re: the interpolation in Josephus work
Dear Nancy,
The reason Josephus's alleged "Truly this man was the son of god" (or whatever, I can't lay my hand on my Josephus at the moment) is rejected by most professional classical scholars (if not by all fundamentalist Biblical scholars) is that textual analysis does not fit it into the rest of the work or Josephus's life, but labels it as a pious fraud. If Josephus really believed that, he would have been a fool not to confess Jesus as his Saviour and to be executed for his pains. Josephus was no fool, and clearly did not believe that Jesus was Messiah.
The real question, though, is why you (personally) should care about what this hellenizer, filthy turncoat, and Jewish traitor is alleged to have said about Jesus. It does not, and you cannot let it, affect your belief one way or another. You seem to have faith enough for yourself, and enough left over for many others (meant as a compliment).
As for the persuasive power on me whose master organ of credulity is completely atrophied, I am forbidden by lack of time and competence to engage in the textual analysis myself. I think that early untampered copies no longer exist. Many respectable scholars: atheist, Jewish, and Christian accept that it is an interpolation. But in the final analysis I don't care what Josephus may or may not have said. He was born after Jesus's death. He wasn't there. How could he possibly know anything. How could even an amateur historian expect anyone to believe anything that wasn't documented. One would think that if Josephus believed (and not that some Christian copiest violating his copyist's oath) that Jesus was Messiah this would be an item of some interest to those reading about the Jews, and he would have expanded the point with references and even abstracts of contemporary documents.
Another reason I reject Josephus is that my family had no respect for him as a warrior, an historian, or a theologian -- he was supposedly (in the opinion of one of my crazy great aunts) collaterally related. This relationship she supposed gave her the right to criticize -- of course she claimed a blood relationship and a right to criticize everyone really important -- sort of like the Queen of England being related to both Bush and Clinton. One had to speak respectfully of Frederick II, Charlemagne, Marcus Aurelius, and even William II (which was going a bit far even in the '30's) or bear the old gal's tongue lashing for showing contempt or lack of proper respect for ancestors -- a Chinese no-no. It is true that her son was a Dominican father born Justin Shapiro which says something appealing about her religious heterodoxy -- she never badgered Shap (her husband pro tem about his religion (which was Yale); I remember first seeing her coming into Atlanta sur le point on the elephant leading the Ringling Bros. Circus Parade (she was a helluva dancer and musician). In her seventies she crewed a Greek freighter (along with my mother) and taught the crew an encrypted private language that had been retained by the women of her family from the Greek of New Testament times. Very dangerous to challenge anything she said, and I, personally, wouldn't have dreamed of doing so when she was alive, and I certainly am not about to start now. If Nell hated Josephus, that's enough for me. But I digress.
I also have to reject your opinion that God is hiding all of the detail about Jesus in order to test our faith. I flunk the test, but that will not keep me from looking. Somewhere out there in the wastes of Galilee there may yet be buried a few clay jars, sealed with bitumen, secretly buried by Jesus before he started what he knew would be his final mission. I hope it contains his high-school diploma, his track letter, his Eagle Scout sash, his diaries, his unpublished juvenalia, his mother's marriage license, his (and his brothers') birth certificates, the first hair clippings, his umbilical cord and foreskin. Anything else -- like his tattered copy of A Child's Greek Anthology and Tales from Herodotus would be welcomed.
Children, love one another. |
