Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

68 part two
9820.H.K.Bond,Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation,Society
for New Testament Studies Monograph Series 100 (Cambridge 1998),
esp. 24–48.
The aim of the monograph is to present the first full-length academic treatment
of the famous governor of Judea, concentrating especially on an examination
of how this real historical figure was used by various Jewish and Christian
authors of the 1st century c.e. The first chapter is devoted to Philo, who is the
first literary author to refer to Pilate. Philo’s harsh description of Pilate’s character
and motivation in the incident of the shields stems largely from his political
rhetoric, in which he tries to prevent the new emperor Claudius from adopting
his predecessor’s attitude to the Jews, and from his theology, in which the
enemies of Judaism are portrayed as the enemies of God. Behind the theological
gloss, however, the historical Pilate is just visible. Philo’s presentation of the facts
seems trustworthy. (DTR)
9821. P. Borgen, ‘The Crossing of the Red Sea as Interpreted by
Philo. Biblical Event—Liturgical Model—Cultural Application,’ in J. V.
Hills (ed.), Common Life in the Early Church: Essays Honoring Graydon
F. Snyder (Harrisburg Pa. 1998) 77–90.
The author first describes the hermeneutical insight that Philo can interpret
one and the same biblical text on two or three different levels, that is on the
concrete and specific level, on the level of cosmic and general principles, and on
the level of the divine realm of the beyond. Then he sets out to illustrate Philo’s
two-level exegesis of Exod 13:17–15:21. This he carries out by an investigation of
Mos. 1.163–180, 2.246–257, Contempl. 85–89 and Ebr. 111. In the first two texts
he finds that Philo illustrates Moses’ role as king and prophet, in the Contempl.
85–89 he finds a typological and liturgical interpretation of the biblical event,
a kind of liturgical re-enactment in the present. In the last text he argues that
Philo presents a cultural application which is applied to the life of the Jews in
their pagan cultural context. (TS)
9822. P. Borgen, ‘Proselytes, Conquest and Mission,’ in P. Borgen,
V. K. Robbins and D. B. Gowler (edd.), Recruitment, Conquest, and
Conflict. Strategies in Judaism, Early Christianity, and the Greco-Roman
World, Emory Studies in Early Christianity (Atlanta 1998) 57–77.
In this article Borgen investigates some of the various views and activities
of the Jews and early Christians related to proselytism and mission. According
to his findings the sources demonstrate that some Gentiles became proselytes
to Judaism because of attraction. In other cases Jews actively presented
their religion in Gentile circles and even at times used military force to bring
people into the Jewish religion. These various approaches were applied both to
individuals as well as to collective groups; they were seen as being at work both
in past and present history, and they were also part of the future eschatolog-