Josephus Dependent on Luke

Yesterday, in my blog, Rewriting Sacred History, I presented my argument for Josephus being dependent on Luke. Steve Mason, I would say, believes Luke is dependent on Josephus.

In one argument advanced by Mason, he asks about Paul’s discussion with Felix of “justice, self-control, and coming judgment”[i], “Why these themes in particular, and not the resurrection of Jesus or faith in Christ, which dominate the book elsewhere?” He answers his own question: “Their significance would not be lost on the reader who knew Josephus’ accounts.”[ii]

“What is peculiar here is that the narrative of Acts almost assumes knowledge of an account such as Josephus’.”[iii] Later in the same paragraph, Mason states: “An intriguing question, then, is: What did the author of Acts expect his readers to know in advance?”

The problem with this argument, “Why these themes in particular, and not the resurrection of Jesus or faith in Christ, which dominate the book elsewhere?” is that Mason conveniently overlooks the verse preceding the verse he cites in support of his argument.

Acts 24:24 states: “And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.”

I do plan to address Mason’s arguments in detail but I thought I would address the one that started me thinking about the dependency question three years ago.


[i] Acts 24:25.
[ii] Mason, Steve, Josephus and the New Testament, (Peabody, 1992), 114.
[iii] Mason, 114.

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