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. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

All rights reserved

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

To

J. Louis Martyn

and the memory of

Raymond E. Brown

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

1. The Study of Jesus Outside the New Testament

A Brief History of Research

Did Jesus Really Exist?

The Plan of the Present Work

2. Jesus in Classical Writings

Thallos: The Eclipse at Jesus’ Death

Pliny the Younger: The Christ of Christian Worship

Suetonius: The Instigator Chrestus

Tacitus: The Executed Christ

Mara bar Serapion: The Wise Jewish King

Lucian of Samosata: The Crucified Sophist

Celsus: Christ the Magician

Conclusions

3. Jesus in Jewish Writings

Is Jesus Mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Josephus: Jesus, a Wise Man Called the Christ

The Rabbinic Tradition: Jesus the Magician and Deceiver

The Toledot Yeshu: How Ancient a Polemic against Jesus?

Conclusions

4. Jesus in the Sources of the Canonical Gospels

L: Jesus, the Powerful Teacher and Healer

The Special Material of Matthew: An M Source on Jesus?

The Signs Source of the Fourth Gospel: Jesus the Messiah

Q: Jesus, the Agent of the Kingdom of God

Conclusions

5. Jesus in Christian Writings after the New Testament

The Agrapha: Scattered Sayings of Jesus

The Nag Hammadi Literature: Jesus the Revealer of Secret Knowledge

The New Testament Apocrypha: Traditions and Legends about Jesus

Conclusions

Bibliography

Index of Names

Index of Subjects

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Writings

Preface and Acknowledgments

This book examines the ancient evidence from outside the New Testament 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 themselves in a contemporary translation, and introduce the most important issues in the current interpretation of these passages. Because of the size of this topic and the size constraints on this book, I cannot pretend 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 historical and theological problems at hand, I will be satisfied.

Many people have helped ...