testimonium flavianum forgery


9.182). An overwhelming majority of scholars believe that this passage is authentic, but there is another mention of Jesus in Antiquities known as the Testimonium Flavianum that many are divided on: 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. On the other hand, many historical figures have no primary sources that report them.
Or is it more likely that the core statement, (1) which we first isolated simply by extracting what would strike anyone at first glance as Christian affirmations, and (2) which we then found to be written in typically Josephan vocabulary that diverged from the usage of the NT, was in fact written by Josephus himself? The gospels create the impression that the entire populace was vitally interested in Jesus and what happened to him. His readers would know exactly who Jesus called the Christ was. The passage is not quoted anywhere until we get to the fourth century. But it was an attractive hypothesis. months[7]="July"; 9. (pp. Josephus himself, who lived so close to the time of Jesus, would never have written such a thing. 2. This problem will be considered in more detail in relation to the 20.9.1 passage.

The phrase "for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure" refers to the phrase "if it be lawful to call him a man" and, in the present text, explains why Jesus is considered to be more than a man. Quantitative Content Analysis of Jesus Texts         Analysis of thematic content of Jesus texts; part of the above study. What Christian would refer to Jesus' miracles in such a way that a reader could understand them as merely 'surprising works'? As indicated in the first part of this note, the same cannot be said of the NT."

3. months[2]="Feb."; ", Origen, Against Celsus 2.13. It also contains the assumption that the addition came from a Christian scribe, which might actually be controverted if the considerations about the style of reference and its potential skepticism are taken just as seriously as the considerations against a solitary, unexplained reference here from the historian Josephus. var lmonth=months[time.getMonth() + 1]; "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. This opinion held that the paragraph was formed by a mixture of writers. Scholars such as Steve Mason think that the reference derives from Origen misreading Josephus. Van Voorst observes: I also note that no extracanonical works in the second century use the phrase "Jesus who is called Christ," even though this would be the period when an interpolation would have to have been made. Origen, in his own confrontation with Celsus, did not shy away from criticizing Josephus for attributing the fall of Jerusalem to God's punishment on the Jews for the death of James, rather than for the death of Jesus (see below). The crucifixion of Jesus would not have been considered a Jewish calamity. 18.3.3 and here in 20.9.1 seems to do little to suggest the authenticity of the phrase. The Testimonium Flavianum (meaning the testimony of Flavius Josephus) is a passage found in Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 (or see Greek text) of the Antiquities which describes the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of the Roman authorities. It is not even certain that Agapius is quoting straight from a manuscript; and if he is, it is certainly very late and corrupted, and thus practically worthless. EARTH HARVEST is an online bible based book of apologetics. Section 4 deals with a summary point chronological timeline for censure of the TF (as a forgery) of "Modern Authors" from 1980 to the present. It is highly unlikely that Josephus, a believing Jew working under Romans, would have written, "He was the Messiah." "; "Josephus records the tradition that this James was of so great sanctity and reputation among the people that the downfall of Jerusalem was believed to be on account of his death.". The Jewish leaders bring accusations against Jesus, and Pilate arranges the crucifixion. Feldman noted that 4 scholars regarded the Testimonium Flavianum as entirely genuine, 6 as mostly genuine, 20 accept it with some interpolations, 9 with several interpolations, and 13 regard it as being totally an interpolation. Meier writes: "According to Hegesippus, the scribes and Pharisees cast James down from the battlement of the Jerusalem temple. months[5]="May"; Paul, a genuine disciple of Jesus, says that he regarded this James as a brother of the Lord, not so much on account of their relationship by blood, or of their being brought up together, as because of his virtue and doctrine. "James was so admirable a man and so celebrated among all for his justice, that the more sensible even of the Jews were of the opinion that this was the cause of the siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them immediately after his martyrdom for no other reason than their daring act against him. 93-94), It is sometimes argued that it is unlikely that the, James Charlesworth writes: "Josephus must have made a reference to Jesus because the passage, divested of the obvious Christian words, is not Christian and is composed in such a way that it is very difficult to attribute to a Christian. I will now analyze the arguments concerning the authenticity of the phrase "the brother of Jesus who is called the Christ.". ", Doherty argues: "To judge by the Christians' own record in the Gospels and even some of the epistles, 'the tribe of Christians' toward the end of the first century was still a strongly apocalyptic one. The opinion was controversial.

Mason notes, "If Josephus said it, it was a term of high praise." This would make him suspect of treason, but nowhere else is there an indication that he was a Christian. Proverbs 18:17 may well have been commenting on arguments concerning the Testimonium: "The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him." (p. 207), The fact that Josephus was prone to digressions does allow that Josephus could have inserted this passage here simply because it relates to Pilate. Concerning whether the passage leaves the impression that Jesus deserved a guilty verdict, Earl Doherty reaches the opposite conclusion: "The words and their context give the impression that the crucifixion was due to 'an accusation made by men of the highest standing among us,' that this was the execution of a wise and loved man, a teacher of truth who was obviously innocent. While discussing the period in which the Jews of Judaea were governed by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, Josephus included the following account: - Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3 §63 (Based on the translation of Louis H. Feldman, The Loeb Classical Library.). In Wars, Book 7 Section 533 we read about Judas again - "... Eleazar, a potent man, and the commander of these Sicarii, that had seized upon it. Wells notes: "Schurer, Zahn, von Dobschutz and Juster are among the scholars who have regarded the words 'the brother of Jesus, him called Christ' as interpolated." A Christian interpolator would naturally need not need to supply such detailed back-references. Indeed, he never would have called him "Christ" and yet remained a Jew his whole life. Section 3 deals with a summary point chronological timeline for censure of the TF (as a forgery) from the late 18th century until 1937, the commencement of Feldman's 1980 survey. It suffers, however, from attempting to make an argument about the style of someone who is otherwise unknown, who left no other writing, simply from the scribe being a Christian. After reading the study of Ken Olson that shows the vocabulary of the Testimonium to be not Josephan but rather Eusebian, I am inclined to regard both references as spurious.

Eusebius is considered by historians to be the most likely candidate for the creator of this passage and, indeed, he is well-known as believing that a little white lie was justified if it furthered the cause of Christianity. The present author was once firmly convinced that both references in the Antiquities were authentic. The argument is made that much of the vocabulary and style matches that of Josephus. 209-210). Josephus was an Orthodox Jew and remained one his entire life. google_ad_width = 728; There is at least one other occasion in which Josephus identies an individual by identifying his brother and in which this brother is not mentioned earlier in the text. Arguments that the Testimonium is Authentic It is impossible that this passage is entirely genuine.

Moreover, if the reference were originally a marginal aside as suggested by Wells, then there would be no thought of purposely altering the passage; a later scribe would have included the marginal gloss under the assumption that it belonged in the text. Josephus reserves this phrase elsewhere for such worthies as King Solomon (Ant.

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