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Inspiration and the Divine Spirit in the Writings of Philo Judaeus

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Inspiration and the Divine Spirit in the Writings of Philo Judaeus INSPIRATION AND THE DIVINE SPIRIT IN THE WRITINGS OF PHILO JUDAEUS BY JOHN R. LEVISON Duke Divinity School,Durham, NC I. Introduction Many of Philo's references to xv16wa are ordered with remark- able consistency. Gen 1:2, for example, is the anchor for Philo's description of the cosmic 1t\l&ÜfLa..1The divine inbreathing of Gen 2 2:7 provides the basis for Philo's anthropology of the human spirit.2 Philo's references to the inspiration of the divine spirit, on the other hand, are attached more tenuously to the Bible. Attempts to order these references have led scholars to widely divergent opinions which attest to the confusing nature of Philo's view of the spirit's role in inspiration. During the first third of the twentieth century, 1 E.g., Gig. 22-23; Op. 22-35. On Philo's use and adaptation of Stoicism in his interpretation of Gen 1 :2, see A. Laurentin, "Le pneuma dans la doctrine de Philo," ETL 27 (1951) 391-407; G. Verbeke, L'évolutionde la doctrinedu pneumadu Stoïcismeà S. Augustin: étudephilosophique (Paris/Louvain: l'Institut Supérior de Philosophie, Université de Louvain, 1945) 237-50; M. J. Weaver, in Philo of Alexandria(Ph.D. dissertation, Notre Dame, 1973) 7-25, 55-72; H. Leisegang, Der heilige Geist: Das Wesen und Werden der mystisch-intuitivenErkenntnis in der Philosophieund Religionder Griechen(Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1967) 24-53. M. E. Isaacs, The Conceptof Spirit: A Study of Pneuma in Hellenistic Judaism and its Bearing on the New Testament(Heythrop Monographs 1; London, 1976) 43-45. On Stoic views of see S. Sambursky, Physicsof theStoics (Lon- don : Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959) 1-48. 2 E.g., QG 1.4; 2.58-59; Op. 134-48; Spec. Leg. 1.32-42; 4.123; Her. 55-57; QE 2.33. Numerous allusions and references to Gen 2:7 are cited in Philo d'Alexandrie (Biblia Patristica Supplément; Paris: Editions du centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1982) 29. See T. H. Tobin, The Creationof Man: Philo and the History of Interpretation(CBQMS 14; Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association, 1983) 77-87 and passim; and my Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism: From Sirach to 2 Baruch (JSPMS 1; Sheffield: JSOT, 1988) 66-75. 3 Der heiligeGeist, 53-69. Leisegang (62-64) carefully argues that, according to Philo, the purpose of hellenistic philosophies is to lead to mystical intuitive knowledge. When that knowledge is obtained, the secondary worth of these philosophies becomes evident. 272 H. Leisegang,3 H. Lewy,4 and E. R. Goodenough5 sought the genesis of Philo's view of inspiration primarily in hellenistic mystery religions. In their view, the spirit mediates mystical vision - - a sobre intoxication which surpasses rational knowledge. This viewpoint elicited a negative response from G. Verbeke and H. A. Wolfson. Verbeke emphatically traced inspiration to the LXX alone, and not to "croyances populaires de la periode hellenistique... "6 while Wolfson discerned a combination of "... the 'divine spirit,' which according to Scripture is the cause of pro- phecy, with the process of 'divine inspiration' or 'possession' which, according to Plato, is the cause of his various kinds of ? frenzy Attempts to explain Philo's view of inspiration during the post- Wolfson era have been even more diverse. A. Laurentin and M. Weaver connected the spirit to the spiritual life. Laurentin discerned three stages of the spiritual life in which the spirit par- ticipates : faith; spiritual progress; and vision of God. Weaver con- tended that Philo's "concern with the spiritual life gives the doc- trine of xv16wa some internal cohesion... "9 The doctrine of the spirit belongs to a "theology of grace," that is, the spirit, and no human capacity, enables people to attain to mystical vision and to lead a life of virtue. In contrast to Laurentin and Weaver, M. Isaacs proffered another explanation of Philo's view of inspiration by tracing it to an apologetic motive. Philo recounts contemporary instances of inspiration, such as dream interpretation and predic- tion, but he limits possession by the spirit to the biblical prophets in order to assert implicitly "that the inspiration of the authors of scripture was qualitatively different from any subsequent " 1°I insight. This lack of consensus is evident furthermore in two of the most recent studies of inspiration in the writings of Philo. R. Berchman 4 Sobria Ebrietas. Untersuchungenzur Geschichteder antiken Mystik (BZNW 9; Giessen: Töpelmann, 1929) 64-66. 5 By Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of HellenisticJudaism (New Haven: Yale University, 1935). 6 L'évolution, 254. 7 Philo: Foundationsof ReligiousPhilosophy in Judaism, Christianity,and Islam (Cam- bridge, MA: Harvard University, 1947) 2.25. 8 "Le pneuma," 424. 9 in Philo of Alexandria,162; 142-63. 10 Conceptof Spirit, 49. .
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