Greek encyclical education, philosophy and the Synagogue

Articles printed in Festschriften are sometimes hard to get hold of, and soon to be forgotten, especially if the Festschrift belong to another field that the article looked for, or if the field of the volume is broad and general.
In writing for the Philo Bibliography Project I have to deal with one such article, ’hidden’ in a Festschrift hardly known to Philonics in general:Peder Borgen, ’Greek Encyclical Education, Philosophy and the Synagogue. Observations from Philo of Alexandria’s Writings,’ in Olle Matsson, Åke Frandberg, Monica Hedlund, Sten Lunell, Gunnar Sedin (reds.), Libens Merito. Festskrift till Stig Strømholm på sjuttioårsdagen 16 sept 2001 (Acta Academiæe Regiæ Scientarum Upsaliensis / Kung. Vetskapssamhallets i Uppsala Handlingar 21; Uppsala 2001), pp. 61-71.
(Among the 35 articles in this volume, only one more is concerned with biblical or related studies; Lars Hartman, ’…”with the overseers and servants”- The Opening of Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, when Considered in the Light of Certain Letter Conventions of the Time,’ pp. 169-178.)
In this study, Borgen deals with Philo’s views on the relationships between Greek encyclical education, philosophy and the Jewish synagogues. In Philo, we find all the 7 artes generales (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy) mentioned, though not all, in one and the same work. Furthermore, as there were Greek debates on encyclia and philosophy, Philo’s writings also reflect these debates. Philo allows the encyclical education to be characterized as ‘virtue’, but as a kind of lower virtue than that of revealed wisdom. This distinction is interwoven in Philo’s writings. The encyclia is primarily a preparatory form of education. It should prepare for the true philosophy, which to Philo is the wisdom of Moses.
To Philo, the Jewish synagogues are places of Philosophy; they are schools of the sacred laws. Several aspects of Greek educational ideas are brought together in Philo’s discussion of these issues. But a basic difference between these ‘two schools’, is that “the encyclia uses human teaching as its basis, whereas the philosophy of the Laws of Moses studied in the synagogues has its basis in self-taught wisdom brought forth by nature itself” (67). The last part of this article deals with the dangers to be avoided. One is that the student should not become so charmed by encyclia that he ignores philosophy, that is that he forgets to proceed. Another danger is getting a false impression of God, still a third one is to misuse it for social and political offices of prestige.
In this way, Philo's writings demonstrate how central issues in his Greek educational environment also are mirrored in the Jewish fight for identity in their Greco-Roman world.