Philo's Writings Research Articles

Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings by Jennifer Otto

Reviewed by: Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings by Jennifer Otto Todd Berzon Jennifer Otto Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018 Pp. 256. $84.50. Jennifer Otto's detailed yet eminently readable monograph sees in Philo of Alexandria a hermeneutic of collective identity for three early Christian writers, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius of Caesarea. Philo's own identity, as a Jewish biblical interpreter and Platonic thinker, afforded these authors the conceptual space in which to elaborate the contours of Christianness vis-a-vis a proximate Jewishness (the author generally avoids the terms Christianity and Judaism because, she says, they anachronistically connote the category of religion). Otto further contends that Philo was harnessed by Christians not simply to elaborate the differences between Jewishness and Christianness, but also "to establish Christianity as a virtuous way of life, parallel to the pursuits of the philosophical schools" (2). Otto's book thus concerns itself with the circumstances in which early Christians invoked Philo as an interpreter who could link facets of Christianness, Jewishness, and (pagan) philosophy and yet simultaneously differentiate them. The Introduction situates Philo's Christian reception in relation to a number of highly contentious issues in the study of early Christian representations of Jewishness. Otto conceptualizes Philo as a lens for revisiting questions about the parting of the ways, the differences in Christian usages of the terms Ioudaioi, Hebraioi, and Israel, the relationship between ancient notions of ethnicity and way of life, and the idea of Christianity as a philosophy. Otto's survey of the relevant scholarly literature is helpful and clear, though the various sub-sections of the Introduction have a disjunctive flow. It is only in the ensuing chapters that the relationship between these questions becomes slightly clearer. In Chapter One, Otto elaborates how Clement likely came to possess Philonic texts. Her aim is to rebut the dominant scholarly theories which argue that Clement's source must have been either a Jewish teacher in Alexandria or a school tradition with Jewish roots. But if, as Otto insists, the Alexandrian Jewish community was virtually decimated after the Trajanic revolt of 115–117, Clement would have needed an alternative source. Otto thus proposes that Clement came into contact with Philo's works through the vibrant (non-Jewish) philosophical networks in Alexandria. Because the philosophical schools of Alexandria were open to consulting outside works, Philo's writings were almost certainly part of the city's broader philosophical exchanges. While Otto is correct that the consensus theory about Clement's acquisition of Philo (via some sort of connection to Jews) necessitates a fair amount of speculation, her alternative suggestion is no less speculative. There is simply no direct evidence to support her claim, and it is not clear how it materially affects her analysis in subsequent chapters. Chapters Two, Three, and Four examine how Clement, Origen, and Eusebius describe Philo's exegetical skills and ethnic identity. Chapter Two investigates Clement's four overt references to Philo. In two of those cases, Clement calls Philo "the Pythagorean" even where he is also called an expert interpreter of the [End Page 342] Mosaic law and/or historian of the Jewish people. Why, Otto asks, would Clement describe Philo this way? Her answer is that the ascription "Pythagorean" worked to present Philo as a barbarian sage who blended the wisdom of Hebraism and Hellenism. Philo's exegetical skills "can thus be wielded by Clement both against Christians who protest the validity of Greek education and against philosophers who denigrate the teachings of the ekkelsia as a novelty" (89). Chapter Three focuses on Origen, who drew upon Philo's biblical allegorizing to bolster Christian efforts to uncover the veiled intent of scripture. For that reason, Origen often (and anonymously) refers to Philo as a predecessor, literally as "one of those who came before us." But in calling Philo his predecessor, Origen is not rendering him into a proto-Christian; rather, in Otto's estimation, the term "signals Origen's awareness of Philo as an interpreter of old who . . . correctly perceived the hermeneutical depths of the narratives recorded in Israel...

The Cambridge Companion to Philo (review)

Reviewed by: The Cambridge Companion to Philo Ken Schenck Adam Kamesar , ed. The Cambridge Companion to Philo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. xv + 301 pp. Cloth, $85; paper, $29.99. The Cambridge Companion to Philo, edited by Adam Kamesar, now takes its place on a rather short list of introductions to Philo, including such distinguished works as those by E. R. Goodenough (1940) and Samuel Sandmel (1979). This Cambridge volume is an incredible asset for anyone wishing to engage Philo's writings, especially someone who already has some basic sense of ancient philosophy or who wishes to understand Philo on a more advanced level. Its authors are an international and diverse collection of Philo experts whose names would feature in any substantial bibliography of Philonic research, and several are recognized leaders in the field. The advantage of this type of introduction is that it gives the reader the thinking of Philonic experts as it is in process. The goal is not so much to give the spectrum of opinion on issues of debate as to present a reasonable overview of each topic from the standpoint of a particular scholar. At the same time, if one does not have some basic knowledge of the relevant ancient fields of knowledge, this sort of book will require a good deal of work even as an introduction. If one does not have at least a cursory acquaintance with ancient philosophical schools like Stoicism and Platonism, a basic sense of the New Testament and ancient Jewish literature, as well as other basic categories of the ancient world, a good deal of the book's potential may be lost. The first three chapters of the book introduce the reader to "Philo's Life [End Page 506] and Writings," the first section of the book as a whole. "Philo, His Family, and His Times" is appropriately the first chapter, written by Daniel Schwartz of Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Schwartz gives an excellent overview of what we know of Philo's life and family, set against what we know from the occasional personal comment here and there in Philo's writings, from the occasional mentions of Philo in contemporary literature, and from our general knowledge of the Egyptian city of Alexandria at the time. In keeping with the nature of the book, Schwartz occasionally presents his own hypotheses. One very plausible one is that many of the social conflicts in Alexandria arose from the Romans adding a stratum on top of the existing social structure of Alexandria, with the existing Greek, Jewish, and Egyptian residents then forced to vie with one another for differential status (20). Interestingly, Schwartz also suggests that Philo's attachment to the physical temple was a matter of inconsistency and sentimentality, since Schwartz believes Philo's thought system undermines any attachment to the literal temple whatsoever (29). The second chapter introduces the reader to "The Works of Philo." Its primary author is James Royse of San Francisco State University, with additional contributions from Adam Kamesar, the volume's editor. This chapter is an incredibly valuable map to the complicated issues involved with an ancient collection of writings whose boundaries are uncertain and some of whose contents are lost to history. Philo's works included three large commentary series, each unique in form and apparent purpose, whose order and precise contents in themselves are a matter of debate. Royse then groups the remaining writings appropriately into apologetic/historical works and philosophical works. This chapter helpfully identifies which portions of each writing are extant, gives some sense of its content, and suggests treatises that might be missing in each group. The first section of the book ends with "Biblical Interpretation in Philo," written by Adam Kamesar himself, who teaches at Hebrew Union College in Ohio. With this chapter, the book, as the subject matter, becomes slightly more demanding for the novice. The sense that Philo was first and foremost an interpreter of Scripture—rather than a philosopher—has become the dominant lens through which to view him. Individual scholars vary in their sense of how consistently or profoundly Philo participated in the philosophical currents of his day, but generally agree that he used philosophy in service to...

Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles

Abbreviations Part I. Prolegomena: 1. Introduction, previous solutions, method and Pauline context Part II. The Graeco-Roman Belly: 2. The belly as a sign - ancient physiognomics 3. The belly in ancient moral philosophy 4. Ancient critique of Epicureanism 5. Banquets - opportunities for the belly Part III. The Appropriated Belly: 6. The belly-topos in Jewish-Hellenistic sources 7. The belly in Philo's writings Part IV. Belly-Worship and Body According to Paul: 8. The lifestyle of citizens of the heavenly Politeuma - Phil 3:17-21 9. 'Serving the belly' as kinship with Satan - Rom 16:17-20 10. The Corinthian belly Part V. The Earliest Expositors of Paul: 11. The belly-dicta of Paul in Patristic literature Part VI. Conclusions: 12. Concluding remarks Bibliography Indices.

The Philo Index. A Complete Greek Word Index to the Writings of Philo of Alexandria

This new reference work is the first and only available word index to all the Greek words in the writings of Philo of Alexandria, main fragments included. Designed specifically to aid with research on Philo, this lemmatized and computer-generated concordance lists each Greek word alphabetically, followed by an exhaustive listing of every occurrence of the term within Philo's extensive corpus of extant writings. Based on the four major translations of Philo's writings (Cohn-Wendland, Colson, Petit, and Paramelle) this index eases word study by including contracted words and words with variant spellings into a single listing. It also notes supplementary lemmas and other grammatical variations in brackets after the primary term. product of the Norwegian Philo Concordance Project begun in the late 1960s by Peder Borgen (University of Trondheim), with development assistance from Kare Fuglseth (University of Trondheim) and Roald Skarsten (University of Bergen), The Philo Index is a must for research and academic libraries and will be indispensable for scholars and students of Philo. A Brill-Eerdmans co-publication

Accuser, Judge and Paraclete - On conscience in Philo of Alexandria

Of all known ancient authors writing in Greek, Philo of Alexandria is the one and related terms and concepts (the apostle Paul comes next, more or less). Something similar may only be found in Latin authors speaking of conscientia, like Cicero. This needs an explanation. After discussing some relevant passages from Philo's writings, with special stress on the texts from scriptures exposed by him, analogies in wisdom literature and in Graeco-Roman rhetoric and mythology are indicated. The following solution is proposed: Philo combines the punishing Furies (cf Cicero) and the benevolent guardian spirit (c. Seneca) of Graeco-Roman mythology and philosophy with the personified reproof from Jewish Wisdom literature, and so he creates a concept that helps him to give a visual description of the strict but nevertheless kind guidance God practices on man.

Reviews

REVIEWS R. Radice, Filone di Alessandria: bibliografia generale 1937-1982 (Elenchos. Collana di testi e studi sul pensiero antico VIII). Bibliopolis (Napoli), 1983, 331 pp., L 35.000. The explosive growth of scholarly productivity during the last four decades has meant that it is only possible to gain an overview of the secondary literature on major Greco-Roman, Biblical and Patristic authors through the use of bibliographical aids. In this regard students of Philo's writings and thought have had no reason to complain. All the literature produced up to 1937 was listed and catalogued in the famous bibliography of H. L. Goodhart and

Quotations From Philo in Clement of Alexandria's Protrepticus

Philo's influence on the early Christian thinkers has been noted by many patristic scholars. From the second half of the second century onwards the Fathers of the Church have attempted to explain their Christian belief by means of instruments presented by Greek philosophy, of which they had made intensive study themselves. In this difficult enterprise they could follow the example of Philo, who, about two centuries ago, had tried to do the same with regard to his own belief. Clement lived in the same city as Philo and the access to the literary inheritance of the great Jewish author must have been quite easy to him. The following observations will show how Clement had Philo's writings, so to speak, on his desk, when he was writing his Protrepticus.