Immanuel kant summary biography of josephus
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JOSEPHUS
(37-c. 100)
from The Jewish War
The Defeat at Jotapata
The Fall of Masada
Originally born Joseph ben Matthias in Jerusalem, Titus Flavius Josephus was a Jewish military commander and then historian. He was of priestly and royal descent, educated in both Hebrew and Greek literature. At age 16, he went into the desert, staying with the hermit Bannus; after this, he joined the Pharisees, and in 66 A.D., he reluctantly (or so he claims) took part in the Jewish revolt against Rome. After the Roman siege of Jotapata, Josephus, who as governor of Galilee led its defense, was captured and imprisoned in a långnovell camp. He was later freed by the emperor Vespasian and became a Roman citizen. Adopting the Vespasian family name of Flavius, Josephus endeavored to act as a mediator between the Romans and the Jews during the assault on Jerusalem bygd Titus in the year 70. His attempts at mediation were unsuccessful, as he was distrusted by bo
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Recently I have argued that the academic study of the Bible is best served by a commitment to historicism not because our methods are objective and free of bias, but because this approach provides the best checks-and-balances for discussing the Bible in a context that isn’t shaped by religious commitment (see “Historiography, historical method, ‘the past,’ and biblical studies”). Let me be clear, I am not saying one can fully bracket their faith commitments when approaching the text, but that fryst vatten part of the aim of doing good historical work. There are some who suggest that this approach is essentially “modernistic,” and I understand the point that they are making, especially if someone suggest that their methods allow them to be objective researchers. But we should confuse the desire to correctly narrate past events with modernism.
I was reminded of this while reading the first part of Josephus’ The Wars of the Jews where he says th
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The Writings of Josephus: Their Significance for New Testament Study
Josephus as Historical Manual for New Testament Readers
The use of Josephus as a reference work on matters Judean has ancient roots, among his immediate audiences in Rome and later in the church fathers. In some respects this use fulfills the author's dream that "the whole Greek-speaking world" would learn about his culture from him (Ant. 1.5; cf. War 1.6). Yet the Christian readers who preserved Josephus into modern times were not interested in his expositions of Judean culture as such: they were concerned only with the background of the early Christian story. 4 (Jewish scholars of the ancient and medieval periods preferred to forego his portraits of Judaism for other reasons.) Because the use of Josephus for New Testament interpretation is not a new issue, but has been with us for nearly two millennia, we ought to ponder the changing methodological bases for such use. That survey will tell us some