The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His ExistenceRemsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Religion
The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His Existence
Remsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Jesus Christ -- Historicity; Jesus Christ -- Rationalistic interpretations; Rationalism
"Those who are best acquainted with the character of Josephus,
and the style of his writings, have no hesitation in condemning
this passage as a forgery, interpolated in the text during the third
century by some pious Christian, who was scandalized that so famous a
writer as Josephus should have taken no notice of the gospels, or of
Christ, their subject. But the zeal of the interpolator has outrun
his discretion, for we might as well expect to gather grapes from
thorns, or figs from thistles, as to find this notice of Christ among
the Judaizing writings of Josephus. It is well known that this author
was a zealous Jew, devoted to the laws of Moses and the traditions of
his countrymen. How, then, could he have written that Jesus was the
Christ? Such an admission would have proved him to be a Christian
himself, in which case the passage under consideration, too long
for a Jew, would have been far too short for a believer in the new
religion, and thus the passage stands forth, like an ill-set jewel,
contrasting most inharmoniously with everything around it. If it had
been genuine, we might be sure that Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and
Chrysostom would have quoted it in their controversies with the Jews,
and that Origen or Photius would have mentioned it. But Eusebius,
the ecclesiastical historian (I, 11), is the first who quotes it,
and our reliance on the judgment or even honesty of this writer is
not so great as to allow our considering everything found in his
works as undoubtedly genuine" (Christian Records, p. 30).
The Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in his "Lost and Hostile Gospels," says:
"This passage is first quoted by Eusebius (fl. A. D. 315) in two
places (Hist. Eccl., lib. i, c. xi; Demonst. Evang., lib. iii);
but it was unknown to Justin Martyr (fl. A. D. 140), Clement of
Alexandria (fl. A. D. 192), Tertullian (fl. A. D. 193), and Origen
(fl. A. D. 230). Such a testimony would certainly have been produced by
Justin in his apology or in his controversy with Trypho the Jew, had it
existed in the copies of Josephus at his time. The silence of Origen
is still more significant. Celsus, in his book against Christianity,
introduces a Jew. Origen attacks the argument of Celsus and his
Jew. He could not have failed to quote the words of Josephus, whose
writings he knew, had the passage existed in the genuine text. He,
indeed, distinctly affirms that Josephus did not believe in Christ
(Contr. Cels. i)."
Dr. Chalmers ignores it, and admits that Josephus is silent regarding
Christ. He says: "The entire silence of Josephus upon the subject of
Christianity, though he wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem, and
gives us the history of that period in which Christ and his Apostles
lived, is certainly a very striking circumstance" (Kneeland's Review,
p. 169).
Referring to this passage, Dean Milman, in his "Gibbon's Rome"
(Vol. II, p. 285, note) says: "It is interpolated with many additional
clauses."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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