Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

additional items 1987–1996 421
a9489.M.Shapiro,The Jewish 100: a Ranking of the Most Influential
Jews of All Time, (New York 1994, also published London 1997), esp. 168–
170.
Ranked 44 out of 100 of ‘the most influential Jews of all time,’ Philo earns this
assessment for his presentation of ideas about ‘God, creation, history, nature,
soul, knowledge, virtue, and government’ that influenced later Jewish, Christian,
and Islamic thought until Spinoza’s time in the 17th century. Philo is especially
noteworthy for being the first major thinker to use Greek metaphysics to understand
the Bible and the first to claim—contrary to Plato and Aristotle—that God
is unknowable. He is also significant for emphasizing the value of democracy and
the notion that everyone is equal before the Law and for using the term Logos
to describe the intelligible sphere. (EB)
a9490. H. Thesleff, ‘Notes on Eros in Middle Platonism,’ Actos 28
(1994) 115–128.
In this paper, the author takes up the question of what happened within
Platonism between Plato and Plotinus to the idea of Eros as a sublime, aweinspiring,
and ennobling force, the daimonic Eros, i.e. ‘Eros Ouranios’. More
specifically, he asks: did a doctrinalization of the theory of Eros come about
before Plotinus, and how did the notion of love (ρως/amor) ofGodarise?
According to the findings of the author, Eros did not become ‘internalized’
into philosophy or doctrinalized until, possibly, Ammonius’ teaching in Alexandria
opened new perspectives. The interpretation of Plotinus, furthermore, was
proffered by an intensely personal experience of unio mystica.Theauthordeals
briefly with the works of Philo on pp. 119–120, and finds that Eros is not at all
doctrinalized in these works, and that the object of Eros is never God. In Abr.
170, Eros is to be understood as a metaphor for ‘holy zeal’, and in Somn. 2.232,
even if Eros has a ring of unio mystica,itisnotGodbutτ εα that is the object
of Eros. It is taken from the Platonist tradition, but is not part of Philo’s own
metaphysics. (TS)
a9491. S.Weitzman,‘TheSongofAbraham,’Hebrew Union College
Annual 65 (1994) 21–33.
The Apocalypse of Abraham, probably from first or second-century c.e.
Palestine, records a long song uttered by the patriarch Abraham during his
ascent to a heavenly vision, a vision based upon Gen 15. Later writings, both
Jewish and Christian, refer to a song of Abraham, and rabbinic tradition may
suggest an association between the song and specific biblical texts or episodes
in Abraham’s life. In Ebr. 105–107, Philo records a song of Abraham based
upon Gen 14:22. Although the biblical passage describes him taking an oath
with upraised hand, interpreters of the Second Temple period and later disapproved
of oath-taking and therefore may have understood Abraham’s gesture
as an expression, or song, of thanksgiving or piety. Philo may provide the earliest
evidence of this tradition, which may have resurfaced in the Apocalypse