h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

i am entirely new to this site and only joined to post this...i have been trying to look up the rules for citations but cant find any.

however in the whole section Jesus of Nazareth, you have posted no citations at all, even after claiming

"One should be in no doubt that a man called Jesus of Nazareth existed; over 80 ancient texts attest to his existence. Few serious historians would question that Jesus of Nazareth actually lived, or that he was a religious leader and the founder of Christianity."

is there a reason for the lack of citation?

can you not back up these claims?

We don't generally provide citations here on h2g2. But I agree - this is extremely questionable. I believe that there is only one reference to Jesus in contemporary works outside of the Bible, by an author called Josephus.

Josephus was born in 37 AD and wrote his history around 90 AD. There are two references to Jesus in his surviving writings. One of these references has certainly been altered during subsequent copying, the other may be unaltered.

While these references are hardly contemporary, they are probably the earliest references to Jesus outside the New Testament.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_on_Jesus#Testimonium_Flavianum

Zube

Didn't know h2g2 existed - until, only this afternoon, someone suggested it as a more reliable/accurate alternative to Wikipedia.

However, h2gs's lack of citations seriously diminishes its credibility, IMO. Especially regarding the insistence in this article that JC was a historical character. It's not nearly so cut and dried as ... whoever(?) ... attempts to insist. What are the eighty-odd historical references? Utter wallop of cod. Even the one in Josephus has been proved beyond reasonable doubt to be a forged addition made centuries later.

What's the process for making changes to an article? Any help/advice welcome!

If there is a change that is straightforward and just requires a few lines or a paragraph, you just go to Feedback (left margin) and then pick Editorial. You start a conversation there reporting the problem. But if it is a major rewrite, it is a more elaborate process.

Appreciate the directions, gnomon. Further discussion can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F47997?thread=6842783&post=84377044#p84377044