Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

360 part two
incorruptible. The article first reviews the ‘crisis of the Platonists and Stoics’
(who saw the material world as generated and possibly perishable) as an effect of
Aristotle’s arguments. It then discusses how Philo in Aet. dismantles objections
against the corruptibility of the world, and how he presents arguments in
favour of this thesis (the most important: Providence has willed the world to
be unperishable). There follows a discussion of the ‘riddle’ represented by the
end of Aet. (the reference to a counter-argumentation in a lost second part). The
article concludes with the allegorical solution regarding the eternity of creation
exposed by Philo in his exegetical treatises, where he attributes incorruptibility
to the intelligible world (in the logos) as distinct from the material world. (HMK)
20548. J. P. Martín, ‘Teoría, técnica y práctica de la hermenéutica
en Filón,’ in A. J. Levoratti (ed.), Comentario Bíblico Latinoamericano,
Antiguo Testamento I (Estella 2005) 95–104.
The article considers a hermeneutic theory, in which the biblical text and the
organization of the world and its history correspond to the same creative Logos,
with human beings having an intermediate place that allows them to understand
these languages and to be comprehended by them. The article also presents a
hermeneutic technique according to which the whole text of the Pentateuch has
a finished coherence for the communication of truth if it is read through the
norms of Greek exegesis. Finally, it presents a hermeneutic praxis in the sense
that the Pentateuch is the crucial factor for the ethical and political formation of
the Jewish community, especially in the Diaspora. (JPM)
20549.J.P.Martín,‘Corrienteshermenéuticasdelaépocapatrística,’
in A. J. Levoratti (ed.), Comentario Bíblico Latinoamericano, Antiguo
Testamento I (Estella 2005) 105–127.
This article presents the development of primitive Christianity as a progressive
interpretation of texts, first of the writings with Hebrew origins, later also of
the properly Christian books. For this hermeneutical core Philo had made some
important preparations, like the concept of ‘typos’ applied to Adam and a double
dimension of the sense of the Torah, comparable to the relation between body
and soul. (JPM)
20550. E.F.Mason,The Concept of the Priestly Messiah in Hebrews
and Second Temple Judaism (diss. University of Notre Dame 2005).
The dissertation examines whether prior traditions have influenced the presentation
of Jesus as messianic high priest in Hebrews. The evidence from Qumran
has dealt a blow to the theory that the letter’s author may have been indebted
to the Middle Platonism of Philo of Alexandria. A revised version of the study
was published as a monograph in 2008, ‘You are a Priest Forever’: Second Temple
Jewish Messianism and the Priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews
(Leiden). (DTR; based on author’s summary in DAI-A 66–02, p. 630)