Hostile Witnesses: Historic Evidence of Jesus From Non-Christian Sources

by Curtis Parker

If you ask people about the existence of Christ, they usually fall into one of three camps: the faithful who sing his praises, the atheists who consider him a mythological creation, and the skeptics who fall somewhere in between.

But regardless of your personal feelings about Jesus of Nazareth, little doubt remains that he was a real person who once walked this earth. A wealth of historical accounts exist to assure us of this—with many of the most compelling coming from nonbelievers themselves.

Hostile Witnesses is an examination of the best historical evidence for Christ’s existence, particularly the evidence provided to us by the most unexpected of sources. From the pagans of ancient Rome, to Jewish and Muslim writings, these accounts create a solid fact-based history of Jesus’s life on earth…one that believers and nonbelievers will find equally compelling.

Whether you are established in your beliefs or just now embarking on a journey of faith, join author Curtis Grant Parker as he reveals the truth about the historical Jesus—and discover the opportunity to make your own decisions about his status as Lord God and Savior.

198 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 26, 2015

Reviews

[Catherine A. Bridges · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useful Historical Tidbits Buried in Useless Prose

I like the parts where he quotes documents within the first 200 years, and interesting discussion about carbon dating. The rest of the book is useless, e.g. the author's autobiography, irrelevant matter (stuff after AD 400), him repeating almost verbatim what he just quoted. Good to jot down the few relevant excerpts and then return it to the library...

[Tee Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Step by Step

The author makes the case for Jesus having lived using a credible mix of contemporary sources, neutral, hostile and friendly. But what does it mean, then, to a skeptical reader? You'll have to draw your own conclusions.

[Scott Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parts of this were okay, but the writer really seems to not understand a lot of history very well, and he constantly overstates his case, rather than letting each element be part of a whole. I wasn't very impressed.

That being said, the first few chapters do a good job of listing the early non-Christian references to Jesus and to Christianity, and are worth reading if you're not familiar with the subject. Most of the later chapters could be skipped, although the bibliographies provided at the end of the chapters could be a useful tool.

[Margie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful

This was helpful to me as I did not grow up in the church and did not have knowledge of these other non-Biblical references to Jesus. I also agree with him that the King James version is the only version to do justice to some verses.