Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

critical studies 1999 103
indubitable proof that, in spite of the pogrom suffered by the Jews, God’s help
was not withheld from their nation. In Abraham’s prayer, his exile and that of
thepeopleandbanishmentareunderstoodparadoxically.WhatAbrahamwas
lacking as an outcast, he nevertheless possessed in his Lord. (TS; based on the
author’s summary)
9911.R.Brague,Lasagessedumonde.Histoiredel’expériencehumain
de l’ Univers. Nouvelle édition révisée par l’auteur (Paris 1999), esp. 117–
121.
In his discussion of the knowledge of the self as superior to that of the
world, the author regards Philo as the first ancient thinker to have asserted this
superiority. When reflecting on the travels of Abraham, the Alexandrian shows
that there is no need for the person who is able to know himself to make a
detour involving the consideration of nature. One can speak of an ‘Abrahamic
Socratism’. (JR)
9912.D.K.Buell,The Making of the Christians: Clement of Alexandria
and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy (Princeton 1999), esp. 57–60 and passim.
The author argues that ancient assumptions about procreation played a role in
how early Christians imagined and constructed their relations with each other.
She compares Philo and Clement of Alexandria in terms of their attitudes toward
sexual conduct and the role of the metaphors of procreation and ingestion in
conjunction with the education of the soul, and shows how Philo’s agricultural
imagery for procreation was a source for Clement’s metaphors of procreation.
(KAF)
9913. F. Calabi, ‘Serafini, Cherubini, Potenze in Filone Alessandrino:
apropositodiIsaia6,’Annalidi Scienze Religiose 4 (1999) 221–249.
The author does not wish to enter into the debate on the authenticity or otherwise
of De deo, but on the basis of a provisional acceptance of its authenticity
she proposes, firstly, to compare the language and the philosophical contents of
the work with parallel passages in the Philonic corpus. Secondly, she wishes to
see whether it is possible to find a rationale for the author’s recourse to the text
of Isaiah instead of limiting himself to exegesis of Genesis as he usually does. On
the basis of a detailed and well-documented analysis of the texts, which focuses
on the nature of the divine Powers, the author concludes that the presentation of
the Powers is somewhat toned down in comparison with the views found in the
Philonic corpus. In the De Deo they are understood as ‘ways of acting and manifestations
of God’, and are not linked with the moral journey of the progressing
soul. As for the citation of Isa 6, this would be a unique case in Philo, but could
be justified in that this lemma enables him to link the doctrine of the Powers to
the scriptural account. (RR)