Did Josephus really write about Jesus in his book called Antiquities of the Jews?
Answer 1There is a reference to someone named 'christos' or 'chrestus' but this just means 'anointed', so it could have applied to anyone.Most theologians say that the reference to 'christos' is a forgery, added later. And besides this, Josephus was hardly a reliable source. He turned on his fellow Jews and defected to the Romans.Answer 2Apparently he did but it is clear that some of his statements do not seem to be in keeping with what we know of what Josephus believed, and presumably have been added or modified by scribes in transmission. Thus the statement in what is called 'the testimonium' that "He was the Christ" may be an addition; or possibly originally read "He was believed to be the Christ", as the Latin and Syriac versions still read.This has been sorted out over time by textual and literary-critical methods. Originally it was all believed to be genuine, then in going to the other extreme some rejected it entirely. However the scholarly view, as is often the case in some areas has settled down to a relative consensus that some of it was genuine - the parts that acknowledge Jesus' existence, but not the parts which express personal faith in Him.There are two passages in question. The longer, in Antiquities book 18 is also known as the Testimonium Flavianum. The shorter is in Antiquities 20.From the 17th-19th century, the long passage was generally considered an interpolation (accidental or otherwise) by some later copyist. Discoveries of further versions of the text in other ancient and medieval languages, together with a reaction against the hyper-scepticism of the 19th century, have caused a movement where many scholars now think at least part of the text is genuine. It remains controversial, however.The short passage has always been considered genuine by almost all scholars. Ca. 1900 Emil Scherer questioned it, but his views were not accepted.There is a scholarly study of the history of the scholarship on these passages: Alice Whealey, "Josephus on Jesus: The Testimonium Flavianum Controversy from Late Antiquity to Modern Times", Peter Lang Publishing (2003).Answer 3You need to be very aware that the Roman Church had custody of these ancient documents for centuries. It wouldn't have been hard for them to "correct" the writings of Josephus.Many ancient writings were changed or destroyed by the Roman Church.