{"id":14262,"date":"2020-09-08T15:12:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T19:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=14262"},"modified":"2020-09-13T22:22:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T02:22:34","slug":"testimonium-flavianum-the-case-for-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/testimonium-flavianum-the-case-for-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Testimonium Flavianum: Does it Mention Jesus?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the Testimonium Flavianum<\/em>? Does the Testimonium Flavianum<\/em> help prove that Jesus exist?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Testimonium Flavianum<\/em> is one of the writings of Josephus. In the testimonium, Josephus writes specifically about Jesus; but some critics suggest that this information may have been added in later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to find out more about how the Testimonium Flavianum<\/em> demonstrates that Jesus may have actually existed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Does the Testimonium Flavianum Support the Accounts in the Gospels?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As convincing as Blomberg\u2019s and Metzger\u2019s arguments are, they do have one weak spot: They rely solely on the texts of the Christian tradition<\/strong>. If there were historical evidence for the gospels\u2019 account that didn\u2019t <\/em>originate with the Church, then the gospels would be that much more credible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strobel pursues this line of inquiry by visiting Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, a professor at Miami University of Ohio and a renowned historian of the Mediterranean. Yamauchi participated in the 1968 excavation of the Herodian temple in Jerusalem (destroyed in 70 AD) and has published dozens of papers in scholarly journals. Although he was born into the Buddhist faith, he became a Christian in 1952. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Josephus<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a common misconception that the evidence for Jesus\u2019s life is confined to the Bible itself\u2014that no secular source records his existence. In fact, there are clear and important references to Jesus in several non-Christian sources<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary among them are the works of Josephus, a Jewish historian active in the first century AD. In The Antiquities<\/em>, a history of the Jewish people from Creation to the late first century AD, Josephus refers to Jesus as the \u201cChrist,\u201d or Messiah, and he mentions the execution of James, Jesus\u2019s brother. And in the Testimonium Flavianum<\/em>, Josephus gives a plainspoken account of Jesus\u2019s ability to do miracles, his crucifixion, and his resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is this account actually Josephus\u2019s, or was it added later by editors sympathetic to Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years the scholarly consensus alternated between acceptance and skepticism, but today there\u2019s widespread agreement that the account is authentic, albeit affected by interpolations. In other words, although most of the account reads as though a first-century Jewish writer wrote it, there are some phrases and vocabulary that appear to have been added later. The interpolated passages, it bears mentioning, include references to Jesus\u2019s divinity, his role as the Messiah, and his resurrection. That is, the passages that are authentically Josephus corroborate Jesus\u2019s existence and acts, but the passages that describe Jesus\u2019s metaphysical characteristics are likely the work of someone else<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, those that insist Jesus never existed are willfully distorting\u2014or ignoring\u2014the record<\/strong>. Josephus\u2019s bona fides as a historian are well known: His accounts have been supported by archeological findings as well as the accounts of Tacitus, arguably the most important Roman historian of the period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the Testimonium Flavianum? Does the Testimonium Flavianum help prove that Jesus exist? The Testimonium Flavianum is one of the writings of Josephus. In the testimonium, Josephus writes specifically about Jesus; but some critics suggest that this information may have been added in later. Keep reading to find out more about how the Testimonium Flavianum demonstrates that Jesus may have actually existed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,6],"tags":[125],"class_list":["post-14262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-spiritual","tag-the-case-for-christ","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nTestimonium Flavianum: Does it Mention Jesus? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the Testimonium Flavianum, and what does it say about Jesus? 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