Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament

by F.F. Bruce

Book by Bruce, Frederick Fyvie

Genres: Christianity, History, Biblical Studies

215 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1974

About the author

Frederick Fyvie Bruce FBA was a Biblical scholar who supported the historical reliability of the New Testament. His first book, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (1943), was voted by the American evangelical periodical Christianity Today in 2006 as one of the top 50 books "which had shaped evangelicals".

Reviews

[Стефан Петков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Много добро пропедевтично изследване за историческата достоверност на Йешуа бен Йосиф. Минусите са, както може би се досещате, от родното издание на "Нов човек". Не е посочен преводачът от издателството (има само имената на две редакторки) и самият превод на места е тежък и комичен. Инак монографията е идеална за първоначално запознаване с историческите свидетелства за личността Йешуа бен Йосиф извън новозаветните документи. Препоръчвам.

[nettebuecherkiste]

Für mich als Laienleserin, die sich nur für den historischen Jesus interessiert, waren im Grunde nur die ersten drei Kapitel geeignet. Die Kapitel über die apokryphen Evangelien sind was für Fachleute, ich als Laie konnte da nichts über den historischen Jesus herauslesen, deshalb habe ich das Buch abgebrochen.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRUCE'S EXPANSION OF THE EVIDENCE FOUND IN HIS "NEW TESTAMENT DOCUMENTS" BOOK

Frederick Fyvie Bruce (1910-1990) was a Biblical scholar who taught at a variety of universities, and was editor of The Evangelical Quarterly and the Palestine Exploration Quarterly. He wrote a number of influential books, such as 'The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable?', 'New Testament History,' etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1974 book, "When we are asked what 'collateral proof' exists of the life of Jesus Christ, would it be unfair to begin by asking another question? In which contemporary writers---in which writers who flourished, say, during the first fifty years after the death of Christ---would you expect to find the collateral evidence you are looking for?... In what KIND of documents, during the first fifty years after the death of Christ, would you expect to find his name mentioned?... May I suggest that in A.D. 30 the activity of Jesus of Nazareth would have meant no more to people living at the heart of the Roman world than the activity of the Fakir of Ipi meant to people in England?... When Jesus' followers... began to proclaim him as the deliverer for whom the world was waiting... then the name of Christ and of his followers, the Christians, became familiar at the heart of the Roman Empire." (Pg 17-18)

After citing the reference in Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, he comments, "'Chrestus,' a common slave-name, was a popular mis-spelling of the name of Christ... Only, the historian appears to have misunderstood the reference to one 'Chrestus' in the police records; he took the reference to mean that this 'Chrestus' was actually in Rome as ringleader of the riotous behaviour in A.D. 49, but it was in another way that 'Chrestus' became the occasion of these disorders." (Pg. 21)

He observes, "When police news becomes sufficiently significant it provides the material for history, and this is illustrated in our passage from Tacitus [the Annals of Imperial Rome]... From the contemptuous and hostile tone which he adopts toward the Christians, we may gather that he did not seek his information from them. But ... where did he go for it? To some official record, perhaps---possibly to Pilate's report; who knows?" (Pg. 22-23)

Of the famous apparent reference to Jesus in Josephus he admits, "We know from the writings of Eusebius... that this paragraph was present in the works of Josephus as he knew them, for he quotes it in his 'Ecclesiastical History,' written about A.D. 325... But... it contains some expressions which only a Christian could seriously use---and Josephus was certainly no Christian... But a case can be made out for the view that the paragraph preserves a genuine reference to Christ by Josephus, which has, however, been subjected to modification by Christian scribes." (Pg. 37-38)

He admits, "Sometimes a fourth question is asked [about Luke 2:1-2]: Was Quirinius governor of Syria at that time? Probably not... The question, however, is based on the common translation of Luke 2:2: 'This was the first enrolment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.' But if we adopt the equally permissible translation, 'This enrolment (census) was before that made when Quirinius was governor of Syria,' no difficulty arises in this regard." (Pg. 192)

This book (perhaps supplemented by the more recent book, 'Jesus Outside the New Testament') will be of great interest to anyone studying Jesus and early Christian history.

[Bat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce surveys, as the title implies, references to Jesus and Christianity outside of the Biblical text, both those that are considered to be authentic and those that are not but are of histrocial interest. Thus he examines early Latin authors (such as Pliny), Josephus, but also the corrupt Slavonic versions of Josephus, early (up to about the third century) Rabbinical texts, apocryphal Christian texts, and in Islamic writings. He also considers pre-Christian texts from Qumran, for the sake of conext. Finally, he ends with the examintation of some archaeological evidence of relevance. Most of the chapters in this book are neither too long nor too short, so it is a very readable. Bruce writes from an explicitly Christian stance, though that does not affect the text much. This book contains few secondary citations, which might less useful for studying, but more useful for reading. This book is not designed as a textbook, really, which is in some ways to its advantage. Its a nice survey, anyway, of some useful texts. This book is apparently out of print, but the paperback edition seems to be fairly readily available rather cheaply used.

[Jon Sorensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome introduction to the evidence for a historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity from sources outside the New Testament.

[Kingsley Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a truly excellent book but before you get too excited it is now out of print :(

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.

[William Staton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry, but informative.