Re: If the Testimonium Flavianum is partially genuine, then Jesus didn't exist
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2019 1:58 am
Put in another way, if the Christian hearsay about a historical Jesus reached Josephus, then Paul could't so easily to eclipse that same Jesus. Contra factum that he did.
The Christian hearsay reaching Josephus is evidence of extreme diffusion of the historicist hearsay (remember: not per se a historicist evidence).
But then how could Paul and the other Christians use a code language to eclipse their historicist belief in the eyes of outsiders, when at least an outsider learned from the same Christians their historicist belief?
How can the outsider Josephus know from the Christians themselves the exact thing that the same Christians were conspiring to eclipse in their inner discussions ?
There is a contradiction here.
If a group Z conspires to eclipse X in their discussion about Y, how can an outsider know from the group himself Z the exact thing X hidden by that group about Y?
So the two following facts are mutually exclusive:
1) Josephus learned from the Christians themselves that Jesus was a Jew teacher, etc.
2) Paul and the his readers conspire to eclipse, before the outsiders, their belief that Jesus was a Jew teacher, etc.
The Christian hearsay reaching Josephus is evidence of extreme diffusion of the historicist hearsay (remember: not per se a historicist evidence).
But then how could Paul and the other Christians use a code language to eclipse their historicist belief in the eyes of outsiders, when at least an outsider learned from the same Christians their historicist belief?
How can the outsider Josephus know from the Christians themselves the exact thing that the same Christians were conspiring to eclipse in their inner discussions ?
There is a contradiction here.
If a group Z conspires to eclipse X in their discussion about Y, how can an outsider know from the group himself Z the exact thing X hidden by that group about Y?
So the two following facts are mutually exclusive:
1) Josephus learned from the Christians themselves that Jesus was a Jew teacher, etc.
2) Paul and the his readers conspire to eclipse, before the outsiders, their belief that Jesus was a Jew teacher, etc.