Fascinating interview in which Ken Olson speaks about why the Testimonium Flavanium is definitely a forgery and reveals not only skepticism about the James passage in Josephus but also skepticism about whether Galatians 1:19 (‘James the brother of the Lord’) means “James the biological sibling.” Though Olson describes as a historicist, I can’t help but wonder if he is teetering towards mythicism (maybe one day he’ll look back and see himself now that way). After all, if three important pieces of evidence for a historical Jesus fall apart, it would certainly make me wonder about mythicism if I were in Olson’s epistemically shoes. “Hmmm… How many of these other arguments for a historical Jesus are as good as they look?” I’d be wondering.
