Prepared by: Richard G.

Pazcoguin UST-IR

There are some people today who claim that Christ never existed; that Jesus was a mere fabrication of a group of people who needed a new religion to accommodate their beliefs and practices.
But if there had been no Jesus Christ, everything we do is in vain. In a way, our faith depends on the fact that once upon a time, God walked on our planet. Let us journey together as we search for

The Christian Scriptures are our principal sources in proving the existence of the historical Jesus.
The New Testament tells us of a certain Jesus of Nazareth who preached, performed miracles, was crucified and rose again from the dead. The Early Christian chose to give up their lives than to renounce Jesus. Why would these men opt to die if Christ had not been raised from the dead, or much more if he had not existed at all?

Even outside Christianity, there are writings that point to the existence of Jesus Christ.

Tacitus, a Roman Historian, wrote of a certain Christ who began a pernicious superstition, that this Christ was crucified when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Tiberius was emperor, and that his followers were responsible for the great fire in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero. He called Christanity plague which began in Judea.

Suetonius was the chronicler of the Emperor Claudius.

He wrote of an event when the emperor expelled the Christians from Rome in 49 A.D. due to riots instigated by the Chrestus.

CLAUDIUS CAESAR

Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian who wrote of Christ as a wise man put to death by Pontius Pilate, having been accused by Jewish authorities. He also wrote of the putting to death of a certain James, the Brother of Jesus.
An ancient bonebox with the inscription: James, the brother of Jesus

Pliny, the younger, wrote of the Christians in Bithynia, who sang hymns and chanted verses to Christ as if to a god.

Luciano was a traveling lecturer and Sophist rhetor who wrote about Jesus Christ as a man crucified in Palentine for introducing a new cult. In his writings, he said, this Jesus persuaded his followers that they were all brothers to one another. The Christians, according to Luciano, worshipped the crucified sophist and lived under his laws.

A baraita (outside addition) to the Babylonian Talmud spoke of a certain Yeshu who practiced magic and led his followerd into apostacy. This Yeshu was hanged on the eve of the Passover.

HE WALKED WHERE WE NOW WALK. HE SAW WHAT WE NOW SEE. HE BREATHED THE SAME AIR WE BREATHE. HE LAUGHED AT THE THINGS THAT MAKE US LAUGH HE CRIED OVER THINGS THAT MAKE US CRY HE IS ONE WITH US, HE IS ONE OF US HE IS GOD WITH US EMMANUEL.

James Finley and Michael Pennock

JESUS AND YOU: Discovering the Real Christ

Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 1977 Joseph Fitzmayer

A CHRISTOLOGICAL CATECHISM: New Testament Answers

NJ: Paulist Press, 1991