Risen Hope

The last four posts have been spent looking at ancient non-biblical historians from the 1st and 2nd century A.D. Before moving on to look at ancient Roman government officials and what they have to say about Jesus and his followers, I thought it would be good to pause and provide a summary of what we have covered so far.

There were four historians that we have looked at and they are:

1. Cornelius Tacticus [T] (c. 55-120 A.D.) - Roman historian
2. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillas [S] - Roman historian and chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.)
3. Flavius Josephus [J] (c. 37/8 - 97 A.D.) - Jewish Pharisee turned historian who served under the Roman emperor Vespasian
4. Thallus [Th] (c. 52 A.D.)

Below is the information that we can learn from them about Jesus and his followers:

1. Jesus was known as a wise and virtuous man, recognized for good conduct [J]
2. He had many disciples, both Jews and Gentiles [J]
3. Christians were first named for their founder [T, S]
4. Jesus was put to death by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilatus [T, J]
5. His manner of death was by crucifixion [J]
6. There was widespread darkness in the land, implied to have taken place during Jesus' crucifixion [Th]
7. This happened during the reign of Emperor Tiberius [T]
8. Jesus death ended the "superstition" for a short time [T]
9. But it broke out again [T, J]
10. The disciples reported the Jesus had risen from the dead [J]
11. The disciples reported that Jesus had appeared to them on the third day after his crucifixion [J]
12. The teaching had its origin in Judea [T]
13. Unbelievers offered naturalistic explanations for what occurred [Th]
14. Jesus was the brother of James [J]
15. Jesus' followers carried his teaching to Rome [T, J, Th]
16. Perhaps Jesus was the Messiah concerning whom the Old Testament prophets spoke and predicted wonders [J]
17. Jesus was called Messiah by some people [J]
18. The Jews were expelled from Rome due to their disturbances [S]
19. Their teachings caused a riot in Rome [S]
20. A fire broke out during the rule of Emperor Nero and he blamed the Christians who lived in Rome [T]
21. The Christians beliefs were called "mischievous" implying that they were not in accord with social custom [S]
22. The Christians were hated for their abominations [T]
23. Christians that were arrested pleaded guilty [T]
24. They were convicted for "hatred for mankind" [T]
25. They were mocked [T]
26. They were tortured, nailed to crosses, or burnt to death [T]
27. The general population had compassion for the Christians due to the manner in which Nero had them killed [T]
28. Punishments were thought o satisfy one man's glut for cruelty rather than serve as punishment for any crime [T]

Tomorrow I will begin to look at each of the Roman Government officials and what they had to say about Jesus and his followers. When we are done looking at them, I will add their findings to the list of summaries above in a separate post.