Language:
English
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period
Angaben zur Quelle:
50,4-5 (2019) 524-556
Keywords:
Josephus, Flavius Criticism and interpretation
;
Josephus, Flavius.
;
Greek language Translating
;
Prophets in post-biblical literature
Abstract:
In Ag. Ap. 1.41, after stressing that the Jewish holy books are rightly trusted because only prophets wrote them, Josephus remarks that Judaeans do not trust later writings in the same way. The reason he gives is usually translated as “the failure of the exact succession of the prophets.” Whereas older scholarship played down this reason to insist on the absence of prophecy in post-biblical Judaism, the prevailing view today holds that Josephus meant only to qualify later prophecy, not to exclude it. This essay broaches the more basic question of what an ἀκριβὴς διαδοχή means. Arguing that an exact diachronic succession of prophets makes little sense, it offers two proposals that better suit Josephus’ argument. It further contends that Josephus is talking about the ancient Judaean past, the subject of this work, not about the work of later historians including himself. He distinguishes sharply between prophecy and historical inquiry.
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