Evidence · Case 01 · Historical Jesus
Mara bar Serapion
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Mara bar Serapion was a Syrian writer who, in a letter to his son, mentioned a wise king of the Jews who was executed, after which his people suffered. He does not name Jesus. The date of the letter is debated, with proposals ranging from soon after 73 AD to the second or third century.
Sources
Objections & responses
- The letter never names Jesus, and the wise king could be someone else. Isn’t calling this evidence for Jesus speculative?
Agreed, and this exhibit says so: Jesus is not named and the date is uncertain. The identification rests on the letter linking the wise king’s execution with the Jews’ subsequent loss of their kingdom, which fits the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 better than any other candidate. But fits is not proves. Mara bar Serapion is offered as a possible additional voice, explicitly not one to lean on, and nothing else here depends on it.