Josephus Antiquities 18.3.3 as a wholesale Interpolation

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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Chrissy Hansen
Posts: 546
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2020 2:46 pm

Josephus Antiquities 18.3.3 as a wholesale Interpolation

Post by Chrissy Hansen »

Not sure who will want this, but compiling a list of scholars since 1960 who doubt the authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

Ken Olson, "Eusebius and the 'Testimonium Flavianum'," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 61, no. 2 (1999): 305–22. Olson cites Tessa Rajak, J. Neville Birdsall, and Per Bilde (‘Eusebius and the 'Testimonium Flavianum'," p. 306)

Ken Olson, "A Eusebian Reading of the Testimonium Flavianum," in Eusebius of Caesarea: Tradition and Innovations, ed. Aaron Johnson and Jeremy Scott (Cambridge: Center for Hellenic Studies, 2013), pp. 97–114

Michael Grant, The Ancient Historians (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1970), 263

Per Bilde, "Testimonium Flavianum," in Collected Studies on Philo and Josephus, ed. Eve-Marie Becker, Morton H. Jensen, and Jacob Mortensen (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016), 55-87 article originally appeared in 1981 in Danish

Nicholas P. L. Allen, Christian Forgery in Jewish Antiquities: Josephus Interrupted (Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020), 98–228

Joshua Efron, Studies on the Hasmonean Period (Leiden: Brill, 1987), 333

Paul Hopper, "A Narrative Anomaly in Josephus: Jewish Antiquities xviii:63," in Linguistics and Literary Studies: Interfaces, Encounters, Transfers, ed. Monika Fludernik and Daniel Jacob (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014), 147–71

Ellis Rivkin, What Crucified Jesus? (Nashville: Abingdon, 1984), 64–7

D. S. Wallace-Hadrill, “Eusebius of Caesarea and the Testimonium Flavianum (Josephus, Antiquities, XVIII. 63f.),” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 25, no. 4 (1974): 353–62

Christopher M. Hansen, “Jesus’ Historicity and Sources: The Misuse of Extrabiblical Sources for Jesus and a Suggestion.” The Journal of Biblical Theology 4, no. 3 (2021): 139–162 (I'm including myself for completeness, I consider it an interpolation entirely)

Louis Feldman, "On the Authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum Attributed to Josephus," in New Perspectives on Jewish-Christian Relations: In Honor of David Berger, Elisheva Carlebach and Jacob J. Schachter (Leiden: Brill, 2012), pp. 13–30

J. Carleton Paget also notes that H. Schreckenberg and K. Schubert ‘tentatively’ rejected the passage as a complete Christian interpolation, see J. Carleton Paget, "Some Observations on Josephus and Christianity," Journal of Theological Studies 52, no. 2 (2001): 539–624 (583).

Richard Carrier, On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2014), 332–42

Robert M. Price, The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man (Amherst: Prometheus, 2003), 38–9 and 90

Raphael Lataster, Questioning the Historicity of Jesus: Why a Philosophical Analysis Elucidates the Historical Discourse (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 192–202

Eric Eve, Behind the Gospels: Understanding the Oral Tradition (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014), p. 170 is highly skeptical (cites Olson).

Jurgen Roloff, The Theology of the New Testament, Vol. 2: The Variety and Unity of the Apostolic Witness to Christ, trans. John Alsup (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 1n1 declares the TF an interpolation

Jürgen Becker, “The Search for Jesus’ Special Profile,” in Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus, ed. Tom Holmén and Stanley E. Porter (4 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 2011), vol. 1, 57–89

Kurt L. Noll, “Investigating Earliest Christianity without Jesus,” in ‘Is this not the Carpenter?’ The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus, ed. Thomas L. Thompson and Thomas S. Verenna (Sheffield: Equinox, 2012), 233–266 (250n56) (contends at least partial inauthenticity, and seems to be just generally highly skeptical of the whole thing)

Archibald Robertson, The Origins of Christianity, Revised Edition (New York: International, 1962), 87

GERMAN LANGUAGE:

Hermann Detering, Falsche Zeugen: Außerchristliche Jesuszeugnisse auf dem Prüfstand (Aschaffenburg: Alibri Verlag, 2011), 19–41

FRENCH LANGUAGE:

J. Lenzman, L’Origine du christianisme (Moscou: Editions en langues etrangeres, 1961), 65-7

Iosif Kryvelev, Du sens des Evangiles (Moscow: Editions en Langues Etrangeres, 1963), 39-40

CHINESE LANGUAGE:

Li Yaming, Lishi shang zhenshi de yesu (Taibei shi: Wunan tushu chuban gufen youxian gongsi, 2017), 41–2

Yan Changyou, “Yesu – chuanshuo zhong de xugou renwu,” Shijie zongjiao yanjiu 2 (1983): 122–128

Yu Ke, Yu Ke Xiansheng wenji, edited by Long Xiuping (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chuban she, 2020), 5

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE:

Ambrogio Donini, U istokov khristianstva (ot zarozhdeniya do Yustiniana), Second Edition (Moskva: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoy literatury, 1989), 50–52

S. Kovalev, Osnovnyye Voprosy Proiskhozhdeniya Khristianstva (Moskva: Nauka, 1964), 33

R. Yu. Whipper, Rim i Ranneye Khristianstvo (Moskva: Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauka SSSR, 1952), 74-5

Abram Ranovich, Pervoistochiki po istorii rannego khristiasva: Antichnyye kritiki khristianstva, Second Edition (Moskva: Izdatel'stvo politicheskoy literatury, 1990), 268 (note that in the second edition an appendix from S. Sventsitskaya [460-1] is included that argues it is authentic on the basis of Agapius)

CZECH LANGUAGE:

Ivan Prchlík, ‘Ježíš řečený Christos‘ u Iosepha Flavia: Jistota nejistoty’, in Peter Fraňo and Michal Habaj (eds.), Antica Slavica (Trnava: Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave 2018), pp. 77–152 and 280–6

ITALIAN LANGUAGE:

Fausto Parente, ‘Sulla doppia trasmissione, filologica ed ecclesiastica, del testo di Flavio Giuseppe: Un contributo alla storia della ricezione della sua opera nel mondo cristiano’, Rivista di Storia e Letteratura religiosa 36 (2000), pp. 9–25
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To add to this, I also know that Ian N. Mills considers the TF an interpolation based on Ken's work, but has errantly gone around saying that Ken doesn't think Ant. 20.9.1 is interpolated which is false. I have corrected him a number of times, and he still says it.
Last edited by Chrissy Hansen on Mon Apr 03, 2023 5:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Sinouhe
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Re: Josephus Antiquities 18.3.3 as a wholesale Interpolation

Post by Sinouhe »

I was looking for this a few days ago. That's good timing. Thanks
Chrissy Hansen
Posts: 546
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2020 2:46 pm

Re: Josephus Antiquities 18.3.3 as a wholesale Interpolation

Post by Chrissy Hansen »

Updated
Chrissy Hansen
Posts: 546
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2020 2:46 pm

Re: Josephus Antiquities 18.3.3 as a wholesale Interpolation

Post by Chrissy Hansen »

Updated with new sources (thanks Ken for the Per Bilde reference):

Li Yaming, Lishi shang zhenshi de yesu (Taibei shi: Wunan tushu chuban gufen youxian gongsi, 2017), 41–2

Per Bilde, "Testimonium Flavianum," in Collected Studies on Philo and Josephus, ed. Eve-Marie Becker, Morton H. Jensen, and Jacob Mortensen (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016), 55-87 article originally appeared in 1981

Archibald Robertson, The Origins of Christianity, Revised Edition (New York: International, 1962), 87

D. S. Wallace-Hadrill, “Eusebius of Caesarea and the Testimonium Flavianum (Josephus, Antiquities, XVIII. 63f.),” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 25, no. 4 (1974): 353–62

Iosif Kryvelev, Du sens des Evangiles (Moscow: Editions en Langues Etrangeres, 1963), 39-40

Yu Ke, Yu Ke Xiansheng wenji, edited by Long Xiuping (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chuban she, 2020), 5

R. Yu. Whipper, Rim i Ranneye Khristianstvo (Moskva: Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauka SSSR, 1952), 74-5

Abram Ranovich, Pervoistochiki po istorii rannego khristiasva: Antichnyye kritiki khristianstva, Second Edition (Moskva: Izdatel'stvo politicheskoy literatury, 1990), 268
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