Josephus on Jesus

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A page from a 1466 copy of Antiquities of the Jews, the only Josephus work which includes references to Jesus.

The writings of 1st century Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus on Jesus are important non-Christian historical documents that could, if genuine, shed light on the origins of Christianity.[1][2] Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, written around 93–94 AD, includes two references to Jesus in Books 18 and 20 and a reference to John the Baptist in Book 18.[1][3] These references found in Antiquities have no parallel texts in the other work by Josephus such as The Jewish War.

In Book 20, Chapter 9, 1 of the Antiquities Josephus refers to the death of "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James".[4][5] Some authors who think this passage is authentic also believe the James referred to is most likely James the first bishop of Jerusalem who is also called James the Just in Christian literature[5][6] The majority of scholars consider both the reference to "the brother of Jesus called Christ" and the entire passage that includes it as authentic.[7][1][2][8] Scholars generally consider this passage to have the highest level of authenticity among the references of Josephus to Christianity.[1]

In Book 18, Chapter 5, 2 of the Antiquities Josephus refers to the imprisonment (and death) of John the Baptist by order of Herod Antipas and states that the Jews of that time attributed Herod's defeat (historically established as 36 AD) by Aretas IV of Nabatea to Herod's unjust execution of John.[9][10][11] Almost all modern scholars consider this Josephus passage about John to be authentic in its entirety.[9][12] Given that the death of John also appears in the Christian gospels, this passage is considered an important connection between the events Josephus recorded, the chronology of the gospels and the dates for the Ministry of Jesus.[9]

In Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 of the Antiquities Josephus refers to the execution of Jesus by Pontius Pilate.[13][1] This passage is generally called the Testimonium Flavianum. It is the most discussed passage in all of Josephus' writings and perhaps in all ancient literature.[1] Scholars have differing views on the authenticity of the Testimonium. The general scholarly view is that while the Testimonium Flavianum is most likely not authentic in its entirety, it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus with a reference to the execution of Jesus by Pilate which was then subject to interpolation.[13][14][15][16] A number of scholars suggest a relationship between the Testimonium and the reference to James the brother of Jesus, viewing the Testimonium as the initial reference to Jesus, which is then referred to again in the passage on James in Book 20.[1][2][17]

Contents

[edit] James the brother of Jesus

Icon of James, the first bishop of Jerusalem
“ And now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood, and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was also himself called Ananus... Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.[18] ”

In the Antiquities of the Jews (Book 20, Chapter 9, 1) Josephus refers to the stoning of "James the brother of Jesus" by order of Ananus ben Ananus, a Herodian-era High Priest who died c. 68 AD.[4][5] The James referred to in this passage is most likely James the first bishop of Jerusalem who is also called James the Just in Christian literature, and to whom the Epistle of James has been attributed.[5][6][19] The translations of Josephus' writing into other languages have at times included passages that are not found in the Greek texts, raising the possibility of interpolation, but this passage on James is found in all manuscripts, including the Greek texts.[5]

The context of the passage is the period following the death of Porcius Festus, and the journey to Alexandria by Lucceius Albinus, the new Roman Procurator of Judea, who held that position from 62 AD to 64 AD.[5] Because the Albinus' journey to Alexandria had to have concluded no later than the summer of 62 AD, the date of james' death can be assigned with some certainty to around that year.[5][20][4] The 2nd century chronicler Hegesippus also left an account of the death of James, and while the details he provides diverge from those of Josephus, the two accounts share similar elements.[21][8][20]

Modern scholarship overwhelmingly views the entire passage, including its reference to "the brother of Jesus called Christ", as authentic and has rejected its being the result of later interpolation.[7][22][1][2] Moreover, in comparison with Hegesippus' account of James' death, most scholars consider Josephus' to be the more historically reliable.[21] However, a few scholars still question the authenticity of the reference, based on various arguments, but primarily based on the observation that various details in The Jewish War differ from it.[23][24][25]

[edit] John the Baptist

The Baptist scolds Herod. Fresco by Masolino, 1435
“ Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man... Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion... Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death.[26] ”

In the Antiquities of the Jews (Book 18, Chapter 5, 2) Josephus refers to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist by order of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and Perea.[9][10] The context of this reference is the 36 AD defeat of Herod Antipas in his conflict with Aretas IV of Nabatea, which the Jews of the time attributed to misfortune brought about by Herod's unjust execution of John.[11][27][28]

Almost all modern scholars consider this passage to be authentic in its entirety, although a small number of authors have questioned it.[9][29][12] Because the death of John also appears prominently in the Christian gospels, this passage is considered an important connection between the events Josephus recorded, the chronology of the gospels and the dates for the Ministry of Jesus.[9] A few scholars have questioned the authenticity of the passage, contending that the absence of Christian tampering or interpolation does not itself prove authenticity.[30][31] While this passage is the only reference to John the Baptist outside the New Testament, it is widely seen by most scholars as confirming the historicity of the baptisms that John performed.[32][33][34]

While both the gospels and Josephus refer to Herod Antipas killing John the Baptist, they differ on the details and the motive. While the gospels present this as a consequence of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias in defiance of Jewish law (as in Matthew 14:4, Mark 6:18) Josephus refers to it as a pre-emptive measure by Herod to quell a possible uprising.[35][36][37][11]

While Josephus identifies the location of the imprisonment of John as Machaerus, southeast of the mouth of the Jordan river, the gospels mention no location for the place where John was imprisoned.[38] However, according to other historical accounts Machaerus was rebuilt by Herod the Great around 30 AD and then passed to Herod Antipas.[38][39][40] The 36 AD date of the conflict with Aretas IV mentioned by Josephus is, however, consistent (and shortly after) the approximate date of the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias estimated by other historical methods.[39][41][10]

[edit] Testimonium Flavianum

A 1631 Testimonium page with commentary
Main article: Authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum
“ 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 amongst 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.[42] ”

The Testimonium Flavianum (meaning the testimony of Flavius [Josephus]) is the name given to the passage found in Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 of the Antiquities in which Josephus describes the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of the Roman authorities.[43][13] The Testimonium is likely the most discussed passage in Josephus and perhaps in all ancient literature.[1]

The earliest secure reference to this passage is found in the writings of the fourth-century Christian apologist and historian Eusebius, who used Josephus' works extensively as a source for his own Historia Ecclesiastica. Writing in about 324, Eusebius quotes the passage [44] in essentially the same form as that preserved in extant manuscripts. It has therefore been suggested that part or all of the passage may have been Eusebius' own invention, in order to provide an outside Jewish authority for the life of Christ.[45][46] However, it is also possible that others, including the third-century patristic writer Origen also knew of the passage. Although Origen makes no direct reference to the Testimonium, the way in which he writes about the passage involving James (see above) suggests he may have been familiar with this passage as well.[47] While this does not furnish direct evidence, it has been used by a number of scholars to argue that the passage is not the product of a Eusebian interpolation.

Of the three passages found in Josephus' Antiquities, this passage, if authentic, would offer the most direct support for the crucifixion of Jesus. The general scholarly view is that while the Testimonium Flavianum is most likely not authentic in its entirety, it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus with a reference to the execution of Jesus by Pilate which was then subject to interpolation.[13][14][15][16] Among other things, the authenticity of this passage would help make sense of the later reference in Josephus Antiquities of the Jews Book 20, Chapter 9, 1 where Josephus refers to the stoning of "James the brother of Jesus". A number of scholars argue that the reference to Jesus in this later passage as "the aforementioned Christ" relates to the earlier reference in the Testimonium.[1][2][17]

[edit] Slavonic Josephus

The three references found in Book 18 and Book 20 of the Antiquities do not appear in any other versions of Josephus' The Jewish War except for a Slavonic version of the Testimonium Flavomium (at times called Testimonium Slavonium) which surfaced in the west at the beginning of the 20th century, after its discovery in Russia at the end of the 19th century.[48][49]

A 1640 edition of the Works of Josephus

The existence of the documents that led to the discovery of the Slavonic Josephus was first brought to light by A. N. Popov in Russia in 1866.[49] In 1879 I. Sreznevski pointed out that the language used was not Bulgarian or Serbian, but comparable to the Russian chronicles.[50] At about the same time as Sreznevski, the subject was also studied by E. Barsov and by the end of the 19th century knowledge of the existence of the documents was established in the west via its listing by Niese and Destinon in 1894.[49] The Estonian scholar Alexandeer Berendts published a German translation in 1906 and proposed the theory that the Slavonic version had been derived from the original Aramaic of Josephus.[49] However, Paul L. Maier states that the Slavonic Josephus "includes so many sensationalized accretions" that most modern scholars consider it as a highly colored translation and paraphrase, and do not consider it to be true to the original Aramaic.[51]

The Slavonic Josephus was defended in 1926 as authentic by Robert Eisler and was later supported by George Williamson.[52] Robert Van Voorst states that apart from Eisler's controversial book and Williamson statements, "no strong defense has been made" for the authenticity of the Slavonic Josephus.[52] Henry Leeming states that Eisler at times used insufficiently substantiated material which were then discredited. Leeming adds that Eisler's philological attempts to reverse translate from Old Russian to Greek were shown to be "extremely flimsy".[50] Van Voorst states that the contents of the passages in the Slavonic Josephus show that "they are Christian compositions and that they do not provide an authentic textual alternative to the main Testomonium Flavianum".[53]

Steven B. Bowman states that the consideration of the Slavonic Josephus should be removed from the scholarly discussions of the first century, for it only pertains to the Macedonian elements of the 10th and 11th centuries.[54] The Cambridge History of Judaism states that the Slavonic version includes statements which Josephus could have hardly written, and that recent scholarly opinion dismisses the Slavonic Josephus as less than authentic, but an 11th century creation as an idealogical struggle against the Khazars.[55] Van Voorst states that the Slavonic Josephus at times focuses on blaming Pilate and the Jews, to the point of suggesting that the Jews and not the Romans crucified Jesus.[52]

Zvi Baras states the question "is Josephus the author of the additions and modifications in the Slavonic version" has usually received a negative answer.[56] Craig A Evans states that although some scholars had in the past supported the Slavonic Josephus, "to my knowledge no one today believes that they contain anything of value for Jesus research".[57]

G. A. Wells has argued that the existence of Christian interpolations within the Slavonic version of the Jewish War prove that other works of Josephus also contain Christian interpolations.[58] In 1948 Solomon Zeitlin stated that "There is no passage in Josephus which mentions Jesus" and "The Slavonic Josephus which is a paraphrase of Josephus's Wars of the Jews, was composed for the purpose of giving a Christian version of Josephus in Greek. Hence we find in it many Christian interpolations."[59]

[edit] See also

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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Feldman & Hata 1987.
  2. ^ a b c d e Josephus & Maier 1995, p. 285.
  3. ^ Josephus & Maier 1995, p. 12.
  4. ^ a b c Harding 2003, p. 317.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Painter 2005, pp. 134-141.
  6. ^ a b Freedman, Myers & Beck 2000, p. 670.
  7. ^ a b Van Voorst 2000, p. 83.
  8. ^ a b Bauckham 1999, pp. 199-203.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Evans 2006, pp. 55-58.
  10. ^ a b c Bromiley 1982, pp. 694-695.
  11. ^ a b c White 2010, p. 48.
  12. ^ a b Feldman 1992.
  13. ^ a b c d Schreckenberg & Schubert 1992, pp. 38-41.
  14. ^ a b Kostenberger, Kellum & Quarles 2009, pp. 104-108.
  15. ^ a b Evans 2001, p. 316.
  16. ^ a b Wansbrough 2004, p. 185.
  17. ^ a b Vermes & 2011 33-44.
  18. ^ Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews Book 20, Chapter 9, 1 Text at Wikisource
  19. ^ Neale 2003, pp. 2-3.
  20. ^ a b Mitchell & Young 2006, p. 297.
  21. ^ a b Painter 2004, p. 126.
  22. ^ Richard Bauckham states that although a few scholars have questioned this passage, "the vast majority have considered it to be authentic" (Bauckham 1999, pp. 199-203).
  23. ^ Habermas 1996, pp. 33-37.
  24. ^ Houlden 2003, p. 660.
  25. ^ Wells 1986, p. 11.
  26. ^ Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews Book 18, 5, 2 Text at Wikisource
  27. ^ Dapaah 2005, p. 48.
  28. ^ Hoehner 1983, pp. 125-127.
  29. ^ Flavius Josephus, Whiston & Maier 1999, pp. 662-63.
  30. ^ Herrmann 1970.
  31. ^ Rothschild 2011, pp. 257-258.
  32. ^ Murphy 2003, p. 2003.
  33. ^ Jonas & Lopez 2010, pp. 95-96.
  34. ^ Chilton & Evans 1998, pp. 187-198.
  35. ^ Houlden 2003, pp. 508-509.
  36. ^ Meyers, Craven & Kraemer 2001, pp. 92-93.
  37. ^ Jensen 2010, pp. 42-43.
  38. ^ a b Freedman, Myers & Beck 2000, p. 842.
  39. ^ a b Gillman 2003, pp. 25-31.
  40. ^ Knoblet 2005, pp. 15-17.
  41. ^ Hoehner 1983, p. 131.
  42. ^ Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 Text at Wikisource
  43. ^ Flavius Josephus, Whiston & Maier 1999, p. 662.
  44. ^ McGiffert 2007.
  45. ^ Olson 1999.
  46. ^ Wallace-Hadrill 2011.
  47. ^ Origen writes, "It may be questioned whether the Jews thought Jesus a man," which appears to make reference to the language in the Testimonium. (Flavius Josephus, Whiston & Maier 1999, pp. 995-996)
  48. ^ Van Voorst 2000, p. 85.
  49. ^ a b c d Creed 1932.
  50. ^ a b Flavius Josephus et al. 2003, pp. 1-4.
  51. ^ Flavius Josephus, Whiston & Maier 1999, p. 11.
  52. ^ a b c Van Voorst 2000, p. 87.
  53. ^ Van Voorst 2000, pp. 87-88.
  54. ^ Bowman 1997, pp. 373-374.
  55. ^ Davies 2000, p. 918.
  56. ^ Baras 1987, p. 339.
  57. ^ Chilton & Evans 1998, p. 451.
  58. ^ Wells 1971, p. 192.
  59. ^ Zeitlin 1948.

[edit] Bibliography

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Bowman, Steven B. (1987). "Josephus in Byzantium". In Feldman, Louis H.; Hata, Gōhei. Josephus, Judaism and Christianity. BRILL. ISBN 9004085548. 
Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1982). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J. ISBN 0802837824. 
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Evans, Craig A. (2006). "Josephus on John the Baptist". In Levine, Amy-Jill. The Historical Jesus in Context. Princeton Univ Press. ISBN 9780691009926. 
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Feldman, Louis H.; Hata, Gōhei, eds. (1987). Josephus, Judaism and Christianity. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-08554-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=f3KwlJSQr4cC. Retrieved 13 February 2012. 
Flavius Josephus; Leeming, Henry; Osinkina, Lyubov V.; Leeming, Katherine (2003). Josephus' Jewish War and Its Slavonic Version. ISBN 9004114386. 
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Flavius Josephus; Maier, Paul L. (1 December 1995). Josephus, the essential works: a condensation of Jewish antiquities and The Jewish war. Kregel Academic. ISBN 978-0-8254-3260-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=c2Tu1Yp3n0EC. Retrieved 13 February 2012. 
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Kostenberger, Andreas J.; Kellum, L. Scott; Quarles, Charles L. (2009). The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament. ISBN 0805443657. 
McGiffert, Arthur Cushman (2007). "Paragraph 7 of "Chapter XI.—Testimonies in Regard to John the Baptist and Christ" from Book I of Eusebius' "The Church History."". In Schaff, Philip. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 1. ISBN 9781602065086. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vi.xi.html. Retrieved 14 February 2012. 
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Rothschild, Claire (2011). ""Echo of a Whisper": The Uncertain Authenticity of Josephus' Witness to John the Baptist". In Hellholm, David; Vegge, Tor; Norderval, Øyvind et al. Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-024751-0. 
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Wallace-Hadrill, D. S. (2011). "Eusebius of Caesarea and the Testimonium Flavianum (Josephus, Antiquities, XVIII. 63f.)". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 25 (4): 353. doi:10.1017/S0022046900049435. 
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