This archive gathers the sources, archaeological findings, research papers, and historical records shared throughout the site.
It’s here to offer clarity—to honour the evidence behind every claim—and to create a space where curiosity is met with credibility.
Inside, you’ll find ancient manuscripts, museum reports, academic studies, and recovered artefacts—a living record of the journey we walk through history, faith, and reason.
Each entry has been chosen carefully. Not just for what it contains, but for what it represents: the pursuit of truth, and the importance of showing our working.
Because beneath every story is a structure, and this is that foundation—laid in stone, ink, and human witness.
People
From ancient scribes to modern scholars, prophets to emperors—this section gathers the lives behind the evidence. Each name carries a story that shaped what we know and how we remember.
Herod Archelaus
Archelaus ruled Judea, Samaria, and Idumea from 4 BCE to 6 CE after the death of his father, Herod the Great. Historical accounts, particularly by the Jewish historian Josephus, describe his reign as unstable and brutal—including the massacre of 3,000 pilgrims during Passover. His rule provoked widespread unrest, leading Emperor Augustus to depose and exile him to Gaul.
- H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, p. 246: hup.harvard.edu.
Nero Claudius Caesar
Nero Claudius Caesar ruled as emperor of Rome from 54 to 68 AD. His reign is remembered for political chaos, brutal persecution of Christians, and the devastating Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, after which he shifted blame onto the Christian community to divert suspicion from himself. His rule ended in rebellion and suicide, leaving behind a legacy of cruelty and corruption.
- Francesca Bologna, “Who Was Nero?,” British Museum Blog, April 22, 2021: britishmuseum.org.
Tacitus
A Roman senator and historian writing in the early second century, Tacitus is best known for his Annals and Histories, which chronicle the reigns of the Roman emperors. In Annals 15.44, he makes a striking reference to “Christus,” who suffered under Pontius Pilate, and to the early Christian movement in Rome. Though brief, his account offers a rare, hostile, non-Christian testimony to both the existence of Jesus and the persecution of His followers under Nero—written not as theology, but as state record.
- Tacitus. Annals. Translated by Michael Grant. London: Penguin Classics, 1996: penguinrandomhouse.com.
- Tacitus. Annals. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. Accessed April 30, 2025: mit.edu.
Origin Date: 115–117AD
Research & Studies
Here lie the investigations—the academic papers, archaeological reports, and peer-reviewed findings that test, question, and often confirm the foundations of faith and fact.
1 Clement
Written in the late first century, 1 Clement is a letter from the church in Rome to the church in Corinth, traditionally attributed to Clement, a leading figure in the early Roman church. It offers one of the earliest post-New Testament references to the deaths of the apostles Peter and Paul, portraying them not only as martyrs, but as models of faithfulness under persecution. The letter reflects a church still shaped by living memory, appealing to unity, humility, and endurance in a time when the apostolic witness was still recent—but already costly.
- Clement of Rome. 1 Clement. Translated by J. B. Lightfoot. Accessed April 30, 2025: earlychristianwritings.com.
Origin Date: 95AD
Antiquities of the Jews (20.9.1)
The first-century Jewish historian Josephus records the execution of “James, the brother of Jesus who was called Christ.” According to Josephus, James was sentenced to death by stoning during a gap in Roman leadership, when the high priest Ananus took advantage of the moment to act without Roman consent. The account is one of the earliest non-Christian references to both Jesus and His followers, written by a man who did not believe in either.
- Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities of the Jews. Translated by William Whiston, book 20, chapter 9, section 1, Tufts University, Perseus Digital Library.
Origin Date: 93–94AD
The Apostolic Fathers
This two-volume collection brings together the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, including letters, homilies, and martyrdom accounts from the late first and early second centuries. Ehrman’s translation offers both scholarly clarity and historical context, preserving texts like 1 Clement, Ignatius, and The Shepherd of Hermas—voices that reflect a church still forming its identity in the generations after the apostles.
- Ehrman, Bart D., ed. and trans. The Apostolic Fathers. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library 24. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003: harvard.edu.
The Fine-Tuning of the Universe
The fine-tuning argument explores how the fundamental constants and laws of physics appear precisely calibrated to allow life, structure, and order to exist in the universe. While some interpret this as evidence for design, others propose multiverse theories or unknown natural explanations. These sources reflect both the scientific and philosophical depth of the debate—one grounded in cosmological data, the other in centuries of metaphysical thought.
- Barrow, John D., and Yann Benétreau-Dupin. “Fine-Tuning.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edited by Edward N. Zalta. Fall 2021 Edition: plato.stanford.edu.
- Barnes, Luke A., and Geraint F. Lewis. “Cosmological Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse Hypothesis.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.07783 (2021): harvard.edu.
The Senate of Imperial Rome
This academic study by Richard J.A. Talbert explores the structure, function, and political weight of the Roman Senate during the imperial era. Roman senators—members of the highest aristocratic class—were central to decision-making in matters of law, religion, and imperial governance. If Pontius Pilate consulted Rome’s political elites before authorising Jesus’ execution, the Senate would have been part of the institutional machinery that upheld Rome’s religious order and condemned the claims of early Christians. Their allegiance was to Caesar, not Christ—and their influence helped shape the climate of suspicion in which the gospel first spread.
- Talbert, Richard J. A. The Senate of Imperial Rome. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984: princeton.edu.
