barnhart wrote: ↑Thu Jan 22, 2026 7:44 am
Josephus was an in-house writer for the Romans so it's fair to look at his text from the perspective of what pleased his benefactors. I would expect him to show Jesus as a focus of social unrest to justify his execution.
I don't think he did, though. Josephus clearly flatters the Romans and exaggerates his own importance, but he does not accuse Jesus of rebellion, violence, sedition, or such.
Josephus portrays Jesus as a wise teacher who does surprising deeds, attracts a following, and is executed by Pilate at the instigation of Jewish leaders.
Josephus does explicitly condemn and detail other violent messianic figures - Theudas, an Egyptian, various zealot leaders. But he does not do this for Jesus. He could have. And it's perhaps surprising that he didn't.
1 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
mike wrote: ↑Tue Jan 20, 2026 8:00 pm
Bootstrap, I'm curious what you think of the Grokipedia article.
In general, I like it. It is more in-depth than the equivalent Wikipedia article. I suspect AI has been used to construct it, at least in some sections, FWIW.
'Grokipedia' is 100% AI. The article looks like summaries of scholarly articles on the topic. One has to wonder which is more reliable - human written open encyclopedias editable by anyone or AI generated encyclopedias.
It appears to be 99% accurate.
For those who say that's good enough, I would invite you to file 99% accurate taxes, or arrest you with a 99% accurate arrest warrant. (And AI is being used to do those exact things.)
In general, I like it. It is more in-depth than the equivalent Wikipedia article. I suspect AI has been used to construct it, at least in some sections, FWIW.
'Grokipedia' is 100% AI. The article looks like summaries of scholarly articles on the topic. One has to wonder which is more reliable - human written open encyclopedias editable by anyone or AI generated encyclopedias.
It appears to be 99% accurate.
For those who say that's good enough, I would invite you to file 99% accurate taxes, or arrest you with a 99% accurate arrest warrant. (And AI is being used to do those exact things.)
I'm curious - which parts did you consider inaccurate, and why?
FWIW, which threads in MN are 99% accurate?
0 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
'Grokipedia' is 100% AI. The article looks like summaries of scholarly articles on the topic. One has to wonder which is more reliable - human written open encyclopedias editable by anyone or AI generated encyclopedias.
It appears to be 99% accurate.
For those who say that's good enough, I would invite you to file 99% accurate taxes, or arrest you with a 99% accurate arrest warrant. (And AI is being used to do those exact things.)
I'm curious - which parts did you consider inaccurate, and why?
FWIW, which threads in MN are 99% accurate?
Grokipedia? I looked up something I am an expert on (and where Grokipedia mostly cites my own works) and it was mostly accurate, but not perfectly so.
JohnH wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 3:13 pm
Grokipedia? I looked up something I am an expert on (and where Grokipedia mostly cites my own works) and it was mostly accurate, but not perfectly so.
Ah, got it. This was a general comment on Grokipedia, not on the Josephus article. Thanks for the clarification.
0 x
1. Are we discussing the topic? Good.
2. Are we going around and around in a fight? Let's stop doing that.
3. Is there some serious wrongdoing or relational injury? Let's address that, probably not in public and certainly not for show.
JohnH wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 3:13 pm
Grokipedia? I looked up something I am an expert on (and where Grokipedia mostly cites my own works) and it was mostly accurate, but not perfectly so.
Ah, got it. This was a general comment on Grokipedia, not on the Josephus article. Thanks for the clarification.
I wouldn’t be qualified to evaluate the Josephus article
That’s one of the problems with Grokipedia and other AI stuff. The article looks accurate and is convincing to me - but I have no idea how trustworthy it actually is.