Historical Jesus, Biblical Jesus

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Genuine question and please excuse my ignorance but how do we know a guy called Jesus was crucified by Pilate? I was under the impression that all the sources of historical information have problems attached that are enough to allow for doubt and the possibility that the mythicist position might be correct.

Biblical scholars have argued that certain historical facts can be teased out of the Gospels accounts themselves.  They maintain that if Jesus was entirely mythical, his story in the Gospels would be a lot cleaner -- i.e., it would not offer so many unusual specifics which don't really work within the overall narrative.  For instance, if Jesus was really the Messiah, would he have been crucified at all? 

In other words, such scholars don't really have a problem with the idea that an itinerant preacher came to Jerusalem, stirred up trouble, and was crucified for disturbing the peace.  Nor do they have a problem with him being one among a number of apocalyptic preachers during Roman occupation.  Those assertions are not among the extraordinary claims which would require extraordinary proof.

Thanks Alan, that makes sense. It's good to be learning stuff. 

What Alan has described to you is known as the "Criterion of Embarrassment" by historians. It's a very reasonable and logical inference.