Posted: Dec 09, 2015 7:35 pm
If the reference to John and many other writings of Josephus were interpolated by the Church, why wouldn't they have wanted to downplay the theological aspects of history?! After all, "Josephus" does not get presented as a theologian, either Jewish or otherwise, but as an external observer, we might say even a journalist. So interpolating Christian theology would be inappropriate, and would be a dead giveaway. Instead a passing reference would appear to be a reliable witness from the first century by an outside impassioned observer, either for the Baptist or for Jesus himself.