Josephus: The Complete Works

Encounter the world and traditions that Jesus knew. Illuminate your understanding of the New Testament. In The Complete Works you will discover what the New Testament writers knew about Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, and Solomon and examine an in-depth history of Herod and his infamous family.

Josephus left us the earliest independent accounts of the lives of Jesus, John the Baptist, and James the brother of Jesus. Much of what we know about the beliefs of the Sadducees and Pharisees comes from Josephus. Without Josephus, we would know very little about the Essenes, the ancient Jewish group most frequently associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Features include:

• The War of the Jews—an account of the Jewish revolt against Rome up to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem
• The Antiquities of the Jews—a history of the Jews from Creation to the Roman occupation of Palestine
• The Life of Flavius Josephus—the autobiography of Josephus, who fought against Rome and later served the empire
• Against Apion—a defense of the origin of Judaism in the face of Greco-Roman slanders
• Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades—a text Whiston attributed to Josephus
• Index of parallels between Josephus’s Antiquities and the Old Testament including the Apocrypha

 

About Flavius Josephus

Josephus was a first-century Pharisee, soldier, informant to the Romans, and writer. He left behind the most extensive writings on ancient Jewish history still in existence.

J. I. Packer is a professor of history and systematic theology at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada.