Why Are There No Contemporaneous Documents that Mention Jesus?

[exboyfil]

11. You do have to remember that Jerusalem was destroyed

40 or so years after the reported death of Jesus the Nazarene. How much was lost in that destruction? Oral tradition is a recognized method of communicating history as well. Paul, while not meeting the physical Jesus, wrote 1st Thessalonians in 50 AD. There is a pretty good chance that most or all of the apostles were not Greek literate (or even literate at all). All attributed Gospels and many of the letters may be misattributed. It is unreasonable to expect extant documents from the time of Jesus or even shortly after it.


Here are some passages from Thessalonians where Paul conveys a belief in the historicity of Jesus.

...and to wait for His Son from [h]heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and [q]drove us out.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep [k]in Jesus.


The oldest extant writing of Paul's epistles is from about 200 AD. As a reference the oldest extant writing of Chaucer is not from his lifetime. The oldest copy of Gallic Wars is from 800 years after Caesar.

My own personal opinion is that there is a man behind the story, but much of the story is made up. Jesus was one of many self-proclaimed Messiahs at the time. Some of which were executed.