Jesus Christ Existed As A Historical Figure

After doing some searching, I was unable to find a debate on this topic so I thought that I'd start the first. My main arguments for the existence of Jesus as a historical figure will be based on the testimony of Josephus and Tacitus, as I don't have room to discuss other sources and the NT's authorship. Non Biblical Source 1: Josephus The works of the first-century historian Josephus have been held in high regard by Christians throughout history. Josephus was a first century Jewish historian who survived and recorded the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In his book "Antiquities of the Jews" Josephus makes reference not only to Jesus, but confirms the existence of over 20 people in the New Testament. The following verse is the most commonly known reference to Jesus from Josephus, and is the most commonly debated for its authenticity. "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day." (Josephus, Antiquities 18:63-64) The Josephean account contains obvious interpolations, such as referring to Jesus as "the Christ", while this is nothing that a Jew would say. Despite having minor interpolations, the majority of the Josephean passage is consistent with the writing style of Josephus, for example: Referring to someone as a wise man is quite common for Josephus, considering he also refers to King Solomon (Testimonium Flavium 8.53) and Daniel (Ibid., 10.237) as Wisemen. Introducing someone by saying "about this time" is also common throughout the writings of Josephus. (See: Antiquities 17.19,18.39,65,80,and 19.278) Simply referring to Jesus as "Jesus" rather than "Jesus Christ" also testifies to the authenticity of the passage, considering nearly all early Christian references to Jesus refer to Jesus as "Jesus Christ" or "Christ Jesus". Though it is likely that Josephus referred to Jesus as a wise man, the following statement "if it be lawful to call him a man" is an obvious interpolation. It's hard to interpret what Josephus means by " a doer of wonderful works" when attributing them to Jesus, many would like to interpret Josephus to mean miraculous acts, but it can't be known for sure, some translations even make it possible to interpret the phrase negatively, stating "Jesus was a doer of controversial deeds" . The term "doer" is uncommon to the writings of Josephus, however, in books 17-19 of Antiquities, Josephus uses the term "receive the truth with pleasure" more than in all his other works. The Gospel's never claim that Jesus drew over any gentiles, placing it in contradiction with the claim of Josephus', making the statement more likely to be authentic and less likely to be a Christian forgery; as that section would've been removed. The reference to Pilate is in harmony with the Gospel's narrative of the death of Jesus, though does not testify to Christian interpolation as the reference of "principal men" is common in the writings of Josephus (See: Antiquities 1.3, 10.2.2, 12.6.2, 14.10.1, 15.3.2, and 15.10.5), while a Christian forger would most likely push the blame for the death of Jesus on the Jewish Sanhedrin. The phrase "those that loved him at the first did not forsake him" is unique to the characteristic style of Josephus , although it is disturbed by the interpolated words "for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him". Lastly Josephus correctly claims that "the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day", and in addition to being historically correct, the phrase "tribe of" is typical of Josephus. Josephus makes a second reference to Jesus when speaking about James, the brother of Jesus, this time Josephus refers to Jesus as the "so-called Christ", which is consistent with the religious beliefs of Josephus (Judaism). Also, the following passage is found in every single manuscript of Antiquities without any variation. "But the younger Ananus who, as we said, received the high priesthood, was of a bold disposition and exceptionally daring; he followed the party of the Sadducees, who are severe in judgment above all the Jews, as we have already shown. As therefore Ananus was of such a disposition, he thought he had now a good opportunity, as Festus was now dead, and Albinus was still on the road; so he assembled a council of judges, and brought before it the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some others, and having accused them as law-breakers, he delivered them over to be stoned." (Antiquities 20.1.9) Non-Biblical Source 2: Tacitus Tacitus was a historian and senator of the Roman Empire, his source is most likely a government official. Two of Tacitus' major works have survived in fragments, which are titled "Annals", and "Histories". Tacitus is regarded as perhaps the greatest historian and one of the greatest prose stylists to write in Latin. "Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians [or Chrestians; see below] by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired." (Annals, 15.44) Four main factors attest to the authenticity of the passage: 1)It appears in every manuscript, meaning there is no evidence that this passage was ever altered. 2)It appears in perfect Tacitean style, meaning that it wasn't edited by anyone else. 3)It has a strong anti-Christian tone, one which no Christian forger would write. 4)Tacitus doesn't draw his information from Christians, as evidenced by the anti-Christian tone. Tacitus claims to source his information from other sources.