Flavius Josephus's The Jewish War was about a battle between Jews and pagans, with a lot of Christians somewhere in the vicinity. For most of its history, it was preserved by Christians. So why is this book so utterly Jewish?

Josephus was, famously, a commander in the Jewish Revolt against the Romans that began in 66 B.C.E., which ended with Jerusalem in ruins and its Temple destroyed -- what is left of the ruins is now probably the most significant cultural site for Jews in all of Israel. Josephus himself, who survived even though most of the soldiers under him were killed, was a Roman prisoner busily ingratiating himself to the generals who captured him. Little wonder, then, that Jewish tradition forgot him. It was Christians, starved for information about what happened in Jerusalem in the years after they were largely driven from the city, who preserved the four books Josephus wrote (his major works, the Jewish War and the Antiquities, plus the short Against Apion and the self-serving, contradictory Life). Church chronicles such as Eusebius also drew much information from Josephus, so the facts he preserved were deeply embedded in Christian history. By contrast, the Jews knew nothing of his writings until a Jewish adaption known as "Yosippon" eventually got their attention. But this was a rewritten, sometimes inaccurate, translation, not the real thing. And it's not as Yosippon became part of the Talmud or something; it was still relatively peripheral to Jewish self-understanding.

In England, William Whiston eventually translated Josephus, and although his translation was a botched job based on a poor text strongly influenced by Whiston's personal sectarianism (he revived the ancient, discredited Arian heresy), so important was Josephus that, as author Martin Goodman notes, Josephus was often the book shelved right next to the Bible in homes that had only two or three books.

Yet, for practical purposes, Goodman's discussion of the English versions of Josephus, and indeed all Christian mentions of the Jewish War, stop with Whiston in the early eighteenth century. From then on, Goodman's entire book is devoted to Jews' arguments over whether to use Josephus, whether to trust Josephus, whether Josephus was a traitor. (The answers to which are, (1) yes, (2) within limits, since nothing else is available, and (3) it doesn't matter.) Page after page of position summaries for people most of us have never heard of, all repeating the same arguments. Which might not be so bad if Goodman were a great stylist -- Chaucer, say, could have made that section thrilling. When Goodman writes it, it drags endlessly; if I wanted to stay awake, I could only read it about four pages at a time.

It's really too bad. There is need for a good English introduction to Josephus. The usual modern English edition of the Jewish War, the Penguin text, doesn't have enough of an introduction or notes. The Loeb Classical Library edition is overkill for most people -- and it doesn't have much of an introduction either, and while the translation of the Antiquities is excellent, that of the Jewish War is quite stilted. Whiston's translation is even less adequate now than it was in 1737.

I wanted to like this book. It was written because Josephus is such an important author, historically. We need a book of this sort about Josephus. But, unless you are deeply interested in Jewish historical controversies of the eighteenth through twentieth centuries, I don't think you'll find it very useful. Even if you are interested in Jewish controversies, you are not likely to find it a very pleasant read. ( )