History · Majority view
Lucian of Samosata on Early Christians
The second-century satirist Lucian describes Christians as devoted to a crucified teacher, generous to one another, and credulous, offering a hostile outsider's picture of their beliefs and community life.
The evidence explained
In The Passing of Peregrinus (c. AD 165-175), Lucian mocks a charlatan who joins the Christians in Palestine, rises to leadership, and is jailed. Lucian describes Christians as worshiping 'that man who was crucified in Palestine', as living by the law-giver's teaching that they are all brothers, and as so eager to help imprisoned members that they bring food and gifts to the jail.
Because Lucian is contemptuous, the passage is useful precisely because it was not written to flatter. It shows that educated pagans knew of the movement, knew its devotion centered on a crucified figure, and noticed its mutual aid. It is not a source for Jesus himself; Lucian is writing a century and a half later and shows no interest in whether the claims are true.
Historians use Lucian alongside Pliny and Tacitus to map how Christianity looked from outside. Its limits are also clear: satire exaggerates, and Peregrinus's story is likely partly fictional.
What it does show
- • Outsiders in the later second century knew Christians revered a crucified founder.
- • Christian communities were noted for mutual support, even by critics.
- • Mockery of Christian credulity was already a pagan literary theme.
What it does not show
- • It is not independent evidence for events in Jesus's life.
- • It does not verify the Peregrinus story, which is probably embellished satire.
- • It does not demonstrate that Christian claims were true or false.
Primary sources and literature
- Lucian, The Passing of Peregrinus 11-13Primary text; available in the Loeb Lucian vol. 5.
- Robert Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (2nd ed., 2003)Standard study of pagan perceptions of Christians.
- Stephen Benko, Pagan Rome and the Early Christians (1984)Survey of pagan sources including Lucian.
Where scholars disagree
The main dispute is how much of Peregrinus's career is satirical invention, not whether Lucian knew of Christians.
For further study
Primary and secondary sources on both sides of this question. Reading the strongest opposing case is part of the work, not a concession.
The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach — Michael Licona
The most methodologically careful defense, explicit about historiographical method and the limits of the evidence.
The Resurrection of the Son of God — N. T. Wright
Eight hundred pages on what resurrection meant in the ancient world and why the early Christian claim is historically odd.
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses — Richard Bauckham
Argues the Gospels rest on named eyewitness testimony rather than anonymous community tradition.
How Jesus Became God — Bart Ehrman
The leading skeptical account of the resurrection claim's origin; engage this rather than a caricature.
Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews — Paula Fredriksen
A first-rate secular historian's reconstruction, valuable for testing apologetic claims against mainstream scholarship.