II. Note on § (26). The alleged witness to Jesus Christ
Recent literature:—
(a) For the authenticity of the whole section. F. C. Burkitt; in Theologisch Tijdschrift, Leiden, 1913, pp. 135 ff. A. Harnack in Internat. Monatsschrift für Wissenschaft und Technik, 1913, pp. 1037 ff. (I have, unfortunately, been unable to see this, and only know it through Norden's rejoinder, which seems conclusive.) (b) For partial interpolation. Th. Reinach in Revue des Études Juives, tom. xxxv, 1897, pp. 1 ff. P. Corrsen in Zeitschrift für die N.T. Wissenschaft, 1914, pp. 114 ff, Die Zeugnisse des Tacitus u. Pseudo-Josephus über Christus (thinks the interpolation has probably replaced a genuine statement of Josephus about Christ). (c) Against the authenticity of the whole section. E. Norden in Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum, vol. xxxi, 1913, pp. 637 ff., Josephus u. Tacitus über Jesus Christus und eine messianische Prophetie. E. Schürer, Hist. of Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ, 1898, I. 2, pp. 143 ff. (where the older literature is quoted). (d) For the passages in the Slavonic version of the B.J.
A. Berendts in Texte und Untersuchungen, N. F., Bd. XIV,
1906.
In this much debated passage Josephus appears to speak of Jesus Christ as one of more than mortal nature, as a wonder-worker and a teacher of men who receive "the truth" with pleasure, and as gaining many adherents among Jews and Greeks. Then comes the explicit statement, "This was the Christ." The writer proceeds to mention His crucifixion by Pilate "on the indictment of our principal men," His resurrection and appearance to His followers on the third day, and the survival at the time of writing of "the tribe" of Christians who took their name from Him.
The passage largely accounts for the high esteem in which Josephus was held by Patristic writers. Since the revival of learning the question of its authenticity has been the subject of keen controversy. Until recently
