Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

170 part two
20131.M.A.Jackson-McCabe,Logos and Law in the Letter of James:
the Law of Nature, the Law of Moses, and the Law of Freedom, New
Testament Studies 100 (Leiden 2001), esp. 87–95.
Revised version of the University of Chicago dissertation completed in 1998
(see above 9851). Although there are many decidedly Stoic terms and concepts
in Philo’s treatment of natural law, his presentation of such ideas is scarcely typical
of the Stoics in every respect, because it is also informed by his dependence
on other traditions of discourse, whether Middle Platonic, Neo-Pythagorean or
Jewish. The result is a quite distinctive presentation of the Stoic correlation of
λγς and law. (DTR)
20132. D.R.Johnson,Herod Agrippa’s Letter to Gaius (Caligula): a
Manifesto for Peace in Judaea (M.A. thesis, California State University,
Fresno 2001).
In 40 c.e. the emperor Gaius (Caligula) ordered his statue to be placed inside
the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Herod Agrippa I, the King of Judaea and a
good friend of the emperor, wrote a letter to Gaius attempting to convince him
to cancel the decree. According to the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria, who
preserved Agrippa’s letter in his writings, the letter convinced Gaius to cancel
the decree. Three months later, Gaius was assassinated, ending the threat to the
Temple and the expected violent Jewish resistance. While many historians are
convinced that Philo wrote the letter, this study shows that the evidence points
toward Herod Agrippa as its author. The letter not only revealed Agrippa’s views
towards the Jewish God, Yahweh, but it was also an effective manifesto for peace
between the Jews and the Romans who ruled over them. (DTR; based on MAI
40/03, p. 585)
20133. C.H.Kahn,Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans (Indianapolis
2001), esp. 99–104.
A number of pages are devoted to Philo as part of this valuable general introduction
to Pythagoreanism. He is included in the chapter on the Neopythagoreans.
After discussing the philosophy of Eudorus Kahn states: ‘It is a Platonism
of this sort, with heavy Pythagorean overtones, that we find reflected a generation
or two later in the Biblical allegories of Philo of Alexandria’ (p. 99).
Philo’s writings can thus help to ‘put flesh and bones on the bare skeleton provided
by the fragments and testimonia for Eudorus’ (ibid.) A brief discussion
follows on Philo’s theology and use of number symbolism, both of which combine
Pythagorean and biblical/Jewish ideas. (DTR)
20134. A. Kamesar, ‘Ambrose, Philo, and the Presence of Art in the
Bible,’ Journal of Early Christian Studies 9 (2001) 73–103.