Ben C Smith

I tend to explain his words about John the baptist by reference to Josephus, and his words about James by reference to Hegesippus.

Ben.

Ben C Smith

I knew I was leaving myself open. :notworthy:

Ben.

DCHindley

Better check on of the many lists of apostles. James brother of John is not same as James, brother of Jesus.

DCH

the_cave

But how could he confuse the two? Josephus indeed does not believe in "Jesus as the Christ". But Hegesippus indeed does.

the_cave

You're operating on more than one not-so-secure assumption:

1) that Josephus correctly identifies the James of Ant. XX as the brother of "Jesus called Christ". The authenticity of this passage has been questioned both here and elsewhere many times. I am not saying it is inauthentic, but I am questioning its authenticity.

2) that the author of Acts has historical data showing that a James, the brother of John, who was distinct from a James, the brother of Jesus, was beheaded by Herod. That is also what I am calling into question.

Ben C Smith

I do not think he confused who Hegesippus and Josephus were. I think he confused, probably from faulty notes, their texts.

Ben.

the_cave

This is a pleasing solution, but I kind of doubt Origen would confuse a history of early Christianity with a work by Josephus...?

Ben C Smith

This particular line of resistance to the Hegesippus hypothesis crops up too often, I think.

We have evidence that the name Hegesippus was confused in antiquity with Josephus. (Consider pseudo-Hegesippus, for example, which is actually a reworked Josephus.) Look at the Chronicon Paschale under Olympiad 212:

Josephus records in the fifth volume of the Capture that in the third year of Vespasian the capture of the Jews took place, as after 40 years from their daring deed against Jesus, at which time, he says, also James the brother of the Lord, who was also the bishop of Jerusalem, was thrown down and murdered by them by being stoned.

Why does the chronicler seem to say that Josephus wrote in the fifth book of the Capture (another name for the War) about James being thrown down and stoned? I think the chronicler has confused the fifth book of Josephus with the fifth book of Hegesippus; for Eusebius informs us in History of the Church 2.23.3 that Hegesippus recounted the execution of James in the fifth volume of his (now lost) Memoirs, an execution that involved James both falling from a height and being stoned.

I think this is a case where Josephus was confused with Hegesippus, and I think Origen did the same thing. The linguistic and thematic parallels between the Hegesippus account and how Origen describes Josephus are pretty impressive (Ken Olson has listed them).

(I should compile a list of ancient confusions of sources sometime; for example, in Miscellanies 6.8 Clement of Alexandria quotes 1 Clement 48.4 and attributes it to Barnabas. I know this particular case is not exactly the same thing, but such a list would be interesting nonetheless.)

Ben.

spin

If I remember correctly the names Josephus and Hegesippus were confused at times in antiquity.


spin

the_cave

I guess I have wondered if "Hegesippus" actually had some sort of distant textual descent from the Aramaic War, but this idea gets pretty elaborate and I admit it's no more likely than that some ancient authors got Hegesippus and Josephus confused. I do find it odd that both Hegesippus' "memoirs" and the pseudo-Hegesippus have five books, for example.

I don't disagree with that.