioneered has been more clearly defined.
Of course, the Jesus who is under investigation cannot simply be equated
with whatever the Gospels say of him. The Gospels, composed in Greek a gen-
eration after Jesus' death, reflect the faith of early Christians who came to be-
lieve in him. Their belief included reference to historical data but also included
the interpretation of Jesus as it had developed after his time.
The critical tasks of coming to grips with the development of the New
Testament, the nature of primitive Christian faith, and the historical profile of
Jesus are all interrelated. The purpose of this series is to explore key questions
concerning Jesus in recent discussion. Each author has already made an impor-
tant contribution to the study of Jesus and writes for the series on the basis of
expertise in the area addressed by his or her particular volume.
Of the many studies of Jesus that are available today, some are suspect in
their treatment of primary sources and some do not engage the secondary lit-
erature appropriately. Studying the Historical Jesus is a series of contributions
that are no less sound for being creative. Jesus is a figure of history as well as the
focus of Christian theology: discussion of him should be accessible, rigorous,
and interesting.
BRUCE CHILTON CRAIG A. EVANS
Bard College Trinity Western University
Jesus Outside the
New Testament
An Introduction
to the Ancient Evidence
Robert E. Van Voorst
WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN / CAMBRIDGE, U.K.
© 2000 Wm. Β. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
05 04 03 02 01 00 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Van Voorst, Robert E.
Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the
ancient evidence / Robert E. Van Voorst,
p. cm. — (Studying the historical Jesus)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-8028-4368-9 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Jesus Christ — Biography — Sources.
2. Jesus Christ — Historicity.
I. Title. II. Series.
BT297.V36 2000
232.9Ό8 — dc21 99-086146
To
J. Louis Martyn
and the memory of
Raymond E. Brown
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xii
1. The Study of Jesus Outside the
New Testament 1
Λ Brief History of Research 2
Did Jesus Really Exist? 6
The Plan of the Present Work 16
2. Jesus in Classical Writings 19
Thallos: The Eclipse at Jesus' Death 20
Pliny the Younger: The Christ of Christian Worship 23
Suetonius: The Instigator Chrestus 29
Tacitus: The Executed Christ 39
Mara bar Serapion: The Wise Jewish King 53
Lucian of Samosata: The Crucified Sophist 58
Celsus: Christ the Magician 64
Conclusions 68
3. Jesus in Jewish Writings 75
Is Jesus Mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls? 75
Josephus: Jesus, a Wise Man Called the Christ 81
The Rabbinic Tradition: Jesus the Magician and Deceiver 104
The Toledot Yeshu: How Ancient a Polemic against Jesus? 122
Conclusions 129
4. Jesus in the Sources of the Canonical Gospels 135
L: Jesus, the Powerful Teacher and Healer 136
The Special Material of Matthew: An M Source on Jesus? 143
The Signs Source of the Fourth Gospel: Jesus the Messiah 149
Q: Jesus, the Agent of the Kingdom of God 155
Conclusions 174
5. Jesus in Christian Writings after the New Testament 179
The Agrapha: Scattered Sayings of Jesus 179
The Nag Hammadi Literature: Jesus the Revealer
of Secret Knowledge 185
The New Testament Apocrypha: Traditions and Legends
about Jesus 203
Conclusions 215
Bibliography 219
Index of Names 235
Index of Subjects 239
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Writings 241
Preface and Acknowledgments
T
his book examines the ancient evidence from outside the New Tes-
tament for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is a large
subject, so any one book that covers it must necessarily be very limited
in depth. I have tried to present comprehensively the passages them-
selves in a contemporary translation, and introduce the most impor-
tant issues in the current interpretation of these passages. Because of
the size of this topic and the size constraints on this book, I cannot pre-
tend to offer an exhaustive account of current scholarship, much less
the full history of research into this question. The interested reader can
trace out much of this by following up on the footnotes. If now and
then I can go beyond these objectives to offer a new insight into the his-
torical and theological problems at hand, I will be satisfied.
Many people have helped this book along its way, and I would like
to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank them. The editorial
staff at William B. Eerdmans have been fine partners in developing this
book. I especially thank Daniel Harlow, my editor at Eerdmans, now at
Calvin College, and Craig Evans and Bruce Chilton, general editors of
the Studying the Historical lesus series, for inviting me to write this
volume and guiding it along. They may not agree with everything here,
but they have made this a better book.
My New Testament students at Lycoming College, where I taught
from 1989-1999, heard most of this, read much of it, and contributed
to the process. They were a constant stimulation, and usually a delight!
They all had an indirect hand in this book, and a few of them had a
larger impact. By asking questions I could not readily answer, Kay
