What are the extra biblical references to Jesus Christ specifically his death and the absence of a corpse?

Answer 1

Extra-biblical references to Christ's death

Tacitus in Annals 15:44:

Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of... Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome.

Babylonian Talmud:

On the eve of the Passover Yeshu (Jesus) was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, 'He is going to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Anyone who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward in his behalf'. But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover.

Sanhedrin 106b mentions that Jesus was 33 years old when He died.

Toledoth Jesu written by Jews in the 5th Century claims that the disciples attempted to steal the body of Jesus, but this was foiled by a gardener who shifted the corpse. Justin Martyr and Tertullian also wrote that the Jews circulated the story that Jesus' body had been stolen.

Josephus (Arabic manuscript, thought to be without any additions):

At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good and he was known to be virtuous. And many people among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.

Answer 2

There is no contemporary extra-biblical reference to the life, death or resurrection of Jesus. No official record exists of Pontius Pilate condemning Jesus to death, although that would not be surprising since Jesus would have been just one of many. However, Philo of Alexandria never mentioned these events, although he certainly would have if he had known of them. Strangely, no extra-biblical mention was made of the period of darkness, nor of the earthquake, that occurred at the time of Jesus' death, although all other meteorological and astronomical events of the first century seem to have been recorded. If the corpses really did arise out of the ground, went into Jerusalem and appeared to many (Matthew 27:52-53) it would have been an awe-inspiring spectacle worthy of record, yet no one other than the author of Matthew's Gospel seems to have noticed.

Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, published in 93 CE, contains two vague, second-hand references to Jesus, the most important of which is known as the Testamonium Flavanium. Scholars are divided on whether the Testamonium is entirely a later, Christian interpolation designed to provide some historical support for the existence of Jesus, or whether it was to some extent original but has been doctored by later interpolators. If genuine, these are the first 'independent' references to Jesus, although Josephus could not have been able to verify anything that would have occurred some sixty years earlier. Other extra-biblical references to Jesus were made no earlier than the second century, and inevitably rely on the testimony of Christians who believed that Jesus had once existed.