The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

[Pastor Rune Enoe]

Brethren & Sistren

As you all know I'm working my way through Bart Ehrman's newest epistle, "Did Jesus Exist?". It's a wonderful book, and so convincing and swaying that I wonder why Brother Bart didn't simply title it "Jesus Did Exist!" instead of beating around the bush.

Among the many gems in this book, none shine out like Brother Bart's treatment of the Testimonium Flavianum written by the Jewish historian Josephus at the end of the first century AD:

At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one should call him a man.
For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who receive the truth with pleasure.
And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. He was the messiah.
And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross,
those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. For he appeared to them on the third day, living again,
just as the divine prophets had spoken of these and countless other wondrous things about him.
And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not died out.
The Testimonium Flavianum according to Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

It is a beautiful testimony and I don't know any Christian that could have written it better. The problem is that for centuries scholars have claimed that it was in fact forged by a pious Christian. For instance they claim that Josephus, being a Pharisaic Jew, could never have written "He was the messiah", because in that case Josephus would have been a Christian himself. Likewise his Roman readers would have no idea what a "messiah" was, and if they understood it they would have executed Josephus for treason.

Brother Bart's solution is to extract an original core text, by removing all the later interpolations.

For instance, since Josephus couldn't have written "He was the messiah" Dr. Ehrman scientifically determines that it is not a part of the core text and we simply remove it. We can also take away the bit about "the tribe of Christians, named after him". The Roman readers wouldn't understand why "the Christians" would be named after Jesus, when Dr. Ehrman has just proved Josephus didn't write "he was the Messiah".

Then we take away the part about Jesus appearing to his disciples on the third day, because if Josephus had written this he would have had no choice but to become a believer, and his testimony wouldn't be neutral evidence. The same goes for all the divine prophecies that Jesus fulfilled (thus proving he was the Messiah) and the "countless other wondrous things about him" and the "startling deeds". It's beautifully written indeed and I hate losing them, but no Pharisaic Jew would ever have said so.

The phrase "wise man" sticks out like a sore thumb. Josephus reserves this praise for a very few, like King Solomon and Elisha. Of course he could also have said so about Jesus, if he thought Jesus was the Messiah, but Ehrman has just proved that he didn't.

Likewise a monotheistic Jew would never speculate about whether Jesus was divine, "if indeed one should call him a man". This would have been sacrilege, so away it goes.

The Testimonium says that Jesus was "a teacher of people who receive the truth with pleasure". This would imply that Josephus knew about Jesus' teachings, approved of them and called them true. So if Josephus had written this, why wasn't he a Christian?

Thus we end up with this scientifically extracted core text.

At this time there appeared Jesus.
The Testimonium Flavianum, extracted by Pastor Rune Enoe, True Christian™ Theologian

How can people possible deny Jesus existed, when we have a non-Christian witness from the first century AD, who says in plain words that he did.

[Rev. M. Rodimer]

Re: The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

Wouldn't these parts be OK?

And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin.

And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so.

[Pastor Rune Enoe]

Re: The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

Wouldn't these parts be OK?

And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin.

And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so.

No, in fact they were the worst, from the point of view of the Roman elite who were Josephus' intended audience. After reading about this wise man, who was more than a man and performed startling deeds, they are told that he is summarily executed by the Roman administration for no apparent reason and without a proper trial.

To the educated Romans this gross miscarriage of justice would have been an insult to the Roman legal system, and if they were wondering, who had corrupted their legal system and degraded it to a farce, they could just cite "an accusation made by the leading men among us", pointing straight at the Jews in general, and the Jewish priests in particular. That would have been a silly thing to write for Josephus who was a priest himself and whose first priority was to make Jewish history and culture palatable to the Roman elite.

This is also proof that Josephus didn't write, "he appeared to them on the third day, living again". Again, you have to see this from the point of view of the Roman elite, whom Josephus were addressing. As far as the Roman aristocrats' were concerned, once the authorities had sentenced somebody to death (rightly or wrongly) they were supposed to stay dead. You might argue that they - absurdly - believed Romulus appeared in a resurrection body on the road to Alba Longa, and - just as absurdly - swore that Emperor Augustus had ascended to Heaven after his death, but this is only further proof that with Pagan eyes, resurrection and ascension were reserved exclusively for the very top of the Roman Imperial class.

In this case a Jew (Josephus) was proudly boasting that another Jew (yes, in the eyes of these Pagans, Jesus was a Jew), even a foreigner and a plebeian, had defied the Roman judicial powers and was (metaphorically speaking) giving the entire Roman empire the finger.

See the image in my signature.

[Rev. M. Rodimer]

Re: The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

Interesting, Pastor!

So Ehrman takes it all the way down to "At this time there appeared Jesus"?

[Pastor Rune Enoe]

Re: The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

Interesting, Pastor!

So Ehrman takes it all the way down to "At this time there appeared Jesus"?

I haven't finished his book yet, but in fact he may not go quite that far. I just took his lead and applied the scientific methods that Dr. Ehrman has laid out.

That's why it says "extracted by Pastor Rune Enoe, True Christian™ Theologian".

[diogenes]

Re: The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

The "modern" translation of the Testamonium Flavianum comes from a copy of Antiquities dated to A.D. 900.
There are two earlier copies.
One is from Eusebius work that dates to the early fourth century. Another is from a translation of a Islamic translation of Josephus' TF.
In each one, there are differences. In the Islamic one, Jesus is not called the Christ, and ten thousand miracles becomes "many" or something like that.
Consensus is that a couple of annotations were erroneously transferred into the text proper by an unknowing monk at some point.
Hagan in Year of the Passover gives a good summary of this and reproduces the two other versions.

But Jesus certainly existed.

[Pastor Rune Enoe]

Re: The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

The "modern" translation of the Testamonium Flavianum comes from a copy of Antiquities dated to A.D. 900.
There are two earlier copies.
One is from Eusebius work that dates to the early fourth century. Another is from a translation of a Islamic translation of Josephus' TF.
In each one, there are differences. In the Islamic one, Jesus is not called the Christ, and ten thousand miracles becomes "many" or something like that.
Consensus is that a couple of annotations were erroneously transferred into the text proper by an unknowing monk at some point.
Hagan in Year of the Passover gives a good summary of this and reproduces the two other versions.

There's no "Islamic translation of Josephus' TF". You are probably thinking of the chronicle by Agapius / Mahboub. Even though he wrote in Arabic, he was a Christian bishop in Hierapolis (who died 941 or 942). It's pretty clear from what he wrote that he was just quoting Eusebius and mangling what he quoted in the process. Agapius is not a good evidence for Josephus, but lousy evidence for Eusebius.

Let me give you the quote (LINK):

From Adam until that time there were 5,539 years, […]. The first of them, Eusebius, says that from Adam [to the Passion of Our Lord], may He be glorified, […] On learning this, Caesar sent orders to Pilate and dismissed the government of Judea, because he had surrendered to the Jews, and he threatened and intimidated the Jews who had crucified Christ.

Josephus the Hebrew spoke of this also in his books which he wrote about the wars of the Jews: "At that time there was a wise man named Jesus, whose life was perfect, his virtues were recognized, and many Jews and Gentiles became his disciples. And Pilate condemned him to death on a cross, and those who had become his disciples, preached his doctrine. They claimed that he appeared to them alive three days after his passion. Maybe he was the Messiah, about whom the prophets had spoken of miracles." This is the story of Josephus and his coreligionists concerning our Lord Christ, may He be glorified.

It is also said that the life of our Lord Christ, may He be glorified, and his preaching (or pilgrimage) happened in the pontificate of Hannan and Caiaphas, because they were high priests in those years , i.e. from the pontificate of Hannan to the beginning of the pontificate of Caiaphas; as for the time between them, there was no time for four years because, when Herod was appointed governor, he burned the books of the tribes of the Hebrews, because they knew only that he belonged to a race which was little valued by them; and he took the priestly vestment, put it under seal and allowed each high priest to serve only for a year. […]. There were between Hannan and Caiphas less than four years, according to Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea.

But Jesus certainly existed.

Of course Jesus exists. How else would you explain puppies and kitties?

[Alterboy]

Re: The Testimonium Flavianum Restored

A wonderful and insightful post. Thank you pastor.