Jim Walker:

In Jesus scholarship there are no eyewitness accounts. In fact, hearsay is the only kind of evidence they have to offer us. Although scholars rarely use the word hearsay, they do admit that they have no eyewitness evidence, in fact no contemporary evidence at all. To Ehrman""s credit, he openly admits there is a lack of evidence. He writes: "No Greek or Roman author from the first century mentions Jesus." [p.43]

"I need to stress that we do not have a single reference to Jesus by anyone---pagan, Jew, or Christian---who was a contemporary eyewitness, who recorded things he said and did." [p.46]

"The Gospels of the New Testament are not eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus. Neither are the Gospels outside the New Testament, of which we have over forty, either in whole or in fragments. In fact, we do not have any eyewitness report of any kind about Jesus, written in his own day." [p.49]

"And how many eyewitness reports of Pilate do we have from his day? None. Not a single one. The same is true of Josephus." [p.49]