What do you make of the parallels between the passion of Christ and Josephus's account of Jesus ben Ananias? I know that it's usually dismissed, but it seems like there are too many similarities to just be coincidence. I'm not suggesting that Jesus ben Ananias was the template that Jesus of Nazareth was based on, but couldn't it be possible that elements were incorporated into the Gospel story? Or even if I did stretch it, isn't it possible that there were memories of that character that could have been incorporated into the Gospel story?
@Price or Lataster:
What do you make of the parallels between the passion of Christ and Josephus's account of Jesus ben Ananias? I know that it's usually dismissed, but it seems like there are too many similarities to just be coincidence. I'm not suggesting that Jesus ben Ananias was the template that Jesus of Nazareth was based on, but couldn't it be possible that elements were incorporated into the Gospel story? Or even if I did stretch it, isn't it possible that there were memories of that character that could have been incorporated into the Gospel story?