observations. They have not, however, dealt systematically with Josephus’ literary program in its context. Much recent scholarship, by contrast, tries to interpret Josephus in the standard sense of that verb: to read each part of his narratives in relation to the whole. Even here there is considerable variation, from purely literary studies to those that concern themselves with Josephus’ first audience, in the vein of the “new historicism.” But there is a new awareness abroad that we cannot use Josephus