@cystic:
i wish i could pull the names of the Roman historians who did mention Jesus out - i believe that there were 2 of them that were brought up in a different thread.
Also Luke and Mark were not writing to be popular historians, but rather reciting things that they had heard and seen in letters to people.
As far as Jesus having an important ministry, do you consider that Roman historians would consider a guy who was executed in Israel one day after preaching about stuff to be a historically significant occassion? Would a 1890’s Britain historian include a refernce to a regional news story in Manitoba about a religious figure? I’m curious if a British historian would even have mentioned Louis Riel, nevermind someone of a different faith than everyone else.
What about the Dead Sea Scrolls? They clearly mention a form of Christianity in their days, over 100 years before Jesus. How do you explain that? And how do you explain the fact that in the dead sea scrolls it says a “young gilr” and not a “virgin” in the Isaiah quotes relied on by the church to claim that Mary was a virgin?