"This article contributes specifically to the filling in of a lacuna in scholarship
regarding the reception of Josephus’s writings among the
Reformers and contributes generally to investigations into the humanist
scholarship of the Reformation. It analyzes the use of Josephus’s writings
in Calvin’s Commentaries and Lectures in order to bring about a better
understanding of both the nature of his reception of Josephus and the
character of his historical enterprise. The picture that emerges is of
Calvin as historicus practicus: i.e., his role as historian was subordinated
to his responsibility as theologian to edify the church. Calvin’s specific
attitude towards the writings of Josephus is best explained by competing
historical factors, especially Josephus’s earlier positive reception by
the early church and the negative attitudes toward Jews present in the
sixteenth century."
Westminster Theological Seminary Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA ; International Reformed Evangelical Seminary Jakarta, Indonesia, 2016