Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 161
The biography of Jesus seems to me to have been somewhat neglected by rationalist historians. They failed mainly because of the Roman-Byzantic Great Schism. West European. Christianity was, by a wall of dogmatism and intolerance, kept aloof from many sources that could have offered it valuable information about the life of Jesus. . The great theologist Rudolf Bultmann summed the situation up by saying that we know next to nothing about the historical Jesus from Christian sources. . This symposium, so appropriately organised by the. Ahmadiyya Movement, presents an opportunity of throwing more historical light on the life and conduct of this extraordinary personality. . I. If we succeed in proving that Jesus was still alive after the year 35 A. D. it would be clear that he survived the agony of the cross. . That this was so is testified to even by Christians sources. . First, in the Acts of the Apostles 25; 19, we find the trial of. Paulus by the Roman governor Festus described. Paul was accused by the Jews, “But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. " This solemn trial took place in the presence of King Agrippa II, and the chief captains and principal men of the city. Its historical importance can hardly be doubted. . The second Christian testimony reports that Jesus was alive at the end of the first century. It refers to Ignatius, the second bishop of Antioch. When escorted to Rome to be thrown to the beasts he wrote a letter to the community of Christians of Smyrna saying “that he (Jesus) is in flesh since his resurrection, I both know and believe. ". Both these Christian testimonies show that Jesus still lived at those times and hence that he did not die on the cross. 166