Christ Myth Theory - Context - Argument From Silence

Argument From Silence

Proponents of the Christ myth theory often argue that if the Gospel account was historically accurate then there should be non-Christian sources that corroborate the events of Jesus' life. However, as Biblical scholar L. Michael White writes, so far as we know, Jesus did not write anything, nor did anyone who had personal knowledge of him. There is no archeological evidence of his existence. There are no contemporaneous accounts of his life or death: no eyewitness accounts, or any other kind of first-hand record. All the accounts of Jesus come from decades later; the gospels themselves all come from later times, though they may contain earlier sources or oral traditions. The earliest writings that survive are the letters of Paul of Tarsus, thought to have been written 20–30 years after the dates given for Jesus's death. Paul was not a companion of Jesus, White writes, nor does he ever claim to have seen Jesus before his death.

Several non-Christian writers are often brought forward as evidence: Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Thallus, and Pliny the Younger. Christ Myth theory supporters point out that all these sources are written decades after the supposed events. Only Josephus and Tacitus appear to have any clear reference to the Gospel Jesus, and only Josephus used the name "Jesus" rather than the title "Christ" and was actually written in the 1st century CE.