Josephus is an invaluable source for the history of Judaism in the Second Temple period. Louis H. Feldman offers the following comments on Josephus (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 3, pp. 981-982): Josephus was born in 37 C.E. and was given the Hebrew name Joseph ben Mattathias. His mother was a descendant of the Hasmonean…

Emil Schürer writes:“The best known historian of Jewish affairs in the Greek language is the Palestinian Josephus, properly Joseph, the son of Matthias, a priest of Jerusalem. Of his two chief works one is, the Ιουδαικη Αρχαιολογια, a comprehensive delineation of the entire Jewish history from the beginning to his own times. It is the…

There are several arguments of various quality that aim to show that the Testimonium Flavianum is entirely spurious.It is sometimes argued that the phrase “to this day” at the end of the passage indicates the perspective of a writer who was writing long after the events in question and that Josephus was too close in…

Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508] said: « If Josephus wrote this, we don’t accept it from him, because he wrote a lot, but not everything is true » Steve Mason tells us about 3 big issues with the “testimonium” Geza Vermes says « In contrast, proponents of the interpolation theory point out that testimonium contains blatant Christian statements (e.g., “He…

Introduction The concept of power in Philo’s work is probably best studied in his treatise De vita Mosis and his Quaestiones et Solutiones in Exodum 1–2. These two works thematically overlap in their interest in the second book of the Jewish Pentateuch and the description of the Tent of Meeting as a prototype of the…

Emil Schürer writes:“The third chief group of Philo’s works on the Pentateuch is a Delineation of the Mosaic Legislation for non-Jews. In this whole group indeed, the allegorical explanation is still occasionally employed. In the main however we have here actual historical delineations, a systematic statement of the great legislative work of Moses, the contents,…

Emil Schürer writes:“The third chief group of Philo’s works on the Pentateuch is a Delineation of the Mosaic Legislation for non-Jews. In this whole group indeed, the allegorical explanation is still occasionally employed. In the main however we have here actual historical delineations, a systematic statement of the great legislative work of Moses, the contents,…

Emil Schürer writes (The Literature of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus, pp. 329-331): While this shorter explanation in a catechetical form [Questions and Answers on Genesis] was intended for more extensive circles, Philo’s special and chief scientific work is his large allegorical commentary on Genesis, Νομων ιερων αλληγοριαι (such is the title…

Emil Schürer writes (The Literature of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus, pp. 329-331): While this shorter explanation in a catechetical form [Questions and Answers on Genesis] was intended for more extensive circles, Philo’s special and chief scientific work is his large allegorical commentary on Genesis, Νομων ιερων αλληγοριαι (such is the title…

Emil Schürer writes (The Literature of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus, pp. 329-331): While this shorter explanation in a catechetical form [Questions and Answers on Genesis] was intended for more extensive circles, Philo’s special and chief scientific work is his large allegorical commentary on Genesis, Νομων ιερων αλληγοριαι (such is the title…