Quote:
| Originally posted by orgaelin,+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (orgaelin,)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Josephus was a Jewish historian who actually lived in Judea at the time when Jesus was alive, and is generally accepted as a very valuable source of information about history both in and before his own time.[/b] |
Flavius Josephus was born in 37 CE and therefore did not live in Judea "at the time when Jesus was alive". His works are, in fact, deemed very valuable and worthy of critical investigation, but his works are also known to reflect self interest, superstition, and exageration.
<!--QuoteBegin-orgaelin, We have two tools at our disposal here for ascertaining the truth. One is the work of Josephus, a historical reference, and the other is our own judgement of whether or not the pieces fit the puzzle.[/quote]
What an amazing sentence. You might wish to visit
Eisenbrauns - there is a great deal of 2nd Temple Period archaeology and history at our disposal. As for
"own judgement of whether or not the pieces fit the puzzle", much depends upon whether or not you cherry-pick your pieces then piece them together with speculation and innuendo.