Assyrian
Basically pulling an Obama (Thanks Calminian!)
I'd pretty much agree with that.Eh, I'm not too sure of Josephus. He indicates where he begins to speak "philosophically", but not where he stops.
So where does he stop, if ever? I think he believes the genealogies of Genesis 5 to be historical, because he defends the patriarch's long lifespans by appealing to pagan authors who said similar things.
The genealogies include Adam and Seth. So my conclusion is that he believed both of them to be real people. And if them, why not also Adam's sons Cain and Abel? That moves the end of "philosophical" thinking back to the end of Genesis 3, at the very least.
This, in my mind, limits "philosophical" thinking to Adam's creation and the Fall, at most. But it still puts Josephus in the "Adam lived 6,000 years ago" camp. And he seems to treat Genesis 1 as six literal days:
Not sure you can compare him to modern creationist. Yes he did believe in a young earth, but I don't know any YECs who would even consider taking Genesis 2&3 allegorically. He was also much more pragmatic about evidence, he accepted the long lifespans because it fitted with the evidence from other genealogies. The question is whether he would have held onto his literal interpretation of the creation days if he knew the evidence for an ancient earth. What it does show us is that Jew in the first century were much more open to allegorical interpretation of the Genesis creation accounts interpreting the creation days allegorically like Philo, and the Adam and Eve story like both Philo and Josephus. Makes you wonder why the NT writers didn't speak out against these allegorical interpretations if they are as wrong as YECs think they are.My conclusion is that Josephus was what we call a YEC: he believed in six literal creation days, performed 6,000 years ago, with the creation of man from the dust and the Fall perhaps treated allegorically.
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