..and again from a jewish source the only usually undisputed allusion to Jesus in Josephus is;
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Josephus, Antiquities 20.9.1
Since Ananus was that kind of person, and because he perceived an opportunity with Festus having died and Albinus not yet arrived, he called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and brought James, the brother of Jesus (who is called 'Messiah') along with some others. He accused them of transgressing the law, and handed them over for stoning.
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Ironically of the three versions of the Testimonium Flavianum the Arab was the more acceptable;
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Arabic Version
Arabic summary, presumably of Antiquities 18.63. From Agapios' Kitab al-'Unwan ("Book of the Title," 10th c.).
The translation belongs to Shlomo Pines. See also James H. Charlesworth, Jesus Within Judaism.
"Similarly Josephus the Hebrew. For he says in the treatises that he has written on the governance of the Jews:
At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders"
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another translation
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R. Eisler's Reconstruction
Same text, in a less complementary modern scholarly reconstruction.
R. Eisler, The Messiah Jesus, (tr. A. H. Krappe), 1931, p. 61. Quoted from the Loeb Classical Library , vol. 9, p. 48.
Now about this time arose an occasion for new disturbances, a certain Jesus, a wizard of a man, if indeed he may be called a man, who was the most monstrous of men, whom his disciples call a son of God, as having done wonders such as no man has ever done.... He was in fact a teacher of astonishing tricks to such men as accept the abnormal with delight.... And he seduced many Jews and many also of the Greek nation, and was regarded by them as the Messiah.... And when, on the indictment of the principal men among us, Pilate had sentenced him to the cross, still those who before had admired him did not cease to rave. For it seemed to them that having been dead for three days, he had appeared to them alive again, as the divinely-inspired prophets had foretold -- these and ten thousand other wonderful things -- concerning him. And even now the race of those who are called 'Messianists' after him is not extinct.
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and before Josephus is debunked
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From Kerry A. Shirts, Senior Thesis Paper on the Dead Sea Scrolls.;
"The significance of the Arabic recension lies partly in the corroboration of the gospel account. Jesus was wise and righteous, attracted Jewish and Gentile followers, and was crucified by Pilate's orders; moreover, the Palestinian Jesus movement continued after his death."
No testimony is as important as that of Josephus concerning an historical person named Jesus, a miracle worker, wise man, gatherer of Jews and Gentiles, as well as disturber and rebellious person (according to the way a first-century Jew would have seen him), of whom some today still say didn't exist in history. This Arabic recension goes a long way in establishing an actual historica aspect to our search for this historic person, long after most thought the final verdict was in.
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