[W]hatever Josephus wrote (I'm convinced he did write something) it was a passing reference that's been so messed about by Christian copyists that it's impossible to reconstruct. All we can really say is that, going by the context, he probably wrote a one or two, negative, sentences about Jesus.
What's the basis your position, Robert?
The story
comes immediately after a negative story about Pilate, and is followed by a scurrilous story about a certain
Paulina. Josephus then returns to Pilate. A negative comment about another character would fit well, especially if it involved Pilate. In
his comment about the execution of
James, Josephus refer to 'Jesus, who was called Christ'. That could easily be written by someone who didn't believe he was the Messiah, but wouldn't be so plausible from a
Christian, and certainly not from whoever added 'He was [the] Christ' a little earlier in the same book.
'Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called
Christ, whose name was
James, and some others, [or some of
his companions]; and, when he
had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned' doesn't make much sense unless Josephus explained somewhere who this Jesus was. So it's reasonable to suppose that he said something, and that it was more likely to be negative than positive.