Extra-Biblical Evidence for the Historical Reliability of the New Testament

    There was an article this morning on Truthbomb apologetics called "How Historians Examine the New Testament Documents"  I don't assume the world revolves around me, so I can't conclude that this person is reacting to what I wrote, or that people are just having similar thoughts at the same time, or reacting to the same other sources talking about the same topics.
   As Chad mentions through quotations on Truthbomb apologetics, historians approach the documents of the New Testament differently than the average skeptic or unbeliever. The whole discussion is over what the approach should be to all the extra-biblical evidence and sources that further corroborate and vindicate the historical reliability of the Bible. On his blog Chad gives an excellent list of non-Christian sources from within 100-150 years of Jesus's life. One of the books that I had mentioned in my blog post- The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell has great lists of sources like this, and in particular it has a list of the extra-biblical sources attesting to Jesus of Nazareth as a historical person.
    Most of us are not historians, so we are dealing more with the question of how to convey the Bible's historical veracity to unbelievers we encounter and engage with in discussions. As I mentioned before, I always tend to take more of a presuppositional approach, and I tend to start with what is evident from the Scriptures themselves. As you could see, I did not even mention the non-Christian or extra-biblical sources in my post on historicity at first (and that's okay actually). I just added the one mention this morning after I saw the above article (I added just that one sentence about the Josh McDowell book having some of those sources). I think it is okay to explain to people the way that historians analyze the Bible's narratives as historical documents- I have no problem with one doing that if one is in a discussion where that is warranted and needed. Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22, "I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some." We have to be flexible in our defense of the faith and bend a little to what it is needed. I have no problem switching into evidentialism mode in a discussion if that is what is really going to help someone.
   By all means everyone should check out the excellent list of non-Christian sources linked above.