Endre Fodstad
Sergeant
The vast majority of historians - religious or atheist - working on the period acknowledge that Jesus is probably the best documented historical figure under the rank of procurator in the roman empire. That there are few direct references to him is hardly surprising - from the literate classes in Judea in his day, he wasn't a problem after he was executed - especially not considering all soon-to-follow revolts against roman rule. Notwithstanding that the Jesus myth hypothesis is an argumentum ex silencio that basically "cheats" - refusing to accept sources of christian origin or "christian doctoring" (a literary merry-go-round of creative interpretation to search those out, no mistake!) of non-christian sources. It is also rather striking that later roman sources hostile to christianity at no point attempt to discredit the religion based on its founder being an invention - which they probably would have had the available sources to find out - they certainly tried all other methods.
Overall, considering the small amount of sources from around 30 AD/CE/Whatever's your poison that have survived down to us, you have to have a solid axe to grind to subscribe to the Jesus Myth hypothesis. Of course, grindable axes abound, especially in Britain and the US, for some reason.
Overall, considering the small amount of sources from around 30 AD/CE/Whatever's your poison that have survived down to us, you have to have a solid axe to grind to subscribe to the Jesus Myth hypothesis. Of course, grindable axes abound, especially in Britain and the US, for some reason.