Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

212 part two
symmetry, the beginning and end of a work are marked by ‘two fixed points,
two sister-quotations for example’ (p. 230). Anticipation, or teleological construction,
describes the organization of a work whereby between the beginning
and the end a chain of quotations and exegeses distract the reader, but the topic
oftheopeningversereappearsattheend.Withoutarguingforanycontinuity
between Philo and the Talmud, the authors observe that ‘the same tension
between exegetical and homiletic foundations must have created the same patterns
and structures in both sources’ (p. 232). To illustrate the pattern of symmetry
and teleology, the authors analyze Philo’s Leg. andB. Qid 29a–36a (the
pattern may characterize the underlying Mishnaic chapter as well). Variations
on the pattern in the Talmud are also discussed. Some observations by Philo
about beginnings and ends are adduced to argue that symmetry and teleology
were at the heart of both his composition and his philosophy. (EB)
20245. R.M.M.Gerth,The Interpretation of Genesis 6.6—‘and the
Lord repented’—in Early Rabbinic and Patristic Tradition (diss. Hebrew
Union College 2002).
This dissertation concerns the interpretation in antiquity of Gen 6:6, ‘and the
Lord repented that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His
heart’, and specifically the phrase v’yinachem Adonai (‘and the Lord repented’)
in early rabbinic and patristic tradition. Chapter three examines Gen 6:6 as it
appears in the LXX translation and in the writings of Philo. (DTR; based on
DAI-A 63–11, p. 3975)
20246. P. Graffigna, ‘L’immagine della bilancia in Filone d’Alessandria,’
in F. Calabi (ed.), Immagini e rappresentazione. Contributi su
Filone di Alessandria, Studies in Philo of Alexandria and Mediterranean
Antiquity (Binghamton N.Y. 2002) 27–44.
The figure of the balance is part of a ‘conceptual and metaphorical field’ which
illustrates the notion of equilibrium for various points of view, from the stability
ofthewisepersontotheprecariousandinsecuresituationoftheonewhoyields
to passion. In general the image gets used in the context of ethical values in
order to represent the continual oscillation of foolish persons in opposition to
the solidity of those who follow the ‘royal road’ that leads to God. There is a direct
link with the metaphor of the ship battered by the waves in order to indicate the
tempest of the passions. But it also represents the concept of the mean and of a
balanced account before God. (RR)
20247. E.Gruen,Diaspora: Jews amidst Greeks and Romans (Cambridge
Mass. 2002), esp. 54–83 and passim.
This wide-ranging study of the Jewish diaspora in the four centuries from
Alexander to the fall of the Temple offers the revisionistic thesis of Jewish
communities who felt at home in the Greek and Roman cities in which they lived