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Christian Texts and History • Re: What did Origen say he read about James’s reputation in Josephus?

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Just to tie off a point arising:

At Church History 2.23.4, Eusebius quotes Hegesippus as saying that the term James the Just had been in use since the 30's CE:
4. James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the Church in conjunction with the apostles. He has been called the Just by all from the time of our Saviour to the present day; for there were many that bore the name of James.
Eusebius Church History 2.1.3 and 4 seems to quote Clement of Alexandria as using the term James the Just twice. Eusebius cites the lost Hypotyposes

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250102.htm (for all CH Book 2 items)

As usual with Eusebius, he didn't have modern punctuation, and we don't have the texts being cited, so Eusebius may be paraphrasing rather than directly quoting parts of Clement and perhaps parts of Hegesippus.

The supposedly early use of the epithet may have some relevance to the concerns of the thread. Anyone who encountered the term in use would reasonably infer that any James designated "the just" would have a reputation for "justice" without the need for a text to explain that much.

That is also true at "second order." Origen probably knows that Josephus is a younger contemporary of the legendary James. Origen would plausibly believe that Josephus would have known about James being called the Just if the term had been in use for a generation before the events of 58-62 CE. Nothing more would be needed for Origen to infer reasonably that Josephus would believe that James had a reputation for justice in some sense of the word.

Statistics: Posted by Paul the Uncertain — Fri Feb 23, 2024 10:26 am



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