Today, I read the following book:
T. C. Schmidt, Josephus & Jesus: New Evidence
for the One Called Christ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025)
I highly recommend it. It is a really solid defense
of the Testimonium Flavianum. Here is the abstract of the book:
This book brings to light an
extraordinary connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jewish historian
Josephus. Writing in 93/4 ce, Josephus composed an account of Jesus known
as the Testimonium Flavianum. Despite this being the oldest
description of Jesus written by a non-Christian, scholars have long doubted its
authenticity due to the alleged pro-Christian claims it contains. The present
book, however, authenticates Josephus’ authorship and then reveals a startling
discovery. First, the opening chapters demonstrate that ancient Christians read
the Testimonium Flavianum quite differently from modern
scholars, considering it to be basically mundane or even vaguely negative, and
hence far from the pro-Christian rendering that most scholars have interpreted
it to be. This suggests that the Testimonium Flavianum was
indeed written by a non-Christian. The book then employs stylometric analysis
to demonstrate that the Testimonium Flavianum closely matches
Josephus’ style. The Testimonium Flavianum appears, therefore,
to be genuinely authored by Josephus. The final chapters explore Josephus’
sources of information about Jesus, revealing a remarkable discovery: Josephus
was directly familiar with those who attended the trials of Jesus’ apostles and
even those who attended the trial of Jesus himself. The book concludes by
describing what Josephus tells us about the Jesus of history, particularly
regarding how the stories of Jesus’ miracles and his resurrection developed.
