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Reading the First Century: On Reading Josephus and Studying Jewish History of the First Century: 300
Author(s): Daniel R. Schwartz (Author)
- Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
- Publication Date: 1 April 2013
- Language: English
- Print length: 222 pages
- ISBN-10: 3161521870
- ISBN-13: 9783161521874
Book Description
The writings of Flavius Josephus provide much of what we know about the first century CE – which witnessed the birth of Christianity, the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, and the concomitant rise of rabbinic Judaism. However, Josephus was an author, not a video camera, and what he wrote often reflects much apart from what actually happened in the first century: Josephus’ works were affected both by his literary models and by current events, and they functioned in various ways for Josephus as an individual and also as a and a Roman, writing in a time of tumult and radical change. Daniel R. Schwartz argues that by building from the bottom up – first establishing the text and its meaning, then moving on to issues of Josephus’ models, sources, and purposes – we may nevertheless reconstruct, with some confidence, the events and processes of this crucial era.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Born 1952; 1971 immigrated to Israel; 1979 PhD; since 1979 teaching at Dept. of Jewish History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; since 1995 full professor; since 2011 academic head of Mandel Scholion-Interdisciplinary Research Center in the Humanities and Jewish Studies.
