Josephus on James, the brother of Jesus
A first-century Jewish historian, writing within living memory, refers to Jesus and to his brother James as ordinary matters of public record.
Nommé hors de la BibleAuteur antiquec. AD 93–94
The Jewish historian Josephus, writing for a Roman audience, describes the high priest Ananus convening a court and executing James — identifying him, in passing, as the brother of "Jesus who was called Christ". The reference is incidental, which is what makes it strong: Josephus is explaining a political scandal, not making a claim about Jesus.
…he assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others… and delivered them to be stoned.
- Découvert
- Transmitted in medieval manuscripts
- Conservé à
- Various manuscript collections
- Langue
- Greek
- Comment il nous est parvenu
- Jamais enfoui — recopié à la main, génération après génération, jusqu'à l'imprimerie.
Ce qu'elle montre
This passage is accepted as authentic by the great majority of scholars. Josephus's other, longer passage about Jesus (the Testimonium Flavianum, Antiquities 18.63) is a different matter — it is widely judged to have been altered by later Christian copyists, and we do not rest anything on it.
Ce qu'en font les historiens
A standard non-Christian source in secular reconstructions of first-century Judaea.
Dans l'Écriture
Se rattache à
Sources
- Josephus on Jesus — overview of the scholarly debate
- Whealey, Josephus on Jesus (2003)
Ces textes sont pour l'instant en anglais. Les traductions suivront.