Books > Christianity
|
Buy Now
Josephus, Paul, and the Fate of Early Christianity - History and Silence in the First Century (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,198
Discovery Miles 11 980
|
|
Josephus, Paul, and the Fate of Early Christianity - History and Silence in the First Century (Paperback)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
Flavius Josephus, the priest from Jerusalem who was affiliated with
the Pharisees, is our most important source for Jewish life in the
first century. His notice about the death of James the brother of
Jesus suggests that Josephus knew about the followers of Jesus in
Jerusalem and in Judaea. In Rome, where he lived for the remainder
of his life after the Jewish War, a group of Christians appear to
have flourished, if 1 Clement is any indication. Josephus, however,
says extremely little about the Christians in Judaea and nothing
about those in Rome. He also does not reference Paul the apostle, a
former Pharisee, who was a contemporary of Josephus's father in
Jerusalem, even though, according to Acts, Paul and his activities
were known to two successive Roman governors (procurators) of
Judaea, Marcus Antonius Felix and Porcius Festus, and to King Herod
Agrippa II and his sisters Berenice and Drusilla. The knowledge of
the Herodians, in particular, puts Josephus's silence about Paul in
an interesting light, suggesting that it may have been deliberate.
In addition, Josephus's writings bear very little witness to other
contemporaries in Rome, so much so that if we were dependent on
Josephus alone we might conclude that many of those historical
characters either did not exist or had little or no impact in the
first century. Asiedu comments on the state of life in Rome during
the reign of the Emperor Domitian and how both Josephus and the
Christians who produced 1 Clement coped with the regime as other
contemporaries, among whom he considers Martial, Tacitus, Pliny the
Younger, and others, did. He argues that most of Josephus's
contemporaries practiced different kinds of silences in bearing
witness to the world around them. Consequently, the absence of
references to Jews or Christians in Roman writers of the last three
decades of the first century, including Josephus, should not be
taken as proof of their non-existence in Flavian Rome.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.