Edwin M. Yamauchi on his faith

In chapter 4 of The Case For Christ, Lee Strobel wanted to know if there are other historical writings that are not from the followers of Christ that corroborate or support the Gospels. Lee decided to interview Edwin M. Yamauchi.

Educational background:

Mr. Yamauchi is one of USA's leading experts in ancient history. He has a bachelor's degree in Hebrew and Hellenistics, a master's and doctoral degrees in Mediterranean studies from Brandeis University. He has been awarded eight fellowships, from Rutgers Research Council, National Endowment for the Humanitites, the American Philosophical Society, and others. He has studied twenty-two languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Egyptian, Russian, Syrica, Ugaritic, and even Comanche. He has delivered seventy-one papers before learned societies; lectured at more than one hundred seminaries, universities, and colleges, including Yale, Princeton, and Cornell; served as chairman and then president of the Institute for Biblical Research and president of the Conference of Faith and History; and published eighty articles in thirty-seven scholarly journals. In 1986 he participated in the first excavations of the Herodian temple in Jerusalem, revealing evidence of the temple's destruction in A.D. 70. Archeology has also been the theme of several of his books, including The Stones and the Scriptures; The Scriptures and Archeology; and The World of the First Christians.

His faith:

"There's no question-my studies have greatly strengthened and enriched my spiritual life. They have given me a better understanding of the culture and historical context of events. "

"This doesn't mean that I don't recognize that there are some issues that still remain; within this lifetime we will not have full knowledge. But these issues don't even begin to undermine my faith in the essential trustworthiness of the gospels and the res of the New Testament."

"I think the alternative explanations, which try to account for the spread of Christianity through sociological or psychological reasons, are very weak. Very weak."

"For me, the historical evidence has reinforced my commitment to Jesus Christ as the Son of God who loves us and died for us and was raised from the dead. It’s that simple."

Findings of the Chapter not from quotes:

·      There are evidences from other historical non-Christian writings from Josephus and Tacitus that Jesus existed. They are known historians.

·      Josephus wrote more about John the Baptist because Jesus was not a political threat and Josephus was more interested in political matters.

·      According to the bible, when Jesus was crucified the earth went dark, and other historical findings also show that they experienced that darkness at that specific time.

Other quotations:

“For some time people have tried to deny the existence of Jesus, but this is really a lost cause. There is overwhelming evidence that Jesus did exist, and these hypothetical questions are really vacuous and fallacious.”- Yamauchi

“This is an important testimony by an unsympathetic witness to the success and spread of Christianity, based on a historical Figure - Jesus – who was crucified under Pontius Pilate. And it’s significant that Tacitus reported that in ‘immense multitude’ held so strongly to their beliefs that they were willing to die rather than recant.”- Yamauchi

“The Jewish traditional literature, although it mentions Jesus only quite sparingly (and must say in any case be used with caution), supports the gospel claim that he was a healer and miracle-worker, even though it ascribes these activities to sorcery. In addition, it preserves the recollection that he was a teacher, and that he had disciples (five fo them), and that at least in the earlier Rabbinic period not all of the sages had finally made up their minds that he was a “heretic” or a “deceiver.”- Professor M. Wilcox

“But the fact is that we have better historical documentation for Jesus than for the founder of any other ancient religion.”- Yamauchi

“Let’s pretend we didn’t have any of the New Testament or other Christian writings. Even without them, what would we be able to conclude about Jesus from ancient non-Christian sources such as Josephus, the Talmud, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and others?”-Lee

“We would still have a considerable amount of important historical evidence; in fact, it would provide a kind of outline for the life of Jesus.” - Yamauchi