Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

248 part two
A description of Philo’s treatment of the idea of the Logos in Platonic or
Middle Platonic creation accounts shows how dissimilar his ideas are from
the development of biblical and early Jewish exegetical traditions used in the
prologue of the Fourth Gospel. (KAF)
20340. T.Engberg-Pedersen,‘ParaenesisTerminologyinPhilo,’in
D. E. Aune, T. Seland and J. H. Ulrichsen (edd.), Neotestamentica
et Philonica: Studies in Honor of Peder Borgen, Supplements to Novum
Testamentum 106 (Leiden 2003) 371–392.
This study is part of a larger Scandinavian research project on paraenesis
in antiquity, now published in a separate volume as J. Starr and T. Engberg-
Pedersen (edd.), Early Christian Paraenesis in Context (Berlin 2004). The author’s
main thesis is that the common modern translation of the Greek terms
παραινεν and παραίνεσις as ‘exhort’ and ‘exhortation’ is wrong. παραινεν basically
means ‘advise’ or ‘enjoin’ and παραίνεσις,‘advice’or‘injunction.’‘Exhort’
and ‘exhortation’ should be kept as translations for παρακαλεν and παράκλησις,
both of which may also be translated as ‘appeal.’ Finally, the author states,
the third member of the relevant triad of terms, πρτρέπειν/πρτρέπεσαι and
πρτρπή, should be translated as ‘urge’ or ‘incite’ and ‘urging’ and ‘incitement’
respectively. In the present study Engberg-Pedersen argues that these translations
hold for Philo too. (TS)
20341. L. H. Feldman, ‘Conversion to Judaism in Classical Antiquity,’
Hebrew Union College Annual 74 (2003) 115–156.
This article investigates the evidence for the considerable increase in the
number of Jews between 586 b.c.e and the first century c.e. Dealing with
the question of how many Jews there were in the Hellenistic-Roman period,
Feldman uses Josephus and Philo as sources. Although we do not know the exact
number of the Jews, it was very large: Philo remarks that there are a million Jews
in Egypt (Flacc. 43). The explanation for the increase in the number of Jews has
to be found in voluntary conversion to Judaism. Judaism was not a missionary
religion but the Jews were well disposed towards attracting converts. Philo shows
a favorable attitude toward conversion of non-Jews to Judaism. He portrays, for
instance, Tamar (Gen 38:6–30) as being converted from polytheism to the belief
in one God (Virt. 220–225), even though there is no biblical basis for this event.
People were attracted to the Jewish faith for various reasons, and especially for
the economic advantages it might bring. (ACG)
20342. L.H.Feldman,‘TheCommand,accordingtoPhilo,Pseudo-
Philo, and Josephus, to Annihilate the Seven Nations of Canaan,’ Andrews
University Seminary Studies 41 (2003) 13–29.
In Deut 7:1–2 Moses commands the Israelites to destroy utterly the seven
Canaanite nations, apparently to prevent intermarriage between Israelites and