Bibliography
| Title: The Against Apion and the continuities in Josephus's Political Thought Secondary Title: JSPE.S 32 Pages: 222-246 Type: Generic Year: 1998 Abstract: "Paget, James Carleton in: BJGS 25 (1999/00) 21: Tessa Rajak argues that contra Apionem provides us with the fullest description of Josephus' understanding of the Jewish constitute, presenting us, interestingly, with the first known use of the Greek term 'theokratia'. Contrary to some opinions, such as presentation marks the endpoint of a clearly traceable development in Josephus' thinking whose origins can be seen in his previous writings. // Feldman Louis Harry in: OTA 22,1 (1999) 137-138: The interests of the Against Apion are not those of Josephus' other works. Because the Apion is a response to Greek intellectuals, it partakes more fully than the rest of Josephus' works in the Greek culture of its time: that culture was permeated with philosophy at all levels, and this to some extent explains Josephus' involvement with philosophical commonplaces in the Apion; Philo's influence is clearly another factor. Polemic was a branch of rhetoric, and the Against Apion is the most rhetorical of Josephus' works. In the light of this, it is not surprising that the political thought of the Apion is more schematized than anything else in Josephus. In particular, he has to make the Jewish politeia parallel with Greek political systems before its quintessential merits can be extracted. These considerations help us to understand such discrepancies as have emerged between the Josephus of the Against Apion and the earlier Josephus. In Against Apion Josephus consolidates an existing preference for portraying the Jews as living within their own politeia. The definition of Judaism as a theocracy is new. Such a claim could not have been made in the Jewish War, where Josephus' theocratic ideal would have been easily confused with the very different ideology of the Zealots. The insistence in Against Apion on the essential uniqueness of the by then defunct Temple postdates the Jewish War. But the common ground between Against Apion and the later works is extensive; and we may conclude that Josephus did not undergo any fundamental change of heart about the way that Jewish society should be governed. In particular, for Josephus liberty was not only a political but also a religious ideal, and attainable only through the Law." Keywords: Contra Apionem |