I know this is a short post, and you make reference to the fact that the Testimonium Flavianum needs posts unto itself, but I feel like the fact that this section is highly doubted to have been written by Josephus may be understated here.
I don't especially care if Jesus existed, as it doesn't really affect me personally (lifetime atheist). And it's true that I used to be fairly close to some of the mythicists (Richard Carrier in particular). I guess y comment is just to highlight that what is considered by some to be the strongest evidence may not have been written by the author at all. My guess is someone like Jesus likely existed. Whether he was actually called anything like 'Jesus' (maybe Yeshua) or 'Christ' seems iffy to me, but like I said it doesn't really matter much to me because either way I don't think he, or anyone else, is god.
Thanks for the thoughts, Shaun. Yes, much more could be said about the Testimonium Flavianum. But the conversation around it is not so much about the entire passage being made up by later Christian copyists, but that elements of it are. So, there is something genuine there that Josephus probably wrote. It appears in a sequence of other disturbances that Josephus is referencing during the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate, and Jesus seems to be one of the people he includes in that list. Of course, there is debate about which parts of it are genuine, but most still take it as literary evidence for Jesus' existence.
And I agree, my personal life wouldn't change much at this point if it were proven that Jesus didn't exist. Although, I do think it would change how we do some of the scholarship around the Christian movement.
https://stevenberger.substack.com/p/i-believe-in-the-resurrection-of?utm_source=substack&utm_content=feed%3Arecommended%3Acopy_link
I know this is a short post, and you make reference to the fact that the Testimonium Flavianum needs posts unto itself, but I feel like the fact that this section is highly doubted to have been written by Josephus may be understated here.
I don't especially care if Jesus existed, as it doesn't really affect me personally (lifetime atheist). And it's true that I used to be fairly close to some of the mythicists (Richard Carrier in particular). I guess y comment is just to highlight that what is considered by some to be the strongest evidence may not have been written by the author at all. My guess is someone like Jesus likely existed. Whether he was actually called anything like 'Jesus' (maybe Yeshua) or 'Christ' seems iffy to me, but like I said it doesn't really matter much to me because either way I don't think he, or anyone else, is god.
Have a nice day.
Thanks for the thoughts, Shaun. Yes, much more could be said about the Testimonium Flavianum. But the conversation around it is not so much about the entire passage being made up by later Christian copyists, but that elements of it are. So, there is something genuine there that Josephus probably wrote. It appears in a sequence of other disturbances that Josephus is referencing during the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate, and Jesus seems to be one of the people he includes in that list. Of course, there is debate about which parts of it are genuine, but most still take it as literary evidence for Jesus' existence.
And I agree, my personal life wouldn't change much at this point if it were proven that Jesus didn't exist. Although, I do think it would change how we do some of the scholarship around the Christian movement.