Person
Flavius Josephus
37-c. 100
Jewish historian, non-Christian source on Jesus
Disputed. Josephus's life is attested; the Testimonium's wording is DISPUTED; the James passage is mostly accepted.
Josephus was a Judean aristocrat who commanded troops in the revolt, surrendered, and wrote in Rome under Flavian patronage. The Jewish War and the Antiquities are essential for first-century Judea. A short passage on Jesus, the Testimonium Flavianum, is partly a later Christian interpolation. He was not a church father.
Jewish priest and general who went over to Rome and wrote, in Rome, the Jewish War and the Antiquities (93/94). The Antiquities mention Jesus twice: the Testimonium Flavianum (18.63-64), whose present Greek text calls Jesus the Messiah and reports his resurrection, and the James passage (20.200).
Bases
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Is the Testimonium Flavianum authentic?
Partly authentic (majority view): Josephus wrote a neutral notice later embellished by Christians
- John P. Meier
- Alice Whealey (Syriac and Arabic versions support an earlier 'he was thought to be the Christ')
- James Carleton Paget
Largely authentic
- T. C. Schmidt (2025)
Wholly a Christian interpolation (often blamed on Eusebius)
- Richard Carrier
- Ken Olson (named for reference; not separately cited here)Citation unchecked
Survey of scholarly opinion
- Louis H. Feldman (catalogued positions 1937-1980; see also his later work)
James passage. Antiquities 20.200 is accepted as genuine by most scholars (e.g. Meier, Feldman); Carrier argues 'who was called Christ' is an accidental gloss.
Arabic version. Alice Whealey uses the Syriac and Arabic witnesses, including Agapius, for an earlier wording, 'he was thought to be the Christ'.
No Christian writer quotes the Testimonium before Eusebius (c. 320); Origen says Josephus did not believe Jesus was the Christ.
Places
Councils
No council in this list names them as a participant.
Sources
- Josephus, Antiquities 18 (18.63-64)
- Josephus, Antiquities 20 (20.200, death of James)
- A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, vol. 1
- The Testimonium Flavianum in Syriac and Arabic
- Josephus and Modern Scholarship (1937-1980)
- Some Observations on Josephus and Christianity
- Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ
- Origen, Eusebius, and the Accidental Interpolation in Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.200
- Josephus on Jesus (Wikipedia)