The Case For Christ

superstition, thus checked for the moment,
again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil,
but even in Rome.... Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all
who pleaded guilty: then, upon their information, an
immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of
firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.
I was already familiar with that passage, and I was wondering how
Yamauchi would respond to an observation by a leading scholar
named J. N. D. Anderson. "He speculates that when Tacitus says
this 'mischievous superstition' was 'checked for the moment' but
later 'again broke out,' he was unconsciously bearing testimony
to the belief of early Christians that Jesus had been crucified
but then rose from the grave," I said. "Do you agree with him?"
Yamauchi thought for a moment. "This has certainly been the
interpretation of some scholars," he replied, seeming to duck my
request for his opinion. But then he made a crucial point:
"Regardless of whether the passage had this specifically in
mind, it does provide us with a very remarkable fact, which is
this: crucifixion was the most abhorrent fate that anyone could
undergo, and the fact that there was a movement based on a
crucified man has to be explained. How can you explain the spread
of a religion based on the worship of a man who had suffered the
most ignominious death possible? Of course, the Christian answer
is that he was resurrected. Others have to come up with some
alternative theory if they don't believe that. But none of the
alternative views, to my mind, are very persuasive." I asked him
to characterize the weight of Tacitus's writings concerning
Jesus. "This is an important testimony by an unsympathetic
witness to the success and spread of Christianity, based on a
historical figureJesus-who was crucified under Pontius Pilate,"
he said. "And it's
significant that Tacitus reported that an 'immense multitude'
held so strongly to their beliefs that they were willing to die
rather than recant."
CHANTING "AS IF TO A GOD"
I knew that another Roman, called Pliny the Younger, had also
referred to Christianity in his writings. "He corroborated some
important matters, too, didn't he?" I asked.
"That's right. He was the nephew of Pliny the Elder, the famous
encyclopedist who died in the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79.