FRDB Archives

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.


Go Back   FRDB Archives > Philosophy & Religious Studies > History of Abrahamic Religions & Related Texts
Welcome, Peter Kirby.
You last visited: Today at 01:23 AM

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 09-01-2013, 08:38 PM   #1
Regular Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Tasmania
Posts: 383
Default Influence of Josephus on canonical NT

Quote:
Originally Posted by aa5874 View Post

There are multiple characters and events in Josephus that are found in the NT Jesus story.

Jesus son of Sapphias was the leader of mariners and poor people in Galilee.

The Life of Josephus
Quote:
So Jesus the son of Sapphias, one of those whom we have already mentioned as the leader of a seditious tumult of mariners and poor people, prevented us, and took with him certain Galileans....
Jesus of the NT supposedly had fishermen from Galilee as his chosen disciples.
I`m wondering what grounds we have to consider Josephus a source for the canonical gospels aside from quote above.
Tommy is offline  
Old 09-01-2013, 09:52 PM   #2
Contributor
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 40,549
Default

It is generally agreed among secular scholars that Luke used Josephus as a source for Acts of the Apostles. See Luke and Josephus.

Ted Weeden, a senior member of the Jesus Seminar, has pointed out the provocative parallels between the gospel Jesus and one of the other Jesus' in Josephus: Provocative Parallels: Two Jesuses

Where do you want to go with this?
Toto is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 12:39 AM   #3
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: N/A
Posts: 4,370
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toto View Post
It is generally agreed among secular scholars that Luke used Josephus as a source for Acts of the Apostles. See Luke and Josephus.
It's not an idea that enjoys scholarly consensus, however.
Roger Pearse is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 12:51 AM   #4
Contributor
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: the fringe of the caribbean
Posts: 18,988
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tommy View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by aa5874 View Post

There are multiple characters and events in Josephus that are found in the NT Jesus story.

Jesus son of Sapphias was the leader of mariners and poor people in Galilee.

The Life of Josephus
Quote:
So Jesus the son of Sapphias, one of those whom we have already mentioned as the leader of a seditious tumult of mariners and poor people, prevented us, and took with him certain Galileans....
Jesus of the NT supposedly had fishermen from Galilee as his chosen disciples.
I`m wondering what grounds we have to consider Josephus a source for the canonical gospels aside from quote above.
There is no need to wonder. Names, characters and Events found ONLY in the writings of Josephus are found NOT only in the Canonical Gospels but also Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Corpus.

1. Josephus mentioned that THREE were crucified and ONE survived--Jesus was crucified with two but he resurrected in the Gospels.

2. Josephus is known to have begged that the crucified be taken down from the cross--Joseph begged for the body of the crucified Jesus in the Gospels.

3. Josephus is known to claimed that there was a James whose brother was Jesus--in the Gospels it is implied that Jesus had a brother called James.

4. Josephus is known to have written about himself when shipwrecked on his way to Rome--Paul was shipwrecked on his way to Rome in Acts and acknowledged in the Pauline Corpus.

5. Josephus is known to have mentioned John the Baptist---in the Gospels Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

6. Josephus is known to have claimed John the Baptist was executed by Herod--in the Gospel, Herod executed John the Baptist.

7. Josephus is known to have claimed Herod married his brother wife--in the Gospels Herod married his brother's wife.

8. Josephus is known to have claimed Jesus the son of Ananus successfully predicted calamities in Jerusalem--Jesus predicted the same thing in the Gospels.

9. Josephus is known to have claimed Jesus the son of Sapphias was a leader of mariners and poor people--in the Gospels Jesus selected fishermen and poor people as his apostles and disciples.

10. Josephus claimed the Pharisees believed there would be a Resurrection--in the Canon, Paul claimed he was a Pharisee and also admitted he was a Witness that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day according to the Scripture.

11. Josephus is known to have claimed he lived in Galilee in the 1st century---in the Gospels, Jesus lived in Galilee in the 1st century.

12. Josephus is known to have claimed one could see the Temple from Mount Olives---Jesus was at Mount Olives observing the Temple when he supposedly predicted the Fall of the Temple.

13. Josephus is known to have mentioned Herodias and her daughter---in the Gospels Herodias and her daughter are mentioned.

14. Josephus is known to have mentioned the death of Herod after he was declared a God--the death of Herod is found in Acts.

15. Josephus claimed that Daniel predicted the Fall of the Temple and desolation of Jerusalem---in the Gospels, the Jesus character ALSO made reference to Daniel when he predicted the Fall of the Temple.

The ENTIRE Canon--not only the Gospels--was influenced by the writings of Josephus.
aa5874 is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 11:21 AM   #5
Regular Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 111
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by aa5874 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tommy View Post

I`m wondering what grounds we have to consider Josephus a source for the canonical gospels aside from quote above.
There is no need to wonder. Names, characters and Events found ONLY in the writings of Josephus are found NOT only in the Canonical Gospels but also Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Corpus.

[...]

4. Josephus is known to have written about himself when shipwrecked on his way to Rome--Paul was shipwrecked on his way to Rome in Acts and acknowledged in the Pauline Corpus.

[...]

The ENTIRE Canon--not only the Gospels--was influenced by the writings of Josephus.
Wait, are you claiming that Josephus was Paul?
Brendan Rizzo is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 01:20 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: South Pacific
Posts: 559
Default

Richrd Carrier has recently stated [Aug 14, 2013] that "all present copies of Josephus derive from the copy Eusebius held in his library, which was Pamphilus’s library, inherited from Origen" (last sentence of second-last paragraph of Carrier's post).
MrMacSon is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 01:29 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: South Pacific
Posts: 559
Default

In another blog-post, Carrier makes reference to G.J. Goldberg's “The Coincidences of the Testimonium of Josephus and the Emmaus Narrative of Luke,” in the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha (vol. 13, 1995), pp. 59-77.
Quote:
"Goldberg demonstrates nineteen unique correspondences between Luke’s Emmaus account and the Testimonium Flavianum, all nineteen in exactly the same order (with some order and word variations only within each item)."
http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/2946
MrMacSon is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 01:49 PM   #8
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Auburn ca
Posts: 4,269
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toto View Post
It is generally agreed among secular scholars that Luke used Josephus as a source for Acts of the Apostles.
Unsubstatiated.

Posting one mythicist does not constitute any secular consensus.


Have anything else that will substatiate your claim?
outhouse is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 03:24 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: South Pacific
Posts: 559
Default

Richard Carrier has also noted the observation that Luke-Acts contains numerous parallels with the works of Josephus

citing
Steve Mason, "Josephus & Luke-Acts," in Josephus & the New Testament (Hendrickson Pubs: Peabody, Massachusetts, 1992): 185-229
MrMacSon is offline  
Old 09-02-2013, 04:00 PM   #10
Contributor
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: the fringe of the caribbean
Posts: 18,988
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by aa5874
The ENTIRE Canon--not only the Gospels--was influenced by the writings of Josephus.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brendan Rizzo View Post
Wait, are you claiming that Josephus was Paul?
I made no claim at all that the Pauline writers were Josephus. As you can clearly see I did make reference to authors of the Gospels NOT just the Pauline Corpus.

My argument is that the Jesus story in the Canon, including the Pauline Corpus, was influenced by the writings of Josephus which would mean the ENTIRE Canon was composed AFTER at least c 100 CE.
aa5874 is offline  
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:38 AM.

Top

This custom BB emulates vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.