JESUS OUTSIDE THE NEW TESTAMENT Studying the Historical Jesus It was once fashionable to claim that Jesus could not be known as a figure of history and that even if he could be known in that way the result would not be of interest for faith. Both contentions have been laid to rest over the past twenty years. Scholarship has seen archaeological discoveries, advances in the study of Jewish and Hellenistic literature, a renewed interest in the social milieu of Ju- daism and Christianity, and critical investigation of the systematic relationship between those two religions (and others in the ancient world). In the midst of these discussions — and many others — Jesus has appeared again and again as a person who can be understood historically and who must be assessed before we can give any complete explanation of the history of the period in which he lived. As he and his movement are better understood, the nature of the faith that they pioneered has been more clearly defined. Of course, the Jesus who is under investigation cannot simply be equated with whatever the Gospels say of him. The Gospels, composed in Greek a gen- eration after Jesus' death, reflect the faith of early Christians who came to be- lieve in him. Their belief included reference to historical data but also included the interpretation of Jesus as it had developed after his time. The critical tasks of coming to grips with the development of the New Testament, the nature of primitive Christian faith, and the historical profile of Jesus are all interrelated. The purpose of this series is to explore key questions concerning Jesus in recent discussion. Each author has already made an impor- tant contribution to the study of Jesus and writes for the series on the basis of expertise in the area addressed by his or her particular volume. Of the many studies of Jesus that are available today, some are suspect in their treatment of primary sources and some do not engage the secondary lit- erature appropriately. Studying the Historical Jesus is a series of contributions that are no less sound for being creative. Jesus is a figure of history as well as the focus of Christian theology: discussion of him should be accessible, rigorous, and interesting. BRUCE CHILTON CRAIG A. EVANS Bard College Trinity Western University Jesus Outside the New Testament An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence Robert E. Van Voorst WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN / CAMBRIDGE, U.K. © 2000 Wm. Β. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 / P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 05 04 03 02 01 00 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Van Voorst, Robert E. Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence / Robert E. Van Voorst, p. cm. — (Studying the historical Jesus) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-8028-4368-9 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Jesus Christ — Biography — Sources. 2. Jesus Christ — Historicity. I. Title. II. Series. BT297.V36 2000 232.9Ό8 — dc21 99-086146 To J. Louis Martyn and the memory of Raymond E. Brown Contents Preface and Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xii 1. The Study of Jesus Outside the New Testament 1 Λ Brief History of Research 2 Did Jesus Really Exist? 6 The Plan of the Present Work 16 2. Jesus in Classical Writings 19 Thallos: The Eclipse at Jesus' Death 20 Pliny the Younger: The Christ of Christian Worship 23 Suetonius: The Instigator Chrestus 29 Tacitus: The Executed Christ 39 Mara bar Serapion: The Wise Jewish King 53 Lucian of Samosata: The Crucified Sophist 58 Celsus: Christ the Magician 64 Conclusions 68 3. Jesus in Jewish Writings 75 Is Jesus Mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls? 75 Josephus: Jesus, a Wise Man Called the Christ 81 The Rabbinic Tradition: Jesus the Magician and Deceiver 104 The Toledot Yeshu: How Ancient a Polemic against Jesus? 122 Conclusions 129 4. Jesus in the Sources of the Canonical Gospels 135 L: Jesus, the Powerful Teacher and Healer 136 The Special Material of Matthew: An M Source on Jesus? 143 The Signs Source of the Fourth Gospel: Jesus the Messiah 149 Q: Jesus, the Agent of the Kingdom of God 155 Conclusions 174 5. Jesus in Christian Writings after the New Testament 179 The Agrapha: Scattered Sayings of Jesus 179 The Nag Hammadi Literature: Jesus the Revealer of Secret Knowledge 185 The New Testament Apocrypha: Traditions and Legends about Jesus 203 Conclusions 215 Bibliography 219 Index of Names 235 Index of Subjects 239 Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Writings 241 Preface and Acknowledgments his book examines the ancient evidence from outside the New Tes- Ttament for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is a large subject, so any one book that covers it must necessarily be very limited in depth. I have tried to present comprehensively the passages them- selves in a contemporary translation, and introduce the most impor- tant issues in the current interpretation of these passages. Because of the size of this topic and the size constraints on this book, I cannot pre- tend to offer an exhaustive account of current scholarship, much less the full history of research into this question. The interested reader can trace out much of this by following up on the footnotes. If now and then I can go beyond these objectives to offer a new insight into the his- torical and theological problems at hand, I will be satisfied. Many people have helped this book along its way, and I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank them. The editorial staff at William B. Eerdmans have been fine partners in developing this book. I especially thank Daniel Harlow, my editor at Eerdmans, now at Calvin College, and Craig Evans and Bruce Chilton, general editors of the Studying the Historical lesus series, for inviting me to write this volume and guiding it along. They may not agree with everything here, but they have made this a better book. My New Testament students at Lycoming College, where I taught from 1989-1999, heard most of this, read much of it, and contributed to the process. They were a constant stimulation, and usually a delight! They all had an indirect hand in this book, and a few of them had a larger impact. By asking questions I could not readily answer, Kay drove me to deeper consideration of many interpretive issues. By won- dering about the contemporary religious significance of these texts, Herb kept in view their religious significance in the ancient world. And by laughing to herself at my every mention of Q, fill reminded me that not all hypotheses are as obvious to some people as to others. Most of the research for this book was done during a sabbatical leave in Oxford, England, in 1997. The historical and cultural enchant- ments of Oxford are exceeded only by the vitality of its intellectual cli- mate. The faculty and staff of Westminster College and its principal, Richard Ralph, kindly hosted me as a visiting researcher, and R. Joseph Hoffman twice welcomed me as a guest lecturer in his lively "Jesus in Contemporary Thought" course. Christopher Rowland of Queen's College admitted me to the university course of special lectures on the historical Jesus. The clergy and congregation of St. Ebbe's Church wel- corned this stranger into its life, and its academics gave me other points of contact with the university. Not least, I am grateful to Lycoming Col- lege for providing sabbatical leave, and financial support in two sum- mer research grants, for work on this project. Three libraries and their staffs provided excellent help in my re- search. The Burke Library of Union Theological Seminary in New York City was a fine place to begin and end my research; its main reference and reader services librarian, Seth Kasten, gave me timely assistance on the electronic databases. The Bodleian Library of Oxford University was the wonderful center of my sabbatical and the research for this book. Its librarians were unfailingly kind and helpful to "the American working on lesus": Christine Mason at the Main Enquiry Desk of the Old Library, Mary Sheldon-Williams superintending Classics and The- ology, and lacquie Dean and Liz Fisher at its Lower Reserve. Snowden Library at Lycoming College provided continuous high-level support for my research; numerous interlibrary loan requests were expedited by Marlene Neece, and not a few acquisitions by Sue Beidler. The staff of Beardslee Library of Western Theological Seminary obtained several interlibrary loans, and my capable secretary, Marilyn Essink, helped with the final typing and indexing. I owe an inexpressible debt of gratitude to my wife, Mary, and our two sons, Richard and Nicholas, for their love and support. In addition to reading and critiquing this book, Mary took on, while I was in Ox- ford, the burden of running by herself a busy household where duties are usually, albeit imperfectly, shared. What the author of a poem taken into Proverbs 31 said of a good wife applies especially to Mary in every- thing she does: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." This book is gratefully dedicated to my two highly esteemed New Testament teachers at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. J. Louis Martyn was a gracious and encouraging Doktorvater who taught excellence in biblical scholarship as much by example as by pre- cept, and encouraged history and theology to embrace each other.