Testimonium Flavianum of Josephus
Now Jesus, a wise man, was living around this time—if indeed one should properly call him a man. For he was a performer of incredible works, a teacher of those men who receive the truth with pleasure. He drew to himself both many Jews and many among the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the prominent men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him from the beginning did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again on the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold both these things and ten thousand other marvels concerning him. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, still exists to this day.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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The authenticity of the so-called “Testimonium Flavianum” of Josephus has been rigorously debated among scholars. If authentic, the text provides comparative evidence of Jesus’ ministry, martyrdom, and resurrection. The four primary scholarly positions are as follows: the account is authentic; the text is generally authentic barring a few easily separated late Christian interpolations; Josephus wrote briefly about Jesus of Nazareth, but his original account was significantly altered to substitute a more positive Christian perspective; and Josephus never wrote about Jesus of Nazareth, and therefore the entire “testimonium” is a Christian interpolation.
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You may also like
Talmudic Reference to Jesus’ Trial
b. Sanhedrin 43a
Roman Execution of Jesus
John’s Birth and Naming
John’s Prediction of Jesus’ Coming
Mark 1:2–11|Matthew 3:1–17|Luke 3:1–22|John 1:29–34
John Questions Jesus’ Identity
Josephus on Herod’s Assassination of John the Baptist
Jewish Antiquities 18.116–119