…who were the “historians” of the day?
Pertaining to the life of Jesus, the authors of the New Testament manuscripts were certainly included in the historians of the day (as you know). Christianity started with an event in history ~ the resurrection of Jesus. And following His resurrection there was a new movement. It was the ekklesia of Jesus ~ the body of believers that was eventually called the church. And following the historical events of Jesus’ life…including the things He said and did (and keep in mind he died in AD 33 at the latest)…people who were involved in these historical events later documented them for us. This is how we got the four Gospels and the Book of Acts and the Epistles. All of it happened in the first century.
All of ancient history was written and recorded after the events occurred. Things that ancient historical figures said and did were recorded after they said and did them. The Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus was written decades after the events that he wrote about actually occurred.
