Bibliography
| Title: Josefus' beretning om Jesus [Josephus' Text about Jesus] Secondary Title: DTT Volume: 44 Pages: 99-135 Type: Journal Article Year: 1981 Abstract: "Der Verf. Betrachtet das Testimonium Flavianum als unecht. Seine Argumentation wird durch eine tiefgrabende Analyse des Textes und unter Einbeziehung der reichhaltigen älteren und neueren Literatur vorgeführt". - B. Otzen
"Bilde carefully examines the so-called Testimonium Flavianum (Josephus, Ant. 18,63-64). He concludes that it must be considered a secondary interpolation in the work of Josephus, and he puts forward four criteria by which the non-josephian origin may be demonstrated. The most important criterium must be the language and style (which differ considerably from Josephus' own). Important is also the question of context (Test. Flav. evidently has no organic place in its context). That the Test. Flav. is an interpolation may also be concluded because of its content and because of the history of the text which clearly speaks against an early date (no reference to the Test. Flav. Is to be found before Euseb)".
"The so-called Testimonium Flavianum (Ant. 18:63-64) must be regarded as not genuine on four grounds: (1) It contains only one expression that can be described as typical of Josephus. Otherwise the language is completely uncharacteristic of him. (2) Redaction-critical analysis of Ant. 18:55-95 cannot bring the Testimonium Flavianum into harmony with its context. (3) Both the shift from a negative statement about Jesus to a positive one and the first and second arguments indicate that the passage as whole represents a Christian view of Jesus. (4) Although the history of the text does not constitute an independent argument, it should be noted that Origen's statements are ambiguous; he had not read Josephus' writings and did not seem to know of a text b Jsephus about Jesus. Earlier church historians (e.g. Irenaeus and Tertullian) who knew Josephus' writings do not mention this text. The Old Russian, Old Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions present variants that are medieval in origin, of modest extent, and only tangential to the most christologically colored parts of the Testimonium flavianum. Finally, Ant. 20:200 does not presuppose a text about Jesus; it only distinguishes him from all the other persons named Jesus in the work". - J.S.H. Keywords: Testimonium Flavianum |