Hellenism, Judaism, and Apologetic: Josephus's Antiquities According to an Unpublished Commentary by Abraham Schalit

In summary, apart from calling attention to the existence of a substantial and valuable piece of Josephan scholarship that reflects untold thousands of hours of work and was rescued from oblivion just in the nick of time, the current paperpoints to three centralissues that must be considered by all interpretersof Josephus, especially his Antiquities.First: To what extent, and in what ways, was Josephus a Hellenistic writer, and so it is to the Hellenistic or Greco-Roman world that we should turn to understand him? Second: To what extent, and in what ways, was he a Jewish writer, and so it is to the Jewish world that we must turn when trying to understand him? And what texts can best illustrate for us, today, Josephus’s Jewish world? And, third, should Josephus’s accounts of Jewish history, lore, and law, in his Antiquities, be read on the assumption that he was writing to fend off criticism of the Jews and Judaism, or, rather, to inform those who had a sincere interest in learning about such things? These issues must underpin our basic notions and approaches in interpreting Josephus. Accordingly, apart from all the details to which Schalit’s manuscript calls notice, it may be hoped that the opportunity and challenge it provides, to consider the way a great Josephan scholar of an earlier generation dealt with these issues, will enrich our own deliberations concerning them.