Editing Tacitus on Jesus (section)

== Historical value ==
[[File:Tacitus portrait.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Portrait of Tacitus, based on an antique bust]]

Depending on the sources Tacitus used, the passage is potentially of historical value regarding Jesus, early Christianity, and its persecution under emperor Nero.

Regarding Jesus, Van Voorst states that "of all Roman writers, Tacitus gives us the most precise information about Christ".{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=39-53}} Crossan considers the passage important in establishing that Jesus existed and was crucified, and states: "That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus... agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact."<ref>{{cite book |last=Crossan |first=John Dominic |date=1995 |title=Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography |publisher=HarperOne |isbn=0-06-061662-8 |page=145}}</ref> Eddy and Boyd state that it is now "firmly established" that Tacitus provides a non-Christian confirmation of the crucifixion of Jesus.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=127}} Biblical scholar [[Bart D. Ehrman]] wrote: "Tacitus's report confirms what we know from other sources, that Jesus was executed by order of the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, sometime during Tiberius's reign."<ref name=Prophet>{{cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|title=Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195124743|page=59|title-link=Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium}}</ref>

However, some scholars question the value of the passage given that Tacitus was born 25&nbsp;years after Jesus' death.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=39-53}}

Regarding early Christianity, scholars generally consider Tacitus's reference to be of historical value as an independent Roman source that is in unison with other historical records.{{sfn|Evans|2001|p=42}}<ref name="Bible' page 343"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{sfn|Portier|1994|p=263}} [[James Dunn (theologian)|James D. G. Dunn]] considers the passage as useful in establishing facts about [[early Christianity|early Christians]], e.g. that there was a sizable number of Christians in Rome around AD 60. Dunn states that Tacitus seems to be under the impression that Christians were some form of Judaism, although distinguished from them.{{sfn|Dunn|2009|p=56}} [[Raymond E. Brown]] and [[John P. Meier]] state that in addition to establishing that there was a large body of Christians in Rome, the Tacitus passage provides two other important pieces of historical information, namely that by around AD 60 it was possible to distinguish between Christians and Jews in Rome and that even pagans made a connection between Christianity in Rome and its origin in Judea.<ref name=AntiochRome >{{cite book |title=Antioch and Rome: New Testament cradles of Catholic Christianity |first1=Raymond Edward |last1=Brown |first2=John P. |last2=Meier |date=1983 |isbn=0-8091-2532-3 |page=99|publisher=Paulist Press }}</ref>

Regarding the Neronian persecution, the scholarly consensus is that it really took place.<ref name="McKnight">{{Cite book |last1=McKnight |first1=Scot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GmWODwAAQBAJ|title=The State of New Testament Studies: A Survey of Recent Research |last2=Gupta |first2=Nijay K. |date=2019-11-05 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-1-4934-1980-7 |language=en |quote=It appears to me that historians of ancient Rome generally accept Nero's persecution of Christians}}</ref>
Questioning this consensus, Weaver notes that Tacitus spoke of the persecution of Christians, but no other Christian author wrote of this persecution for a hundred years.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Historical Jesus in the Twentieth Century: 1900–1950 |first=Walter P. |last=Weaver |date=July 1999 |pages=53, 57 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781563382802 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC&q=tacitus&pg=PA45}}</ref>
[[Brent Shaw]] has argued that Tacitus was relying on Christian and Jewish legendary sources that portrayed Nero as the Antichrist for the information that Nero persecuted Christians and that in fact, no persecution under Nero took place.{{sfn|Shaw|2015}}
Shaw has questioned if the passage represents "some modernizing or updating of the facts" to reflect the Christian world at the time the text was written.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shaw |first1=Brent |title=The Myth of Neronian Persecution |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |date=2015 |volume=105 |page=86 |doi=10.1017/S0075435815000982|s2cid=162564651 }}</ref>

Shaw's views have received strong criticism and have generally not been accepted by the scholarly consensus:<ref name="McKnight" /> Christopher P. Jones ([[Harvard University]]) answered to Shaw and refuted his arguments, noting that the Tacitus's anti-Christian stance makes it unlikely that he was using Christian sources; he also noted that the [[Epistle to the Romans]] of [[Paul the Apostle]] clearly points to the fact that there was indeed a clear and distinct Christian community in Rome in the 50s and that the persecution is also mentioned by [[Suetonius]] in ''[[The Twelve Caesars]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Christopher P. |date=2017 |title=The Historicity of the Neronian Persecution: A Response to Brent Shaw |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/72A73656C0F1372963C197F8945D38D3/S0028688516000308a.pdf/the-historicity-of-the-neronian-persecution-a-response-to-brent-shaw.pdf |journal=[[New Testament Studies]] |volume=63 |pages=146–152 |doi=10.1017/S0028688516000308 |s2cid=164718138 |via=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> [[Larry Hurtado]] was also critical of Shaw's argument, dismissing it as "vague and hazy".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-12-14|title=Nero and the Christians|url=https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/nero-and-the-christians/|access-date=2021-09-14|website=Larry Hurtado's Blog|language=en}}</ref>
Brigit van der Lans and Jan N. Bremmer also dismissed Shaw's argument, noting that the Neronian persecution is recorded in many 1st-century Christian writings, such as the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]], the [[Book of Revelation]], the apocryphal [[Ascension of Isaiah]], the [[First Epistle of Peter]], the [[Gospel of John]] and the [[First Epistle of Clement]]; they also argued that ''Chrestianus, Christianus'', and ''Χριστιανός'' were probably terms invented by the Romans in the 50s and then adopted by Christians themselves.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Van der Lans|first1=Birgit|last2=Bremmer|first2=Jan N.|date=2017|title=Tacitus and the Persecution of the Christians: An Invention of Tradition?|url=https://www.academia.edu/35878331|journal=Eirene: Studia Graeca et Latina|volume=53|pages=299–331|via=Centre for Classical Studies}}</ref>
John Granger Cook also rebuked Shaw's thesis, arguing that ''Chrestianus, Christianus'', and ''Χριστιανός'' are not creations of the second century and that Roman officials were probably aware of the ''Chrestiani'' in the 60s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=G. Cook |first=John |date=2020 |title=Chrestiani, Christiani, Χριστιανοί: a Second Century Anachronism?|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/vc/74/3/article-p237_1.xml?language=en |journal=[[Vigiliae Christianae (journal)|Vigiliae Christianae]] |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=237–264 |doi=10.1163/15700720-12341410 |s2cid=242371092 |via=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]}}</ref>
[[Barry S. Strauss]] also rejects Shaw's argument.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Strauss|first=Barry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaXODwAAQBAJ|title=Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine|date=2020-03-03|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-6884-1|language=en}}</ref>