PaulK & Huntard,
I'm just saying there are people who have argued this and that (such as Josephus wrote Matthew, Mark, Luke and John plus the NT writings of Paul), i.e., that Josephus and Paul were one person.
If you have something that opposes such a position please point it out (but don't give me something that squashes the discussion -- like it is an "alternative view," that doesn't hack it with me).
Cascioli, for example, has claimed that Josephus is unreliable in certain respects and that Jesus Christ was John of Gamala (in Josephus).
Have either of you ever read The Fable of Christ (by Luigi Cascioli)? If so, what do you think of his argument about there never having been a Jesus Christ? I asked Bart Ehrman and he told me he had not.
On the other hand, If Cascioli is mistaken (about the quote from Josephus in Book 18, Chapter 3, Paragraph 3 ), because Josephus really did mention the NT Jesus (and the paragraph was not a Catholic Church redaction at a later date), it would make a world of difference if Josephus and Paul were: either different people or the same person with different names.
I mention Holbach because, as you may know, in his book, System of Nature, he claimed for reasons of personal safety that it was authored by someone else. The story of the Crucifiction of Jesus in the NT, it seems, would argue favorably for these Christian writers, living in a Jewish world, to remain anonymous (like atheist Holbach living in a Christian world). Holbach's 1770 book was outlawed by the French government within a few months after it appeared and, apparently, some were jailed for having either sold it or having purchased it. It's a nasty world sometimes.