Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

critical studies 2003 251
Noah is saved because of his justice. When dealing with Noah’s drunkenness,
Philo explains that he drank a portion of the wine rather than all of it. Noah
cursed Canaan because he publicized Noah’s shame. (ACG)
20348. E.Ferguson,‘TheArtofPraise:PhiloandPhilodemuson
Music,’inJ.T.Fitzgerald,T.H.OlbrichtandL.H.White(edd.),
Early Christianity and Classical Culture. Comparative Studies in Honor of
Abraham J. Malherbe, Supplements to Novum Testamentum 110 (Leiden
2003) 391–426.
Philo reflects solid awareness of the technical and practical discussions of
music in Greek philosophical thought represented by the Pythagoreans, Platonists,
Aristotelians, and Stoics. His frequent statements about instrumental and
vocal music demonstrate his high regard for music. It positively results in harmony
of soul and of whole person, while musical ratios and harmonies illustrate
number symbolism and cosmic harmony. The principal function of music
was for praising God. Philo provides the fullest and most informative account
of the musical activities of the Jews in Alexandria and among the Therapeutae.
The other tradition in Greek philosophy concerning music, that of the Sophists,
Sceptics, and Epicureans, is also examined as it comes to expression in Philodemus,
who attacks the philosophical tradition about music reflected in Philo.
(KAF)
20349. F. Frazier, ‘Les Anciens chez Philon d’Alexandrie. L’archéologie
de Moïse et l’espérance d’Enos,’ in B. Bakhouche (ed.), L’ Ancienneté
chez les Anciens, vol. II, Mythologie et religion (Montpellier 2003)
385–410.
The author first explains the process of ‘de-historicizing’ the biblical narrative,
which forms the basis of the allegorical interpretation of the first human beings.
When analyzed in terms of genealogy and bioi, the historical part of the Pentateuch
is read as an archaeology of the legislative part, but conversely the laws
too are an ‘archaeology,’ i.e. a discourse which transcribes the virtues embodied
by the biblical ancestors. One of these ancestors, Enos, embodies Hope, an
essential component of Jewish piety which the Greek language conceptualizes
through the single term λπίς. It enables Philo to give a sketch of the contours of
the virtue of Hope, unknown to the Greeks, through a remodelling of the Stoic
system of the passions. (JR)
20350. J.Frey,‘ZurhistorischenAuswertungderantikenEssenerberichte.
Ein Beitrag zum Gespräch mit Roland Bergmeier,’ in J. Frey
and H. Stegemann (edd.), Qumrankontrovers. Beiträge zu den TextfundenvomTotenMeer,
Einblicke. Berichte—Reflexionen aus Tagungen der
Katholischen Akademie Schwerte 6 (Paderborn 2003) 23–56.