Philo of Alexandria

From the theology reading program. This was something of a strain; it’s a 1993 reprint of an 1855 translation made by Biblical scholar C.D. Yonge. The original translation was four volumes; it’s reproduced here in a single volume of double-column fine print. As a result, it was hard to work through.

Philo lived in Alexandria (he made a trip to Rome to petition – unsuccessfully – Caligula not to have a statue of himself installed in the Temple in Jerusalem). What he’s trying to do show more is sell Judaism to Greek philosophers; not necessary with a view toward conversion but at least for understanding. He was well educated in Greek literature, and routinely quotes Homer and various philosophers. (Ironically, based on some of the etymology he uses, it’s thought he didn’t know Hebrew). Although a contemporary of John the Baptist, Jesus and St. Paul, Philo never mentions them (although he does mention the Essenes at some length, with approval).

Most of the work is exegesis of the Torah. Philo is not a Biblical literalist – in fact, for Philo, everything in the Bible is symbolic. The Creation doesn’t actually take six days nor does the world and its life appear in the literal order described in Genesis; instead the six days are symbolic because “six is the most productive of all numbers”. (In fact Philo displays minor outrage over the idea that the “…Creator stood in need of a length of time…”). Thus, everything is created instantaneously by thought – but Moses writes it down as six days for the symbolic value. Similarly the order of appearance of animals, the extraction of Adam’s rib, the naming of the animals, the garden, the talking serpent, the Tree, the murder of Abel, the Ark, the Flood, and so on are all symbolic and do not represent actual animals, ribs, names, gardens, snakes, trees, murders, arks or floods. As with the “six days”, all these things are explainable by gematria. It gets fairly deep sometimes; there are three pages on the symbolism of the dimensions of the Ark and similar elaborations on the numerological meaning of the ages of the various patriarchs; almost every number that appears in the Torah gets divided or multiplied or both so Philo can make some numerological point. Well, I had no idea people thought that way back then, but as you might expect it gets amazingly tedious after a while.

One minor thing that interested me, amidst all the numbers, was a short discussion of circumcision. The Hellenistic world was skeptical, so I expected another symbolic explanation – oddly, though, Philo falls back on health reasons rather than numerology. Of further interest is his comment that contemporary Egyptians circumcise both boys and girls, just before marriage (which is still the practice for girls, unfortunately; and it’s euphemistic to call the practice for women “circumcision” rather than “genital mutilation”). Philo, of course, is talking about Roman era Egyptians. I’ve seen quite a few mummies of Pharaonic era male Egyptians and when the relevant bits were exposed to view they were all circumcised (there’s an Old Kingdom tomb relief of a circumcision which is not only the oldest depiction of a circumcision; it’s the oldest depiction of any surgical operation). Uncircumcised male mummies are known, however. For women it’s more difficult as almost all female mummies are wrapped in a more “modest” position than male mummies; I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one with the genitalia exposed. I don’t remember any Egyptological book, even ones specifically about mummies or mummification, commenting on the existence of the practice. Thus if Philo’s claim is true it would suggest the practice was introduced late in Egyptian history and carried over into Islamic times.

Well, I got this on remainder, but it’s now available online (including, strangely enough, a Latin translation of the Greek original in the Loeb library) so there’s no particular reason to buy one. Can’t really recommend it except to collectors and the OCD’d. show less

Philo Judaeus of Alexandria Egypt was a contemporary of Jesus and Paul and of the three the only one of absolutely certain historicity. The absence of any mention of Jesus or Paul among contemporaries is what raises existential questions about Jesus and Paul. Philo had a great interest in the Essenes, among other gnostics and contemporary theologies. Philo clearly lived in the world of Hellenistic Judaism, and does not even mention early Christianity. The persecution of the Jews by Romans show more and Greeks is well documented in this work.

Philo utilizes the concept of logos and weaves it into Judaism. Philo also employs interpretive strategies which parallel those used by Paul as the author of the book of Hebrews. As the leading theologian in the court of Cleopatra and the Ptolemies, Philo sought to reconcile and synthesize the theologies of the Jews and the Greeks. In this work, his deputation to Rome on behalf of the temple and his objection to placing images of Caesar (Caligula) in the Temple are included. show less

I had read this work before in Yonge's Works Of Philo. The nice thing about this edition is that I was able to refer to the Greek when important theological/philosophical terms are used. It does aid the reader enormously in understanding the overall Hellenistic literary context.
Philo was one of the first writers to bridge the Judeo-Hellenistic ideological divide. His adopting of Platonist and Stoical disciplines and marrying them with Judaic religion was pretty novel and paradigmatic at the show more time; although, some evidence of this is found in the New Testament as well; especially in the Epistle to The Hebrews, which is the New Testament book that indicates the most significant traces of Hellenistic and/or Alexandrian influence. Occasionally, the writer of Hebrews uses the same biblical passages and interprets them in a very similar way, e.g. regarding God's oaths and the figure of Melchizedek. Some parallels with Paul's Epistles is also evident. Whether Philo was aware of Christianity or whether the New Testament writers were familiar with him, is speculative but it remains an interesting possibility. Be that as it may, Philo left his definite mark on later church fathers such as Origen and many many others. His doctrine of multiplicity in the Godhead was set to be adopted by Christian writers where it was unlikely to be adopted by Jews of a more orthodox bent. The main parallel with the New Testament is Philo's theology surrounding the Logos as God's archetypal pattern and His mediator in creation.
To sum up, Philo is not only an important example of Middle Platonism in the history of philosophy, he is also important in the history of theology. Taking that into account, he is really essential reading. show less

Philo, usually known as Philo the Jew lived from about 20 BC to about AD 50. He is one of the most important Jewish authors of the 2nd Temple period of Judaism & a contemporary of both Jesus and Paul.