Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

critical studies 2001 181
Origins of the Synagogue in the Diaspora (pp. 401–476), and a summary chapter
on Some Decisive Stages in the Development of the Early Synagogue (pp. 477–
490). He further presents his aim as to ‘define what is meant by ‘synagogue’
and trace its origins in the Land of Israel as well as in the Diaspora.’ In doing
this, he focuses especially on issues such as institutional, liturgical, non-liturgical
and spatial aspects of his subject, but the aspect functioning as a sine qua non
for the identification of a ‘synagogue’ is the public reading and teaching of the
Torah. His main and partly innovative conclusions are that the origin of the
‘synagogue’ as a public assembly including Torah-reading rituals is bound to
the administrative structure of the land of Israel and goes back to the Persian
period, more specifically to the reign of Artaxerxes (p. 479). The first signs of
non-official institutions dedicated to communal reading and study of Torah
appeared somewhere in the final phase of the Early Hellenistic and the beginning
of the late Hellenistic period. These voluntary associations were probably
influenced by the general pattern of the Graeco-Roman thiasoi or collegia.
The developments of the ‘synagogue’ in the Diaspora were, however, quite different
from those in the land of Israel. In Diaspora countries with an ancient
Jewish presence, the ‘synagogue’ grew from Jewish temples (p. 484). The author
deals with the works of Philo in several of his sections, not least in Chapter
Five on the origins of the Diaspora synagogue. Concerning Egypt, he argues
that the ‘synagogues’ of the first century c.e. were, spatially, temples into which
‘synagogue’ rituals had been incorporated. This he also finds confirmed by the
use of the term πρσευή in several texts, Philo’s works included. Furthermore,
he reads Philo, Spec. 3.171asaddressedtoJews,anditsreferencetoa
Jewish Temple. The same basic interpretation he finds valid for Deus 8and
Flacc. 48–49. Hence, the πρσευή-synagogue of Philo’s time grew from a temple
institution, and in fact, was still a temple in its nature and architecture.
(TS)
20158.D.T.Runia,‘Philo’sReadingofthePsalms,’inD.T.Runiaand
G. E. Sterling (edd.), In the Spirit of Faith: Studies in Philo and Early
Christianity in Honor of David Hay [= The Studia Philonica Annual 13
(2001)], Brown Judaic Studies 332 (Providence RI 2001) 102–121.
The book of the Psalms has played a major role in expressing both Jewish and
Christian spirituality. Philo refers to the Psalms about forty times, which is much
less than his references to the Pentateuch. Nevertheless it seems worthwhile to
look at his use and reading of the book in closer detail. The article first presents
the evidence. Twenty quotations or paraphrases and ten allusions to Psalm texts
are presented, divided into Philo’s three major biblical commentaries. In each
case location, context, method of introduction, text, method of citation and
pretext for citation are outlined. The evidence fully justifies the division into two
distinct groups. For example, most allusions are found in the Exposition of the
Law, which contains no cited texts at all. On the other hand, all quotations or
paraphrases are introduced by an explicit introductory formula preceding the
text itself. In all cases the text cited is very short. In only one case does it exceed