The Testimonium Flavianum , 1893–2025

Abstract

This article responds to T.C. Schmidt, Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ (2025), which argues that Josephus’ account of Jesus and the first Christians ( Antiquities 18.63–64; the Testimonium Flavianum ) is authentic and that Josephus got his information about them from Jewish acquaintances in Judea and/or the Galilee. Schmidt suggests interpreting the Testimonium as reserved and even somewhat hostile vis-à-vis Jesus and Christianity, and that it may therefore be accepted as non-Christian and authentic. A review of Schmidt’s arguments, and of his responses to those supporting the consensus that the Testimonium is not authentic, but rather a product of Christian editing, upholds the consensus and thereby also undercuts the ascription of the Testimonium ’s contents to Josephus’ non-Christian Jewish informants. Schmidt’s study is compared, along the way, with Benedikt Niese’s 1893 essay on the topic – an example of work done in the pre-computer and pre-concordance age. A translation of that essay appears later in this issue.