(May 14, 2012 at 9:37 am)Phil Wrote:(April 28, 2012 at 8:19 pm)Alter2Ego Wrote: And much to nobody's surprise, these "many people" who consider Josephus' work on Jesus Christ to be counterfeit are merely speculating. They don't have a shred of evidence to prove what they are saying.
Really, tell me can you provide a copy of any manuscript of Josephus prior to Eusebius (4th century) that contains the Testimonium? You are going to start a losing battle.
Even better, come up with a single writer....xtian or greco-roman...who makes mention of this obvious fraud prior to the 4th century.
Tacitus suffers from the same dilemma, btw. A famous historian but early xtian writers seem to know nothing about Nero torturing xtians for causing the Great Fire...even Eusebius.