Redaction Criticism: Josephus' Antiquities and the Synoptic Gospels (I)

Abstract

In Josephus' Antiquities we can see quite clearly the work of a first century Hellenistic Jewish redactor. We have his sources (mainly the canonical Scriptures) in a form very close to that which he used, and so can discern the direction and the extent of the changes made. This allows for a useful comparison with the Synoptic gospels, where the direction (and therefore the kind) of change is still in dispute; and especially with Luke's Gospel, where the stated intentions and the widely agreed 'tendencies' are often identical with those of Josephus.