What is the historical evidence for Jesus?
The short answer
The two-thousand-year existence of Christianity itself testifies to Jesus. The main written accounts are in the New Testament, especially the Gospels, whose historicity the Church firmly affirms, and ancient non-Christian writers such as Josephus and Pliny the Younger also attest to him.
- Christianity itself. Its nearly 2,000-year existence, undeniably a major part of world history, is valid testimony that Jesus existed.
- The New Testament. The main written historical accounts of Jesus are in the New Testament, chiefly the Gospels. The Church firmly holds that the four Gospels, whose historicity she affirms without hesitation, faithfully hand on what Jesus really did and taught until the day he was taken up (CCC 126).
- Non-Christian writers. Ancient secular writers such as Josephus and Pliny the Younger also left evidence of Jesus' existence.