I'm a little behind on my blog so I'll try to post quite a bit this week. Here are some responses to the chapter four questions.1. Can you think of references to Jesus Christ in ancient literature that are not in the Bible? References in Josephus, Tacitus and by Pliny the Younger are probably the most famous but 39 such references have been documented.
2. Who was Josephus and why is he so important? There are not many surviving first century writings outside of Josephus and the New Testament. Since many scholars reject the Bible this means they rely very heavily on Josephus as a source.
3. How do many people explain the darkness that occurred during the crucifixion? They explain it as a solar eclipse and there was one in Jerusalem in 33 AD. The problem of this is that it is impossible to have a solar eclipse on Passover because it is close to a full moon not a new moon.
4. Why does the Bible paint a picture of Pilate being compassionate towards Jesus when secular history says he was very inconsiderate to Jews? Passover was a pilgrimage festival with Jew travelling from all over to be in Jerusalem. Tension was high between the Jews and Romans so with large crowds, Roman officials were expected to keep order. If a riot broke out, Pilate new he may be killed and replaced by another official. Any compassion he showed was to save his own skin not because he cared about Jesus being innocent. How compassionate was he when he crucified a man he knew to be innocent?
5. How does Jesus' biographical material compare with that of leaders of other world religions? As we have seen, Jesus' biographies can be dated between 35-50 years of his life on earth. Most other famous leaders such as Muhammad, Buddha and Zarathustra were written down hundreds of years later.
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