Thanks for the response.

It depends what you mean by 'Jewish'. That seems to me to be a rather vague term. As far as I can tell, there were 'pure' Jewish traditionalists, but there were also Hellenistic Jews. After all, the Gospels that have come down to us were all written in Greek – we don't have any Hebrew or Aramaic versions. Also, were the authors living in Palestine at the time, or were they from the Diaspora?

To say that the writers were Jewish may also gloss over some of the history. There was more than one religious tradition at the time. There was Ezra's post-exilic Judaism, and also an Israelite tradition. Very interesting therefore is an extraordinary passage in John (1.45-49) where Jesus is introduced to Nathanael. He says “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit”. This suggests that Jesus was from an Israelite tradition, therefore in conflict with 'Judaism'.

Very interesting therefore is another passage in John (8.48) which records that the Jews mistook Jesus for a Samaritan, an Israelite sect which rejected the authority of Ezra. This follows a very feisty confrontation with these Jews, whom Jesus accuses of following the wrong religion, and not recognising him as a true prophet. If he was speaking truth to power, as you say, then this would have been challenging the Judaism of his time with the ancient Israelite tradition.

Perhaps the writers of the Gospels were therefore Israelites, not Jewish.

It depends which passages in Josephus you are referring to. The main one has been exposed as a fraudulent interpolation by (presumably) a later Christian.

I agree with what you say about Constantine.