Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

critical studies 1999 113
9941. A.Kamesar,‘TheBibleComestotheWest:theTextand
Interpretation of the Bible in Its Greek and Latin Forms,’ in J. E. Bowley
(ed.), Living Traditions of the Bible: Scripture in Jewish, Christian, and
Muslim Practice (St. Louis 1999) 35–61, esp. 55–58.
The Bible is now seen as such an integral part of the development of Western
culture that it is easy to forget that this has not always been the case. Kamesar’s
splendid overview of how the Bible came to the West divides into three sections.
Firstly he briefly outlines the historical and political background. Secondly he
gives an account of the origin of the Greek and Latin versions of the Bible. Thirdly
he relates how the method of biblical interpretation developed in the West.
For each section he gives a complex but most illuminating diagram indicating
the main trends. Philo as the major representative of Jewish-Hellenistic biblical
interpretation is frequently referred to in the final section. According to Kamesar
the Antiochene tradition of interpretation in the 4th century c.e. came about as a
direct reaction to the Philonic-Origenian tradition, yet there seems also to have
been a connection between the classical scholarship of the Alexandrian tradition
and the methods of the Antiochene school. It must be suspected, he concludes,
that there are some lines of connection between Philo’s ‘literalist’ predecessors
and the Antiochene school, but these need to be further elucidated. (DTR)
9942. T.W.Kang,Wisdom Mythology and Hellenistic ‘Paideia’ in
Philo: a Case Study of ‘De congressu quaerendae eruditionis gratia’ (diss.
Claremont Graduate University 1999).
The dissertation written under the supervision of K. J. Torjesen supports
two theses. (1) In his allegorical interpretation of Scripture Philo drew upon
Jewish wisdom mythology, a mode of thinking that employed a personification
of wisdom partially derived from Egyptian myths of the goddesses Maat and
Isis. (2) A major focus of Philo’s allegorical interpretation was a studied attempt
to relate Jewish beliefs to the practices and concepts of Hellenistic paideia.The
treatise Congr. isusedasanexampletoshowhowPhilo’sideasrelatedtothe
twin themes of wisdom and paideia. It is concluded that wisdom was a common
discourse relating to both Jewish and Hellenistic traditions. Through the use of
wisdom mythology Philo was able to interpret both traditions as well as build
his own hermeneutical system. (DTR; based on DAI-A 60–02, p. 456)
9943. H.M.Keizer,‘Aiôn in Philo of Alexandria: Biblical ‘Time’
and Philosophical ‘Eternity’, ’ in J. Targarona Borràs and A. Sàenz-
Badillos (edd.), Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.
Proceedings of the 6th EAJS Congress, Toledo, July 1998, vol. 1: Biblical,
Rabbinical, and Medieval Studies (Leiden 1999) 296–302.
A paper on the meaning of the term αών in Philo, the fuller developed
version of which is chapter V of the next item. (HMK)