Josephus and Jesus
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This book brings to light an extraordinary connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jewish historian Josephus. Writing in 93/94 CE, Josephus composed an account of Jesus known as the Testimonium Flavianum. Despite this being the oldest description of Jesus by a non-Christian, scholars have long doubted its authenticity due to the alleged pro-Christian claims it contains. This book, however, authenticates Josephus' authorship of the Testimonium Flavianum and reveals a startling observation: Josephus was directly familiar with those who put Jesus on trial. Consequently, Josephus would have had access to highly reliable information about the man from Nazareth. The book concludes by describing what Josephus tells us about the Jesus of history, his miracles, and his resurrection. An open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.
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This volume (OUP, 2025) finds that the 1st Century document The Testimony of Flavius was likely authored by the period’s most reliable historian, Josephus. Based on textual criticism, Josephus likely drew on the first-hand knowledge of people who participated in Jesus’ trial and the “first men” who participated in his crucifixion. In this document, Josephus upholds the scaffolding of the New Testament witness and disproves theories that the resurrection was bolted on much later beyond the apostolic witness. It finds a Jesus of history aligned with the Christ of early faith.
