U Decide if Christianity is real, Summaries of Religious Studies

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Dr. Peter J. Disimile: UC-FEST

U Decide

UC-FEST Research Group Dr. Peter J. Disimile Peter.Disimile@uc.edu 1

Goal

• (^) To present a sufficient amount of information that is historically documented and can be: - (^) Traced back to non-Christen sources - (^) Eyewitness accounts - (^) Testimony from early individuals - (^) Confirmed through multiple sources
• (^) To ensure that all information related to the New Testament is excluded.
• (^) Excluded any and all testimony from followers of the WAY i.e., the resulting movement
• (^) Allow any person to make an unbiased and informed decision based only on the available evidence as to the: - (^) existence of a person named Jesus, and - (^) the torture he was subjected to - (^) Insight on the resultant following

Dr. Peter J. Disimile: UC-FEST

• (^) Something major occurred 202? Yrs ago that

resulted in the way we acknowledged time

and went from BC to AD.

4

Dr. Peter J. Disimile: UC-FEST

An Event

• The only event that appears to have past the

test of time has been associated with a man

named Jesus who was tortured and died for

his actions, and then came back to life.

5

Dr. Peter J. Disimile: UC-FEST Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of Jesus

• (^) Josephus a well known 1st^ century historian born in 37AD.
• (^) Josephus was a Jew who wrote a collection called “ The Antiquities ” the history of the Jewish people from creation to 93 AD
• (^) In his writings he refers to james, the brother of Jesus, and to Jesus himself (ls78)
• (^) Josephus describes how a high priest named Ananias “…convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin and brought before them the man named james, the brother of Jesus, who was called the Christ…” (ls78)
• (^) Josephus also wrote Testimonium which J is mentioned a “wise man who was condemned by a Pilate ( a Roman official) to be crucified, and those who loved him in the 1st^ place did not give up their affection for him. On the 3rd^ day he appeared to them restored to life… and tribe of Christians, so called after him has still to this day not disappeared”. This was accepted by until the Enlightment period, but today is widely accepted by scholars. 7

Dr. Peter J. Disimile: UC-FEST

• (^) Another Roman called Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia in northwestern Turkey stated in his writing to his friend Emperor Trajan (circa 111AD) refers to Christen he has arrested (ls83) - (^) Given three chances not to admit to being Christians or be executed - (^) They meet regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verse to honor Christ as if to a God - (^) They bind themselves to an oat to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, ... - (^) Tried to exact the truth by torture to two slave women they called deaconesses - (^) Notes the rpid spread of Christianity in both the city and rural areas, among every class of persons from slave women to Roman citizens - (^) Talks about the worship of J as God, that Christians held 01/27/2023^ high ethical standards, and were not easily swayed from 8 Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of Jesus

Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of Jesus

• (^) Why aren’t there even more non-Biblical writing on J
• (^) WE have Gathas of Zoroaster about 1000 BC, and are

what to be believed the most authentic, the

Zoroastrians scripture were written about 3

rd

century

AD, and the most popular biography of Zoroaster was

written in 1278 AD.

• (^) Scriptures of Buddha, who lived in the 6 th

century BC

were not put into writting1st century AD

• (^) Muhammad who lived 570 to 632 AD, sayings in the

Koran were written a century after his deth ~767 AD

Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of Jesus These writing appear to emphasize that Jesus was:

1. A Jewish teacher
2. Many believed he performed healings and exorcisms
3. Some people believed he was the Messiah
4. He was rejected by the Jewish leaders of the time.
5. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius
6. Despite his shameful death, his followers, who believed he was still alive spread beyond Palestine so by 64 AD there were many in Rome.
7. Men women, free and slave from all walks of life, in cities and countryside, worshiped him as God.
8. Much of the material predates the gospels themselves.

Dr. Peter J. Disimile: UC-FEST Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of Torture and Execution

• (^) This phenomena was evidently visible in Rome, Athens, and other Med cities.
• (^) According to Thallus it was a comsmic or world event.
• (^) Phlegon, a Greek author from Caria (ls85) reorted in the 4th year of 202nd^ Olympiad (i.e., 33AD) there was “the greatest eclipse of the sun” and that it became night in the 6th^ hr of the day (i.e., noon so that the stars appeared in the heavens.
• (^) There was a great earthquake in Bithynia and many things were overturned in Nicaea” i 13

Dr. Peter J. Disimile: UC-FEST

• (^) Many 1st^ century and early 2nd^ century unfriendly Roman

sources (i.e., Thallus, Tacitus, Mara Bar-Serapion, and

Phlegon) and Jewish sources (i.e., Josephus and the

Babylonian Talmund) affirmed and acknowledged that J was

crucified and died. (W45).

14 Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of Torture and Execution

01/27/2023 Dr. Peter J. Disimile:^ UC-FEST 16 Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of Claiming to be Supernatural

01/27/2023 Dr. Peter J. Disimile:^ UC-FEST 17

Non-Biblical Historical Evidence of