There is no proof that Jesus existed

[Millhouse]

(07-12-2018, 09:11 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: As you know, Wiki is a poor source.

Even if Tacitus is authentic, he’s just echoing the Gospels, in which case renders his quip not an independent source & certainly no proof that Jesus existed.

Not necessarily as Tacitus would have had access to Roman records as he was not just a historian for Rome, but also because he was a former senator and a consul, though a diminished consul due to the Emperor having authority. Because of his access to records, and his writing of who the Emperor was when Christ was executed and who Pilate was, as Pilate was an obscure Roman figure those 60 some decades before, most scholars think he did his own research on this outside of Christian gossip.

Based on that, I think he did his own research.

However, none of his original manuscripts survived, so there is a chance they could have been altered centuries later as with any ancient writing that was being copied. No one knows whether they were or not.