Those looking for reasons to question the Scriptures will find them.

Thank you Richard. At the moment I really could not think of any valid arguments such as the ones you presented and will lock them away into my memory for the future. Concerning your above quote, that is what I told him in a round about way on another point that he made, the infamous "We can't trust the Bible because we have no way of telling if the writers were truthful". My reply was "Yes, I know, I have serious doubts whether or not Abraham Lincoln ever lived because all we have is written history".

I have found a pretty good resource on the internet that lists pagan and Jewish writings concerning Jesus and/or the resurrection.

Finally, we must admit that our faith does not rest on the standards of veracity established by skeptics,

If we are dealing with the modern "skeptics" we will find they do not accept anything attributed to Josephus as reliable. They claim it has been tainted by church historians, re-writing it in a favorable light.

There are a couple new collections in Pre-Pub that will be of importance to studies of Josephus:
Brill Josephus and History Collection (2 Vols.) http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/6833
Brill Josephus and the Bible Collection (4 Vols.) http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/6878

The writings of Josephus are not part of any canon that I am aware and do have apparent historical inaccuracies. I ran across one such error this week documented in the Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century BC  (only available in the Portfolio Edition) where Josephus later errs concerning Darius II and Darius III.

 So no matter how many "unbiased facts" are lined up, some people just refuse to believe.

I found a few resource. Mind you, this is a difficult question to research in a large Logos library, it's one that I think Logos should think about as an example of how to pore over thousands of resources trying to find a unique relationship between common words like historical - Jesus - resurrection etc.!

Also, I will say - the Bible is clear that Jesus revealed his risen self to his disciples (Acts 13-14 for one).  He did that out of God's great respect for our free choice and the role of faith and grace in our lives.  It's the same reasoning that God could force us to believe if he chose to, but he wont'. So given that God's gift of faith is what permits us to believe, you can't ever expect to prove anything about Jesus Christ to someone (even though we believe it to be true).

That said - here are a couple of references that speak to your question. Hope it helps!

Flavius Josephus

Next to the Bible in importance, the works of Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, AD 37–95, are the most authoritative ancient source for illuminating the people, places, and events recorded in the Old and New Testaments. He was born in Jerusalem only four years after Jesus’ crucifixion.

In his book Jewish Antiquities, 18:63, Josephus records: “About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was the achiever of extraordinary deeds and was a teacher of those who accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When he was indicted by the principal men among us and Pilate condemned him to be crucified, those who had come to love him originally did not cease to do so; for he appeared to them on the third day restored to life, as the prophets of the Deity had foretold these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.”

Eighteen non-Christian sources can be traced back to the first century

Dr. G.R. Habermas has discovered that within 110 years of Christ’s crucifixion, eighteen non-Christian sources mention more than “one hundred facts, beliefs, and teachings from the life of Christ and early Christendom. These items, I might add, mention almost every major detail of Jesus’ life, including miracles, the Resurrection, and His claims to deity.”

Mark Water, Hard Questions About the Bible Made Easy, The Made Easy Series, 10-11 (Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishers Ltd, 2000).

A Jewish archaeologist

Nelson Gluek has said, “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible.”

Mark Water, Hard Questions About the Bible Made Easy, The Made Easy Series, 10 (Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishers Ltd, 2000).

For those who still think there should have been even more written about Jesus, New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg offers four reasons why that’s not a reasonable expectation: 1) the humble beginnings of Christianity; 2) the remote location of Palestine on the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire; 3) the small percentage of the works of ancient Graeco-Roman historians that have survived (this could be due to loss, decay, destruction, or all of the above); and 4) the lack of attention paid by surviving historical documents to Jewish figures in general.36

Nevertheless, some skeptics still think there should be testimony from some of the 500 people who allegedly saw the risen Christ. Skeptic Farrell Till is one of them. During a debate on the Resurrection that I (Norm) had with him in 1994, Till demanded, “Trot out one of those 500 witnesses or give us something that they wrote, and we will accept that as reliable proof or evidence.”37

This is an unreasonable expectation, for a number of reasons. First, as we have already pointed out, first-century Palestine was an oral culture. Most people were illiterate and remembered and passed on information orally.

Second, how many of those predominately illiterate eyewitnesses would have written something even if they could write? Even today, with a much higher literacy rate and all the conveniences of modern writing and research tools, how many people do you know who have written a book or even an article on any subject? How many do you know who have written a book or article on a contemporary historical event, even a significant event like 9/11? Probably not many, and certainly fewer than one out of 500. (Has Farrell Till ever written an article on a major historical event he witnessed?)

Third, even if some of those 500 average people did write down what they saw, why would skeptics expect their testimony to survive for 2,000 years? The New Testament survives intact because of the thousands of manuscripts copied by scribes for a growing church over the centuries. Historical works from the major ancient historians such as Josephus, Tacitus, and Pliny survive on just a handful of copies, and those copies are hundreds of years from the originals. Why do the skeptics think anything is going to be written, much less survive, from an ancient group of illiterate Galilean peasants?38

Finally, we do know the names of many of the 500, and their testimony is written down in the New Testament. They include Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, and James—plus nine who are named elsewhere as apostles (Matthew 10 and Acts 1).

So we shouldn’t expect more testimony than what we have about Jesus. And what we do have is more than enough to establish historicity.

Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, 247-48 (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2004).

However, you might find this broadcast entitled, Corroborating Evidence, from the WHI to be of interest ...

Thanks JRS. I will be listening to this tomorrow. I have to help with the children at VBS tonight.

I don't have anyhting to add, but wonder if someone would like to contribute a Reading List on the resources mentioned? The title might be: Jesus: Extra-Biblical Evidence or something like that.

Edit: I forgot. How about Gary Habermas: The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, available in Logos?

http://www.logos.com/ebooks/details/hstjesus

I haven't used it in awhile so can't recall the evidence he cites for the crucifixion and resurrection.