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A Brief Guide to Philo Other books by Kenneth Schenck from Westminster John Knox Press Understanding the Book of Hebrews A BRIEF GUIDE TO PHILO Kenneth Schenck WESTMINSTER |C»iNKNOXmESS W[K UMTeVfiJLE • KENTUCKY © 2005 Kenneth Schenck AU rights reserved. No ^art of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic Or mechanical, including photocopyii^ recording, or by any infor• mation storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucl^r 40202-1396. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are die authors. Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Divi• sion of Christian Education of the National G)uncil of the Churches of Christ in die U.S A, and are used by permission. Scripture quotations marked RSV are fix)m the Revised Standard Version of die Bible, copyright © 1946,1952,1971, and 1973 by die Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S A, and are used by permission. Book design by Sharon Adams Cover design by Mark Abrams First edition Pubhshed by Westminster John Knox Press Louisville, Kentucky This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Instimte Z39.48 standard. © PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 — 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Catalogiiig-in-Publication Data Schenck, Kenneth A brief guide to Philo / Kenneth Schenck— 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-664-22735-X (alL paper) 1. Philo, of Alexandria. I. Tide. B689.Z7S34 2005 18r.06--Klc22 2004057199 To Stefanic, Stacy, Tommy, Sophie, and Papous, in memory of our time in Germany, and, most of all, to my magnificent wife, whose mind reaches the heavens and whose virtue is by nat Contents Abbreviations ix 1. Philos Piece of the Puzzle 1 2. Philos Life and Writings 9 3. Philo among Jews and Gentiles 29 4. Phdo's View of die World 49 5. Philo and Christianity 73 6. Phiio's Writings in a Nutshell 97 7. Topical Index to the Philonic Corpus 119 Glossary 139 Bibliography 143 General Index 149 Source Index 155 Sdioiar's Index 171 Vll Abbreviations Abr. On Abraham (De Abrahamo) Aet. On the Eternity of the World {De Aetemitate Mundi) On Agriculture {De Agricultura) ALGHJ Arbeiten zur Literatur und Geschichte des hellenistischen Judentums Anim, On Animals {De Animalibus) An. Procr. Plutarch, DeAnimae Procreatione in Timaeo ANRW Aufitieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms in Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Edited by H. Temporini and W. Haase. Berlin, 1972-. Ant. ]osephuSy Jewish Antiquities Aristeas Letter of Aristeas BEATAJ Beitrage zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des antiken Judentum BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fiir die neutestamendiche Wissenschaft CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly IX ABriefGuidetoPhilo CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series Cher. On the Cherubim {De Cherubim) Conf. On the Confusion of Tongues {De Confusione Linguaruni) Congr. On Mating with the Preliminary Studies {De Congressu Erudi- tionis Gratia) Contempl. On the Contemplative Life {De Vita Contemplativd) CP] Corpus papyrorum judaicorum. Edited by V. Tcherikover. 3 vols. Cambridge, 1957-1964. CQ Classical Quarterly Deed. On the Decalogue {De Decalogo) Deo On God {De Deo) Det. That the Worse Attacks the Better {Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat) Deus On the Unchangeableness of God {Quod Deus Sit Immutabilis) Ebr. On Drunkenness {De Ebrietate) lEn. 1 Enoch Place. Against Flaccus {In Flaccum) fr. fragment FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments Fug. On Flight and Finding {De Fuga et Inventione) Gig. On the Giants {De Gigantibus) H.E. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica Her. Who Is the Heir of Divine Things? {Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit) HTR Harvard TheologLcal Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual Hypoth. Hypothetica InPhys. In Physica los. On Joseph {Delosepho) JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JSNT Journalfor the Study of the New Testament Juh. Jubilees Leg The Allegorical Laws {Legum Allegoriarum) Legat. Embassy to Gaius {Legatio ad Gaium) Mig On the Migration of Abraham {De Migratione Abrahami) Mos. On the Life of Moses (De Vita Mosis) Mut. On the Changing of Names {De Mutatione Nominuni) NovT Novum Testamentum Opif On the Creation of the World {De Opificio Mundi) RE. Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica PhilAnt Philosophia antiqua Plant. On Planting {De Pkntatione) Post On the Posterity and Exile of Cain {De Posteritate Caini) Abbreviations XI Praenu On Rewards and Punishments {De Praemiis et Paenis) Prob. That Every Good Person Is Free {Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit) Prov. On Providence {De Providentia) QE Questions and Answers on Exodus (Quaestiones et Solutiones in Exodum) QG Questions and Answers on Genesis {Quaestiones et Solutiones in Genesim) IQS Rules of the Community Sacr, On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain {De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini) SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series ScEs Science et esprit SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity SNT Studien zum Neuen Testament SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series Sabr. On Sobriety {De Sobrietate) Somn. On Dreams {De Somniis) Spec. On the Special Laws {De Specialibus Legibus) SPhA Studia Philonica Annual SPhilo Studia Philonica Str. demerit of Alexandria, Stromata TSAJ Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum TU Texte und Untersuchungen VChrS Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements Virt. On Virtues {De Virtutibus) WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Chapter 1 Philo s Piece of the Puzzle 1.1 PHILO'S PLACE IN THE HELLENISTIC WORLD It is frustrating to work on a puzzle and suddenly realize some of the pieces are missing. Yet despite our irritation, we usually have enough left to tell what the picture was supposed to be. Perhaps we might miss a spot here or there, but the overall depiction is normally clear enough. Now imagine that the puzzle has millions of pieces and the overwhelming majority is lost and unrecoverable. Vast portions of an entire landscape are absent, and it is unclear whether the ones in your possession are central to the picture as a whole. Fragments give you clues about what might have been there, but in the end your reconstruction is far from certain. This scenario is quite similar to the situation in which we find ourselves when we explore the distant past. We have a host of inscriptions and ruins from struc• tures long since deteriorated. We have a number of writings that later generations have copied and preserved. But these puzzle pieces amount to a tiny portion of the whole picture. In some cases it is only the accidents of history that have allowed certain bits ABriefGuidetoPhilo of data to survive. It is thus unclear how significant those pieces originally were in their own time. In other instances people have copied and preserved docu• ments because they found something noteworthy in them. Sometimes they have altered such texts to their liking or discarded those with opposing viewpoints. In these cases we cannot be certain how objective or representative our sources are, particularly in what they tell us about groups who opposed their ideas and prac• tices. In the end, the vast majority of poor, illiterate, ancient people, the ones who did most of the living and dying, have left us nothing to know of their specific joys and struggles. Any fragment is significant in such a dearth of evidence, even things like pur• chase agreements and lists of Scripture verses. But an entire collection of docu• ments is a treasure of immense value. The Dead Sea Scrolls made such a contribution in 1947 when they were discovered. Suddenly our picture of Pales• tinian Judaism at the time of Christ came into better focus. The Oxyrhynchus papyri had a similar effect in the late 1800s. This assortment of mostly ordinary, almost trivial documents suddenly allowed us to peer into the everyday lives and language of the ancient Mediterranean world. Against this backdrop we can better appreciate the significance of yet another large collection of writings that has survived from the ancient world. These doc• uments are not a recent discovery—Christians preserved them throughout the centuries. Yet they are ofi:en neglected despite the immense light they shed on a number of distinct disciplines. I refer to the writings of Philo, a Jew from the Egyptian city of Alexandria who lived at about the same time as Christ. On the one hand, Philo was no typical ancient. He was extremely wealthy and literate. He enjoyed a privileged life known to very few in his world. Even among the elite he was atypical. While he frequented social events such as ath• letic contests and the theater, he preferred contemplation. More than anything else, he enjoyed reflecting deeply about ultimate reality as he believed the Jew• ish Scriptures presented it. Nevertheless, near the end of his life the political climate of Alexandria would force him to get involved in society in a more urgent way. Yet despite the fact that he was atypical in his world, Philo has left us numer• ous pieces to the ancient puzzle. This man stood at a corner by which several important traditions were passing at the time. He was a Diaspora]c:w, a Jew who lived outside Palestine. As such he provides us with important information about the boundaries of Judaism, the similarities and dissimilarities of Diaspora Jews to those who lived in Israel. Apart from Josephus, Philos writings Diaspora Jews: Jews who lived outside of provide us with the largest body Palestrne; Jews who had ''dispersed.'' of material by a Hellenistic Jew of the Diaspora.
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