I would like some specific references to passages in ancient writers (non-Christian) who mention Jesus.
I’m doing a study on non-biblical sources about Jesus’ existence. I know
there are people like Josephus, Lucian, Thallus, Jewish Talmud, Cornelius
Tacitus & Seutonius. I was wondering if you know any websites/books that
have in their writings specifically the parts that talk about Jesus. Also
if you know any more people that write about him, it would be greatly
appreciated.
I will have to say that you have a very comprehensive list
here for first and second century, non-biblical and non-Christian
historical sources. The only major one that jumps out at me which you do
not mention is Pliny the Elder. Of course, if you include the early
church fathers, you would have hundreds of historical references to Jesus
Christ, from Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius, the writer of the
Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas and dozens of others. From
your question, I am assuming that these are not the references you are
seeking. I would say, however, that they are relevant, as we can see from
the dozens of early church father’s writings that by the first half of the
second century there was a large and well-established community of
believers who were clearly established by the teachings of the apostles,
and whose faith was built on the literal claim that Jesus was resurrected
from the dead. The skeptic would ignore such a witness only if they were
very closed-minded.
From your question, I can see that you are looking for the actual
quotes from these writers. I would suggest you get a copy of my book
Reasons for Belief: A handbook of Christian Evidences for some of these
quotes. There is also material on the subject at this web site. Two
relevant articles are The Claims of Jesus and Messianic Prophecies. For
more comprehensive quotes, you could simply use google. You might be
surprised how easy that would be. Either that, or I might suggest
finding a copy of the book “Evidence That Demands a Verdict,” by Josh
McDowell. This book is fairly old, but so are the sources!! It has
pretty much complete quotes of all the sources you mention.
John Oakes