Historical Evidences of Jesus' Existence

Question 1

are our principal sources in proving the existence of the historical Jesus

Answer 1

Christian Scriptures

Question 2

tells us of a certain Jesus of Nazareth who preached, performed miracles, was crucified and rose again from the dead

Answer 2

New Testament

Question 3

a Roman historian, writes in his Annals (15. 44.) of the great fire which swept through the city of Rome in 64 A.D.

Answer 3

Tacitus

Question 4

(stepson and successor to Claudius) was generally believed to have started the fire, Nero wanted to fix the blame on someone else

Answer 4

Emperor Nero

Question 5

recounts the story of the fire and Nero’s successful attempt to fix the blame on the Christians.

Answer 5

Tacitus in 115-117 A.D

Question 6

They got their name from Christ, who was executed by sentence of the procurator _________ in the reign of Tiberius

Answer 6

Pontius Pilate

Question 7

Significantly, this is the only place in all ancient Roman histories where Pilate is mentioned, though the Jewish writers ______________ record his cruel rule in Judea

Answer 7

Philo and Josephus

Question 8

Tacitus did not use Jesus’ proper name; he used the word ______, the religious title which was used by Christians outside of Palestine as a proper title for Jesus.

Answer 8

Christ

Question 9

known to history as a master letter writer.

Answer 9

Pliny the Younger

Question 10

he was appointed imperial legate of the Roman province of Bithynia in northwest Asia Minor

Answer 10

Pliny the Younger.

Question 11

Pliny the Younger carried on a constant correspondence with the Roman emperor,

Answer 11

Trajan

Question 12

In one of these letters he advised the emperor about how he ought to treat the rapidly spreading religious group known as the

Answer 12

Christians

Question 13

Pliny mentioned that the “___________” of Christianity had spread so rapidly that the pagan temples had fallen into disuse

Answer 13

superstition

Question 14

Pliny recounted the Christian custom of celebrating what we know as the sacrament of the __________ on “a fixed day of the week”.

Answer 14

Eucharist

Question 15

Born around 37 A.D., he fought against the Romans in the great revolt of 66-70 A.D. and was appointed commander of the Jewish forces in Galilee.

Answer 15

Josephus

Question 16

was captured by the Romans, but, because he predicted that he commander-in-chief of the Roman army in Palestine, _______, would one day be emperor, his life was spared to see if his prediction would come true

Answer 16

Josephus, Vespasian

Question 17

Josephus later composed a 20-volume history of the Jews entitled the

Answer 17

Jewish Antiquities

Question 18

The Roman author _______ compiled biographies of the first 12 Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar onward

Answer 18

Suetonius

Question 19

made a mistake in his retelling of the Jewish expulsion from Rome in 49 A.D. in assuming that Christ was there

Answer 19

Suetonius

Question 20

thought Christians and Jews were really members of the same religious sect and consequently banished them from Rome because of the civil disturbances.

Answer 20

Claudius

Question 21

Luke writes in Acts 18:2 that when Paul arrived in Corinth about 50 A.D., he found there “a Jew named ________, a native of Pontus, recently arrived from Italy with his wife, _________.

Answer 21

Aquila, Priscilla

Question 22

What is most significant in this piece of evidence is the point that by the middle of the first century, a strong testimony of Christ was made in the capital of the ________

Answer 22

Roman Empire (Rome)

Question 23

They claimed they came into being because this Jesus who was put to death now lived

Answer 23

Pagan Roman Sources.

Question 24

we have mention of Jesus and his followers in three separate Roman writers:

Answer 24

Suetonius, Tacitus and Pliny the
Younger

Question 25

If we realize that Palestine was considered a bothersome, though minor, province in the large Roman Empire, we should not be too surprised to find little written evidence by the

Answer 25

pagan

Question 26

In this history Josephus attempted to demonstrate to the Roman world, and especially to the new emperor, the Jew-hating ___________(81-96 A.D.), that the Jews were a noble people.

Answer 26

Domitian

Question 27

In the 18th book of the history, he gave a favorable report of John the Baptist and called him a

Answer 27

good man

Question 28

Josephus noted in the 20th book that _______ the younger (the son of the high priest mentioned in the Gospels) put to death in 62 A.D.

Answer 28

Annas

Question 29

_________the Just whom we identify as the apostle and one of the leaders of the Christian community in Jerusalem.

Answer 29

James

Question 30

In the 18th book of his Jewish Antiquities, Josephus gives an account of various troubles the people of Judea suffered under the governorship of _________

Answer 30

Pontius Pilate

Question 31

The Church father Origen maintained that Josephus was a ___________.

Answer 31

nonbeliever

Question 32

Regardless of what _________either wrote to believed, it is most significant that he did not question the actual historical existence of Jesus

Answer 32

Josephus

Question 33

was a traveling lecturer and Sophist rhetor who wrote about Jesus Christ as a man crucified in Palestine for introducing a new cult

Answer 33

Luciano LUCIANO DI SAMOSATA

Question 34

In Luciano's writings, Luciano said, this Jesus persuaded his followers that they were all __________ to one another

Answer 34

brothers

Question 35

The Christians, according to Luciano, “worshiped the _____________ and lived under his laws.

Answer 35

crucified sophist

Question 36

to the Babylonian Talmud spoke of a certain Yeshu who practiced magic and led his followerd into apostacy

Answer 36

baraita BABYLONIAN TALMUD

Question 37

This ______was “hanged on the eve of the Passover.”

Answer 37

Yeshu

Question 38

The ___________ sources give us scanty information about Jesus. However, they do establish that Jesus existed, died and had followers.

Answer 38

non-Christian

Question 39

Enumerate the Non-Christian Sources

Answer 39

1.Pagan Roman Sources - Suetonius - Tacitus - Pliny the Younger 2. Jewish Source - Josephus 3. Other Sources - LUCIANO DI SAMOSATA (c.A.D. 120-180 - BABYLONIAN TALMUD

Question 40

Our primary source of knowledge for Jesus and his message and mission is the form of literature known as the

Answer 40

Gospel

Question 41

The __________________ established the facts of the existence of a man whom the early Christians claimed to be both the most remarkable of all human beings and the Son of God.

Answer 41

four New Testament Gospels

Question 42

present clear, strong, carefully reasoned and repeated evidence that the faith of the early Christians was in fact based on a real historical person

Answer 42

Gospels

Question 43

Gospels, are neither _________. Jesus did not write them.

Answer 43

autobiography nor biography

Question 44

The Gospels’ primary purpose is

Answer 44

not to give a detailed account of Jesus’ historical (earthly) life

Question 45

the years Jesus spent in Nazareth or His childhood years before his bar mitzvah in Jerusalem at the age of 12.

Answer 45

hidden years

Question 46

The ________ are faith summaries

Answer 46

Gospels

Question 47

Gospels describe what the early Christians held to be most significant about Jesus, namely, that

Answer 47

He is the Gospel, He is the Good News

Question 48

In Jesus, God had manifested himself in a

Answer 48

a total, unconditional way

Question 49

humankind is saved by being ______________.

Answer 49

reconciled to God

Question 50

is a unique product of early Christianity and as such must held to be characteristic of a distinctive element in early Christian faith

Answer 50

gospel

Question 51

In Matthew and Luke, this is again prefaced by an “______________,” which looks like but is not a report on the circumstances of Jesus’ birth (how Jesus was born), but rather a theological reflection on the meaning of the person and birth of Jesus.

Answer 51

Infancy Narrative

Question 52

In the Fourth Gospel (John) the selection of words and deeds of Jesus is prefaced by a

Answer 52

Prologue

Question 53

Modern scholars insist that the gospels do not give us an accurate portrayal of Jesus’ ministry, but rather

Answer 53

a testimony to the early Christian experience expressed by means of an arrangement of a traditional materials concerning Jesus and His disciples.

Question 54

history of the early Christian experience as lived in various communities is cast in the form of a

Answer 54

chronicle of the ministry of Jesus

Question 55

The Synoptic Gospels (“_______” came from the Greek word __________, “common view”.

Answer 55

synoptic , synoptikos

Question 56

The Synoptic Gospels

Answer 56

Matthew, Mark and Luke

Question 57

basically speak of faith in Jesus Christ as the messiah who offers salvation to all peoples.

Answer 57

Synoptic Gospels

Question 58

These Sypnotic Gospels reveal the

Answer 58

sayings, parables, sermons, miracles and stories about Jesus.

Question 59

The word “gospel” (from old English “god-spel,” i.e., “good story” is a translation of the Greek word “_____________meaning “good news.”

Answer 59

vangelion

Question 60

The good news referred to is the

Answer 60

coming of Jesus

Question 61

_____________is the name which comes from Hebrew name Joshua or Yehoshua, a name which could be translated as _____________

Answer 61

Jesus, God saves

Question 62

Christ from Greek word _____ meaning “_______, Messiah

Answer 62

Cristos , Anointed One