Aug 64 – Was Josephus involved in the plot to kill Christians?

177 AD 64 mentions the Fire in Rome. The writer of that article, Dr. Barbara Thiering, made some very interesting arguments for the authenticity of these letters between Paul and Seneca, which must be objectively evaluated, since almost all modern scholars consider these letters to be spurious. However, even if spurious, they might still contain tidbits of truth which were preserved by the third or fourth century writer who created them. Their supposed third century origin alone makes them valuable for study. It at least tells us what the third century Christians believed about these things. Here are a few excerpts from Thiering’s article:

The belief that Christianity came to Rome only through the lowest social classes, not working its way up until the time of Constantine, has been responsible for overlooking one of the most vital historical documents of all. The correspondence between Paul and the famous Stoic philosopher Seneca was preserved in the early church, accepted as genuine by the scholarly church fathers Jerome and Augustine, but categorically rejected as spurious by modern critics. Ernst Bickel believed that it originated in the 3rd century: “This correspondence presents a mythical expression of the historical process of fusion which came about in Italy...of Christianity on the one hand and, on the other, the ancient culture of the rhetoricians.”

Seneca, in Jerome’s words, was “the teacher of Nero and the most influential man of that time.” The letters, some of them with exact dates expressed in terms of the consuls actually in office, sound natural, without any defensiveness such as would be expected if they were forgeries. They are written in just the way an open-minded intellectual of the period would write if he had taken an interest in a new religion from a foreign source being presented as another philosophy. If, as the pesher of Acts indicates, Paul was a member of the court of Agrippa II , then he was of sufficient social standing to meet and converse with the eminent philosopher. The later letters show that Seneca was protecting Paul and the Christians from the venom of Nero in the period leading up to the great fire of 64 AD. This accords with the fact that Seneca, who had been tutor of the young Nero, had lost the favour of the capricious emperor, who ordered him to commit suicide, an order he had to obey with the courage of a Stoic in 65 AD. The letters begin at the outset of Nero’s reign at the end of 54 AD. ...[The last letter of Seneca to Paul is dated] AD 64, in which Seneca begins: “Can you possibly think that I am not distressed and grieved that capital punishment is still visited upon you innocent persons? As also that all the people are convinced of your cruelty and criminal malignity, believing that all evil in the city is owing to you”. [Barbara Thiering, “The Correspondence between Paul and Seneca,” June 2005] Found here on 12/16/2014

http://www.peshertechnique.infinitesoulutions.com/The_Other_Gospels/Paul_and_ Seneca.html

The Early Christian Writings website has an introductory article about it at the following weblink:

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/paulseneca.html

Full online text of the correspondence can be found at:

http://wesley.nnu.edu/index.php?id=2220

The print version of it can be found in The Apocryphal New Testament by M. R. James, translator and editor. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. First edition 1924. Reprinted numerous times.

Aug 64 – Was Josephus involved in the plot to kill Christians?

Josephus was still in Rome at the time of the great fire (July 64) and during the persecution of Christians afterwards, yet he does not say a word about either of those two events. Later

Christian writers have suggested that the Jews in Rome convinced Nero to blame the fire on

178 the Christians, to get himself off the hook. Josephus was in Rome at that very time, and had connections with Nero through Poppaea. Surely he would have known about these accusations that his fellow Jews were bringing before Nero. It was probably not politically or economically expedient for him to mention these events, since it would have been an incrimination against Nero, and an embarrassment to Vespasian and Titus who were in league with Nero.

In Rome after the war was over, Josephus collaborated with Vespasian, Titus, Agrippa II, and Bernice to write his Wars and Antiquities. Many of the things that Josephus says (or does not say) may be connected with the preferences and sensitivities of his Roman patrons or friendship with Agrippa and other Jewish loyalists. Another connection that should also be kept in mind, is that the post-70 rabbinical school at Yavneh may have exerted some influence on the contents of Josephus’ writings. They were bitterly anti-Christian, and may have played some role in the Neronic persecution right before the war. We will have more to say about that when we get to the war itself and its aftermath.

It is profoundly peculiar that Josephus does not mention any of this, even though he was in Rome at the time of the great fire and the persecution afterwards. He did allude to some of the crimes of Nero, but nothing specific, and certainly nothing related to the fire and the persecution (Antiq. 20.8.2- 3). Furthermore, Josephus had cordial relations with Nero and Poppaea at that very time through a mutual acquaintance named Aliturius, “an actor of plays and much beloved by Nero, but a Jew by birth” (Josephus Life 1:16). Josephus met Aliturius in Puteoli right after he had recovered from the shipwreck. Evidently Aliturius had performed in Nero’s palace. Josephus said that it was “through his interest that [Josephus] became known to Poppaea, Caesar’s wife, and took care, as soon as possible, to entreat her to procure that the priests might be set at liberty; and when, besides this favor, I had obtained many presents from Poppaea, I returned home again” (Josephus Life 1:16). Josephus does not say what other favors Poppaea granted him, nor why Poppaea was so generous. What had Josephus and Aliturius done for Nero and Poppaea that excited such lavish gratuities? Could it be that the Jews in Rome used this connection between Aliturius and Poppaea to suggest a way for Nero to get out of the blame for the fire, by blaming it on the Christians? It is certainly possible. Nero and Poppaea would have been extremely grateful for such a suggestion. It was a “win-win” for both Nero and the Jews. Again, there is motive and opportunity, the two key ingredients for suspicion.

At the time Josephus wrote the Wars (in AD 70-78) there were not very many Christians back in existence yet. The Neronic persecution, the great apostasy, and the rapture had removed them. It took a while for the gospel seed that had been planted in the hearts of countless thousands to sprout and grow. Since Christians were so scarce after AD 70, Josephus may have felt no need to mention them, thinking that they had been dealt such a crushing blow in the Neronic persecution that they would never be a significant factor in the Roman world again.

That would have been the worst case of underestimation in history! After the war, those who had heard the gospel before the war, began accepting Christ and restarted the church again, but without any trained leadership to guide them. The Christians were certainly not a threat to the Jews at that point. Josephus does not mention any Christians being around until he wrote the Antiquities in AD 93, saying that “the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day” [Antiq. 18:64 (18.3.3)]. It is hard to tell from this statement what was his opinion of Christians. Is he merely stating the situation as it was, or is he lamenting the fact that they were not extinct, as he and his fellow Jews in Rome might have hoped? This statement, written over twenty years after AD 70, shows that Christianity had finally reappeared on the radar screen after the Neronic persecution and rapture. There were enough of them around for Josephus to notice that they were not extinct after all, much to the chagrin of his Jewish comrades.

I can think of several different possible motives why Josephus did not mention the fire in Rome in July 64, nor the persecution of Christians afterwards. Perhaps Josephus thought that the Neronic persecution eliminated the vast majority of Christians, so there were not enough left