Josephus

From RationalWiki

Josephus was a Romanized Jewish historian. He wrote about Israel round about New Testament times. At least one Christian scribe tampered with his text and made it appear that Josephus considered Jesus the savior or “Christ”.

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.'

If Josephus had written that he would have been a Christian, and there is no evidence that he was.

Contents 1 Modern Christians 2 In other media 3 See also 4 External links 5 Footnotes

[edit] Modern Christians

Modern Christians sometimes cite Josephus and argue that even the “pagan” Josephus acknowledged Jesus. ^[1] Therefore, one should believe in Jesus' divinity. They are unlikely to give details of what Josephus is supposed to have written. If they did, people of average intelligence would notice that no pagan would write that.

The affair shows that in the first few centuries CE, Christians scribes were quite prepared to act deceitfully to win converts, a practice which, thankfully, is no longer followed – perhaps.

[edit] In other media

Josephus, hailing from 125th Street in Ethiopia, was portrayed by Gregory Hines in Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I.

[edit] See also

Four separate men called “Joseph” are relevant to the Abrahamic religions.

• Old Testament Joseph, who had family problems
• Joseph (Husband of Mary), one of several possible fathers of Jesus
• Joseph of Arimathea who may have buried Jesus, if he was dead

For details see individual articles.

[edit] External links

• See the Wikipedia article on Josephus on Jesus.
• The Historical Jesus

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ Incidentally, Jews are not usually considered pagan. Pagans are polytheists or those who practice other non-Abrahamic religions.