Josephus
From Philosopedia
Flavius Josephus (37 - c. 100)
Josephus, called "Joseph, son of Matthias," was a priest from Jerusalem who took part in the war between the Romans and the Jews and wrote several works of history. These include The Jewish War, Antiquities of the Jews, and Against Aprion, the latter a defense of the Jews.
Thought to have married and divorced two or three times, he had several children. Critics have argued that his life is beset with ambiguity, and many have called him a traitor and informer as well as a historian whose facts are questionable.
As Edmund Wilson and others have pointed out, Josephus was an apologist for the Romans and a cultural convert to Greco-Roman views.
Freethinker Dan Barker has written a thorough study about whether or not Jesus existed and suggests that the paragraph about Jesus in Josephus's Antiquities
- is regarded by liberal and conservative scholars to have been either entirely interpolated or drastically altered by a later generation of believers, probably by the dishonest Christian historian Eusebius in the 4th century. (Whichever view is right, they both agree that early Christians tampered with documents, a fact that must bear on the reliability of the New Testament writings.)
Barker quotes Josephus's one "historical" paragraph about Jesus:
- 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 for him, are not extinct to this day.
External Links
- [[1]] "Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?" by Dan Barker
- [[2]] Wikipedia Entry
- [[3]] Translation of Josephus's works by William Whiston
- [[4]] A Christian Appraisal by All About GOD Ministries, Inc.
- [[5]] Catholic Encyclopedia
- [[6]] Early Jewish Writings
