I never really did expect to come over a suggestion like this, but in an article, posted on the web this is exactly what is argued: in "Mark the Cryptic Gospel:The Origin of Christianity, the author (Audrey Fletcher) tries to argue that Philo was the man behind the Gospel of Mark! "The key to the cryptic Gospel of "Mark" is the author. To whom then among the influential Jews of Alexandria in the first century AD could be attributed the composition of "Mark", and what was his purpose? The only possible candidate is Philo of Alexandria."
I am not sure if the author is serious! You may read the article for yourself; I will comment on it when the weekend is over!
Saturday, January 31, 2004
RPBS February update
My Resource Pages for Biblical Studies have been updated today. I try to have a monthly update of the pages; that is checking links, removing dead links, and adding new. The Philo page is updated along the way as I come over interesting links to be added.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Jewish apologetics..
Reading Kåre's posting, I am reminded of one of the more recent, and in my view one of the most informative recent discussions of Jewish apologetics to be found in the article by John Barcley, 'Apologetics in the Jewish Diaspora', John R. Bartlett (ed.)., Jews in the hellenistic and Roman Cities (Routledge Press, London; 2002), pp. 129-148.
(In fact, you can access this book on Ebrary, if your institution subscribes to this facility).
Barclay considers several various works and points of view, especially focusing on 'apologetics', 'proselytism' and 'mission' as three phenomenon to differentiate. His article is full of insight, and a good introduction to a study of Philo as an apologete. His conclusion runs thus (p.148) "to employ the label ‘missionary preaching’ may skew the discussion
by importing a Christian framework of thought. Jews clearly learned how to
communicate their culture to non-Jews, and their apologetics, oral and
literary, could effect a range of possible results. If we decline to demarcate
proselytism as a separate phenomenon, we may attribute to the success of
Jewish apologetics the full range of positive responses to Judaism – from
toleration, interest and partial imitation through to full proselytism. While
we cannot quantify the results, the cumulative evidence suggests that apologetics
was of critical importance in ensuring the survival and flourishing of
Judaism throughout the Graeco-Roman Diaspora."
(In fact, you can access this book on Ebrary, if your institution subscribes to this facility).
Barclay considers several various works and points of view, especially focusing on 'apologetics', 'proselytism' and 'mission' as three phenomenon to differentiate. His article is full of insight, and a good introduction to a study of Philo as an apologete. His conclusion runs thus (p.148)
by importing a Christian framework of thought. Jews clearly learned how to
communicate their culture to non-Jews, and their apologetics, oral and
literary, could effect a range of possible results. If we decline to demarcate
proselytism as a separate phenomenon, we may attribute to the success of
Jewish apologetics the full range of positive responses to Judaism – from
toleration, interest and partial imitation through to full proselytism. While
we cannot quantify the results, the cumulative evidence suggests that apologetics
was of critical importance in ensuring the survival and flourishing of
Judaism throughout the Graeco-Roman Diaspora."
More on megasites...
David Meadows, in his blog called Rogueclassicism, has voiced some comments on the megasite-discussion, especially from the perspective of a classicists. His comments on the eforts to provide a comparable site in classics clearly demonstrate, IMHO, that the isssue of funding (read: money), is important. However, he also has some other points of view that are interesting, but somewhat besides what I originally intended by my concept megasite. I am somewhat reluctant to his optimism about how a blog can be used; they are still in an early stage of development. But I am loking forward to Goodacre's comments.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Philo as an apologete
Torrey has asked me to say some words on the symposium on Philo held at the University of Aarhus in Denmark www.aarhusuniversitet.dk on Philo as apologete/apologist (December 5, 2003). The faculty of theology is running a larger project on ancient apologetics called "Jews, Christians as Pagens in Antiquity; Criticism and Apologetics", and the Philo-seminar was one of several in this larger project (cf. homepage). The language of the conference was "Nordic" (Norwegian, Danish or Swedish) and the papers will also be published in these languages (but hopefully with an English summary). Its coordinator is dr. Anders-Christian Lund Jacobsen (cf. www.teo.au.dk).
The scheduled program was:
1. Henrik Tronier: Filon – ikke apologet (Philo - not an apologist)
2. Anders Klostergaard Petersen: Filon som apologet. De migratione Abrahami (Philo as an apologist. Migr.)
3.Henrik Pontoppidan Thyssen: Filons bedømmelse af græske filosoffer (Philo's evaluation of Greek philosophers)
4. Per Bilde: Filon som politisk apologet (Philo as a political apologist)
5. Kåre Fuglseth: Filons forhold til templet i Jerusalem i et apologetisk perspektiv (Philo's relationship to the temple in an apologetic perspective)
Tronier and Bilde could not attend the conference, but their attributions may be published. In stead, Anders Klostergaard Petersen presented chapter 8 in Borgen' s book "Philo of Alexandria. An exegete for his time", as an introduction to a general discussion on the overall subject for the conference.
My own contribution dealt with some of the temple sayings in Philo, and one of my main attempts was to see if and how Peder Borgen's hermeneutical key to Philo (the both-and solution in relation to the Jewish traditions) functioned in relation to the temple relationship, cf. Borgen, ibid., p. 156f.
If there were a point at which we may guess that this key would not function, it would certainly be his temple relationship, since he severely rejects the temple institution in several passages. My own conclusion is that particularly due to the observations of highest sociological value, i.e. the temple tax payment, that Philo accepts, he cannot be looked upon as one rejecting the temple, although his theological argument may some time point in that direction.
Torrey also asks about my dissertation on the Gospel of John, a report to which I shall return to later.
The scheduled program was:
1. Henrik Tronier: Filon – ikke apologet (Philo - not an apologist)
2. Anders Klostergaard Petersen: Filon som apologet. De migratione Abrahami (Philo as an apologist. Migr.)
3.Henrik Pontoppidan Thyssen: Filons bedømmelse af græske filosoffer (Philo's evaluation of Greek philosophers)
4. Per Bilde: Filon som politisk apologet (Philo as a political apologist)
5. Kåre Fuglseth: Filons forhold til templet i Jerusalem i et apologetisk perspektiv (Philo's relationship to the temple in an apologetic perspective)
Tronier and Bilde could not attend the conference, but their attributions may be published. In stead, Anders Klostergaard Petersen presented chapter 8 in Borgen' s book "Philo of Alexandria. An exegete for his time", as an introduction to a general discussion on the overall subject for the conference.
My own contribution dealt with some of the temple sayings in Philo, and one of my main attempts was to see if and how Peder Borgen's hermeneutical key to Philo (the both-and solution in relation to the Jewish traditions) functioned in relation to the temple relationship, cf. Borgen, ibid., p. 156f.
If there were a point at which we may guess that this key would not function, it would certainly be his temple relationship, since he severely rejects the temple institution in several passages. My own conclusion is that particularly due to the observations of highest sociological value, i.e. the temple tax payment, that Philo accepts, he cannot be looked upon as one rejecting the temple, although his theological argument may some time point in that direction.
Torrey also asks about my dissertation on the Gospel of John, a report to which I shall return to later.
Monday, January 26, 2004
Another comment on megasites
Stephen Carlson is joining the debate on the need for megasites. You can read his comments on his blog called Hypotyposeis.
Congratulations to a friend
Norway is a rather small country, its population is only ca. 4.5 mill. Hence there should not be many philonic scholars here either. But perhaps there are more than expected. When Ellen Birnbaum visited Kåre Fuglseth and me in Volda in 1998, she was jokingly suggesting that Volda then probably had the highest population-rate of Philo-scholars in the world (3 out of 6000) :-).... ,and we are not the only ones...
A major person in Norwegian research on Philo - for several decades - has been professor emeritus, Peder Borgen, PhD & dr.theol.
Today he can celebrate his 76th birthday! Happily, he is still active in reading and writing on Philo, John and Paul.
Both my companion here, Kåre Fuglseth, and I had him as an advisor during our time as research fellows at Department of Religion, University of Trondheim (or Norwegian University of Science and Technology, as it is called now). He has been the worthy receiver of two Festschriften. I for my part was able to contribute to his Festchrift published at his 60th birthday, and was one of the editors of the Festschrift published at his 75 birthday: Neotestamentica et Philonica.
Both Festschriften contained bibliographies of prof. Borgen publications. Three items have, however, been published after the last Festschrift was issued:
"The Gospel of John and Philo of Alexandria," in James H. Charlesworth, Light in a
Spotless Mirror. Reflections on Wisdom Traditions in Judaism and Early
Christianity (Faith and Scholarship Colloquies Series; Harrisburg: Trinity Press
International. A Continuum Imprint, 2003), pp. 77-91.
This article in a way synthesizes his major works and views on the Gospel of John and Philo. In the introductory parts of the article he describes his own interests in this field thus:
"My own work has focused ... on John and Philo as exegetes of the Old Testament. In their use of traditions and in their expositions, both John and Philo characterize the people of God, although with different results. Philo saw them as the Jewish people of the synagogue and criticizes some who were in danger of passing the community border. John is situated within a group that had been separated from the synagogal community and that understood itself in continuity and discontinuity with its Jewish heritage."
In the main body of the article, Borgen comments on the following issues: Dodds comparison of John and Philo; Use of Scripture; Exegetical exchange; Conflicts and punishments; Discontinuity and continuity (Dangers at the boundary; Birth from above; The temple; Ascent and descent; Agent "He who is sent";Wisdom; the Law and manna; Moses;). All these topics have been dealt with in a thorough way in several of Borgens work. Hence this article repersents a nice overview.
"Philo of Alexandria as Exegete," in Alan J. Hauser & Duane F. Watson, A History of
Biblical Interpretation, Vol. 1: The Ancient Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003)
114-143.
This article is a description of the various works and exegetical and hermeneutical methods of Philo. A list of the main headlines will give an impression of its focus: Hermeneutical Presuppositions in Philo's expository writings (pp. 118-122); Aspects of Philo's exegesis (pp. 122-125); Philo as an exegete in context (p. 125-126); Some exegetical approaches and forms (pp. 126-136).
In addition he had a longer book review in 2002:
in The Journal of Theological Studies, New Series Vol. 53
Part 1 (2002) 165-173 av "CHRISTIAN NOACK, Gottesbewusstsein. Exegetische Studien zur Soteriologie und Mystik bei Philo von Alexandria. (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 116.) Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000. ISBN 3 16 147239 X. Paper DM 98. Pp. xiii+300
Congratulations on your 76 birthday, Peder!
A major person in Norwegian research on Philo - for several decades - has been professor emeritus, Peder Borgen, PhD & dr.theol.
Today he can celebrate his 76th birthday! Happily, he is still active in reading and writing on Philo, John and Paul.
Both my companion here, Kåre Fuglseth, and I had him as an advisor during our time as research fellows at Department of Religion, University of Trondheim (or Norwegian University of Science and Technology, as it is called now). He has been the worthy receiver of two Festschriften. I for my part was able to contribute to his Festchrift published at his 60th birthday, and was one of the editors of the Festschrift published at his 75 birthday: Neotestamentica et Philonica.
Both Festschriften contained bibliographies of prof. Borgen publications. Three items have, however, been published after the last Festschrift was issued:
"The Gospel of John and Philo of Alexandria," in James H. Charlesworth, Light in a
Spotless Mirror. Reflections on Wisdom Traditions in Judaism and Early
Christianity (Faith and Scholarship Colloquies Series; Harrisburg: Trinity Press
International. A Continuum Imprint, 2003), pp. 77-91.
This article in a way synthesizes his major works and views on the Gospel of John and Philo. In the introductory parts of the article he describes his own interests in this field thus:
"My own work has focused ... on John and Philo as exegetes of the Old Testament. In their use of traditions and in their expositions, both John and Philo characterize the people of God, although with different results. Philo saw them as the Jewish people of the synagogue and criticizes some who were in danger of passing the community border. John is situated within a group that had been separated from the synagogal community and that understood itself in continuity and discontinuity with its Jewish heritage."
In the main body of the article, Borgen comments on the following issues: Dodds comparison of John and Philo; Use of Scripture; Exegetical exchange; Conflicts and punishments; Discontinuity and continuity (Dangers at the boundary; Birth from above; The temple; Ascent and descent; Agent "He who is sent";Wisdom; the Law and manna; Moses;). All these topics have been dealt with in a thorough way in several of Borgens work. Hence this article repersents a nice overview.
"Philo of Alexandria as Exegete," in Alan J. Hauser & Duane F. Watson, A History of
Biblical Interpretation, Vol. 1: The Ancient Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003)
114-143.
This article is a description of the various works and exegetical and hermeneutical methods of Philo. A list of the main headlines will give an impression of its focus: Hermeneutical Presuppositions in Philo's expository writings (pp. 118-122); Aspects of Philo's exegesis (pp. 122-125); Philo as an exegete in context (p. 125-126); Some exegetical approaches and forms (pp. 126-136).
In addition he had a longer book review in 2002:
in The Journal of Theological Studies, New Series Vol. 53
Part 1 (2002) 165-173 av "CHRISTIAN NOACK, Gottesbewusstsein. Exegetische Studien zur Soteriologie und Mystik bei Philo von Alexandria. (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 116.) Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000. ISBN 3 16 147239 X. Paper DM 98. Pp. xiii+300
Congratulations on your 76 birthday, Peder!
Sunday, January 25, 2004
More on Megasites?
Mark Goodacre has a new posting on this topic, obviously triggered by an email from Wieland Willker. (To read the former postings on this topic, go here.)
Wilker seem to suggest something that is as close as possible to what I tried to voice, though I did not associate it with NTGateway as he does:
"I think this cannot be done by one individual alone. I would therefore suggest that we should gather certain individuals for small sections. Every individual is responsible for one section under the head of the NT-Gateway."
My original thought was very similar; a megasite, updated by several editors. Goodacre is not completely opposed to the idea, but I can understand his reservations concerning NTGateway:I have wondered about something like this before and it might provide a useful way of getting the balance right between an evolutionary approach and some degree of prescription or organisation. However, at this stage, at least as far as the NT Gateway is concerned, I am a bit concerned about the idea because (a) it might take as much organisation and maintenance as the doing the site myself; (b) it would -- as Wieland mentions -- mean organising access authorization for the editors; (c) there is the risk of patchiness across the site, with some editors doing their sections well and others less well; and (d) I am not sure that the NT Gateway would be the right forum to do this -- there are other megasites and I don't particularly want to land myself with a kind of imperialistic role! But on the other hand I don't want to pour cold water on this; I am intrigued by the suggestion and there may be something in it. Let me think a little more. His final comments are that something like this is already evolving, and in a way he is right. He, as well as I, are already linking to other 'megasites' in our various sections. E.g., though I try to have a section on Johannnine literature on my RPBS, I also link to Felix Just's pages that are far more comprehensive. But I am not as afraid as he is of the possible patchiness of a megasite. If it was run by a general editor, having strict guidelines on how to edit and post on the site, this could be handled. In addition, if run on a proper program, the problem of access by several persons should be no great problem. We have such kinds of programs already in our online study programs. My point is: such a mega site will have to be huge; it will need proper software (which may may not yet have, but comparable software might be tuned to this specific purpose), it will involve several editors,- and it will be expensive. Hence sponsors and organisational backing will, IMHO, be necessarry.
It is interesting to see other people commenting on these issues; I don't think any suggestions discussed so far should be pressed or rushed towards a hasty realization, but they are worth thinking about. I presume, after all, that all of us who publish on the internet, probably would like to make that material most accessible to most people...
Wilker seem to suggest something that is as close as possible to what I tried to voice, though I did not associate it with NTGateway as he does:
"I think this cannot be done by one individual alone. I would therefore suggest that we should gather certain individuals for small sections. Every individual is responsible for one section under the head of the NT-Gateway."
My original thought was very similar; a megasite, updated by several editors. Goodacre is not completely opposed to the idea, but I can understand his reservations concerning NTGateway:
It is interesting to see other people commenting on these issues; I don't think any suggestions discussed so far should be pressed or rushed towards a hasty realization, but they are worth thinking about. I presume, after all, that all of us who publish on the internet, probably would like to make that material most accessible to most people...
Friday, January 23, 2004
Philo and the Sabbath
The week-end is coming close; when I write this, it is late Friday evening in my home-country Norway. For Jews it is Sabbath. How did Philo consider the Sabbath? He most probably did go to the local Synagogue. Did he have any official position in the Synagogue? Did he teach there? We don't know for sure, but it is probable he did teach,- sometimes at least. I shall comment on the Synagogue in an other posting next week, I hope. But as it is Sabbath time now, please just take some time to look at this exposition of Philo of the Sabbath. You'll find it in The Life of Moses 2,209-212 + 215-216 (I quote from the online version of Yonges translation):
"XXXIX. (209) Moreover, in accordance with the honour due to the Creator of the universe, the prophet hallowed the sacred seventh day, beholding with eyes of more acute sight than those of mortals its pre-eminent beauty, which had already been deeply impressed on the heaven and the whole universal world, and had been borne about as an image by nature itself in her own bosom; (210) for first of all Moses found that day destitute of any mother, and devoid of all participation in the female generation, being born of the Father alone without any propagation by means of seed, and being born without any conception on the part of any mother. And then he beheld not only this, that it was very beautiful and destitute of any mother, neither being born of corruption nor liable to corruption; and then, in the third place, he by further inquiry discovered that it was the birthday of the world, which the heaven keeps as a festival, and the earth and all the things in and on the earth keep as a festival, rejoicing and delighting in the all-harmonious number of seven, and in the sabbath day.
(211) For this reason the all-great Moses thought fit that all who were enrolled in his sacred polity should follow the laws of nature and meet in a solemn assembly, passing the time in cheerful joy and relaxation, abstaining from all work, and from all arts which have a tendency to the production of anything; and from all business which is connected with the seeking of the means of living, and that they should keep a complete truce, abstaining from all laborious and fatiguing thought and care, and devoting their leisure, not as some persons scoffingly assert, to sports, or exhibitions of actors and dancers, for the sake of which those who run madly after theatrical amusements suffer disasters and even encounter miserable deaths, and for the sake of these the most dominant and influential of the outward senses, sight and hearing, make the soul, which should be the heavenly nature, the slave of these senses. (212) But, giving up their time wholly to the study of philosophy, not of that sort of philosophy which wordcatchers and sophists, seek to reduce to a system, selling doctrines and reasonings as they would any other vendible thing in the market. Men who (O you earth and sun!) employ philosophy against philosophy, and yet never wear a blush on their countenance; but who, applying themselves to the kindred philosophy, which they make up of these component parts, namely, of intention, and words, and actions, all united into one species, in order to the acquisition and enjoyment of happiness."
......
"(215) for it was invariably the custom, as it was desirable on other days also, but especially on the seventh day, as I have already explained, to discuss matters of philosophy; the ruler of the people beginning the explanation, and teaching the multitude what they ought to do and to say, and the populace listening so as to improve in virtue, and being made better both in their moral character and in their conduct through life; (216) in accordance with which custom, even to this day, the Jews hold philosophical discussions on the seventh day, disputing about their national philosophy, and devoting that day to the knowledge and consideration of the subjects of natural philosophy; for as for their houses of prayer in the different cities, what are they, but schools of wisdom, and courage, and temperance, and justice, and piety, and holiness, and every virtue, by which human and divine things are appreciated, and placed upon a proper footing?" ....
Have a nice weekend, everybody!
"XXXIX. (209) Moreover, in accordance with the honour due to the Creator of the universe, the prophet hallowed the sacred seventh day, beholding with eyes of more acute sight than those of mortals its pre-eminent beauty, which had already been deeply impressed on the heaven and the whole universal world, and had been borne about as an image by nature itself in her own bosom; (210) for first of all Moses found that day destitute of any mother, and devoid of all participation in the female generation, being born of the Father alone without any propagation by means of seed, and being born without any conception on the part of any mother. And then he beheld not only this, that it was very beautiful and destitute of any mother, neither being born of corruption nor liable to corruption; and then, in the third place, he by further inquiry discovered that it was the birthday of the world, which the heaven keeps as a festival, and the earth and all the things in and on the earth keep as a festival, rejoicing and delighting in the all-harmonious number of seven, and in the sabbath day.
(211) For this reason the all-great Moses thought fit that all who were enrolled in his sacred polity should follow the laws of nature and meet in a solemn assembly, passing the time in cheerful joy and relaxation, abstaining from all work, and from all arts which have a tendency to the production of anything; and from all business which is connected with the seeking of the means of living, and that they should keep a complete truce, abstaining from all laborious and fatiguing thought and care, and devoting their leisure, not as some persons scoffingly assert, to sports, or exhibitions of actors and dancers, for the sake of which those who run madly after theatrical amusements suffer disasters and even encounter miserable deaths, and for the sake of these the most dominant and influential of the outward senses, sight and hearing, make the soul, which should be the heavenly nature, the slave of these senses. (212) But, giving up their time wholly to the study of philosophy, not of that sort of philosophy which wordcatchers and sophists, seek to reduce to a system, selling doctrines and reasonings as they would any other vendible thing in the market. Men who (O you earth and sun!) employ philosophy against philosophy, and yet never wear a blush on their countenance; but who, applying themselves to the kindred philosophy, which they make up of these component parts, namely, of intention, and words, and actions, all united into one species, in order to the acquisition and enjoyment of happiness."
......
"(215) for it was invariably the custom, as it was desirable on other days also, but especially on the seventh day, as I have already explained, to discuss matters of philosophy; the ruler of the people beginning the explanation, and teaching the multitude what they ought to do and to say, and the populace listening so as to improve in virtue, and being made better both in their moral character and in their conduct through life; (216) in accordance with which custom, even to this day, the Jews hold philosophical discussions on the seventh day, disputing about their national philosophy, and devoting that day to the knowledge and consideration of the subjects of natural philosophy; for as for their houses of prayer in the different cities, what are they, but schools of wisdom, and courage, and temperance, and justice, and piety, and holiness, and every virtue, by which human and divine things are appreciated, and placed upon a proper footing?" ....
Have a nice weekend, everybody!
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Moses
The German Publisher Mohr-Siebeck announces a new book that may turn out to be of interest to both philonic and New Testament scholars:
Lierman, John
The New Testament Moses
Christian Perceptions of Moses and Israel in the Setting of Jewish Religion
2004. XIV, 368 pages (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe 173)
ISBN 3-16-148202-6 sewn paper € 64.00 .
Their advertisement says:
John Lierman investigates the ways in which the New Testament writings, read within the context of ancient Judaism, envisage the relationship of Moses to Israel and to the Jewish people. His study shows how New Testament material can illuminate aspects of ancient Judaism and at the same time throws fresh light on the importance of the figure of Moses for NT religion and theology, especially Christology.
The book contributes to the study of Judaism by broadening the understanding of ancient Jewish conceptions of Moses. It also illuminates points of contact between the New Testament books and other ancient Jewish writings, and confirms that central elements in New Testament religion and theology can be understood as Jewish interpretations of the biblical tradition. By supplying a fresh assessment of Moses as envisaged in the early Church the author sets the study of NT Christology on more solid footing. He suggests that Christology developed from the first in closer connection with the figure of Moses than has been generally recognized.
As the book is supposed to be relased from the press in February, I have not seen it yet; but I woudl be very surprised if the vlume does not contain a section of how Philo treats 'Moses'. Hence I got to have a look at it some day.
Lierman, John
The New Testament Moses
Christian Perceptions of Moses and Israel in the Setting of Jewish Religion
2004. XIV, 368 pages (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe 173)
ISBN 3-16-148202-6 sewn paper € 64.00 .
Their advertisement says:
John Lierman investigates the ways in which the New Testament writings, read within the context of ancient Judaism, envisage the relationship of Moses to Israel and to the Jewish people. His study shows how New Testament material can illuminate aspects of ancient Judaism and at the same time throws fresh light on the importance of the figure of Moses for NT religion and theology, especially Christology.
The book contributes to the study of Judaism by broadening the understanding of ancient Jewish conceptions of Moses. It also illuminates points of contact between the New Testament books and other ancient Jewish writings, and confirms that central elements in New Testament religion and theology can be understood as Jewish interpretations of the biblical tradition. By supplying a fresh assessment of Moses as envisaged in the early Church the author sets the study of NT Christology on more solid footing. He suggests that Christology developed from the first in closer connection with the figure of Moses than has been generally recognized.
As the book is supposed to be relased from the press in February, I have not seen it yet; but I woudl be very surprised if the vlume does not contain a section of how Philo treats 'Moses'. Hence I got to have a look at it some day.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
De Somniis - On Dreams
One of the facinating things about Internet is the possibilities of getting in contact with scholars all over the world who work with topics related to your own field. Have you ever contemplated how that was 10 to 15 years ago....? Or thought about how it will possibly be in 10 years from now on?
The reason I mention this today is the fact that I last night found a brief article on the net by a scholar I have never met, but whom I have been in contact with several times via e-mail. It is a Spanish scholar, presently at the Institute of Philology in the Department of Greek and Latin Philology, (at CSIC =Consejo Superior de Investigationes Cientificas); Sofia Torallas Tovar.
She has been working a lot on Philo's works De Somniis; her doctoral dissertation,"El De Somniis de Filón de Alejandría", was defended in Madrid (Universidad Complutense), September 12th. 1995.
I have, in fact, a summary of that dissertation, provided by Sofia, on my Philo site. You can read it here: Philo Alexandrinus' De Somniis: an attempt at reconstruction.
The article I found yesterday is in Spanish: Tres Estados De Conciencia En EN Filon De Alejandria: SUEÑO, VIGILIA Y ÉXTASIS. (see further J.-L. Cunchillos, J. M. Galán, J.-A. Zamora, S. Villanueva de Azcona (eds.), Actas del Congreso "El Mediterráneo en la Antigüedad: Oriente y Occidente", Sapanu. Publicaciones en Internet II (1998) [http://www.labherm.filol.csic.es] ).
In 1997 she published a Spanish translation of De Somniis /De Ioseph: Filón de Alejandría. Sobre Los Sueños. Sobre José. Introducción, Traducción y notas de Sfía Torallas Tovar (Biblioteca Clásica Credos, 253; Madrid, 1997).
Other related studies (on 'paper') are
'Sobre la clasificación de los sueños de Filón de Alejandría y sus implaciciones posteriores,' Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: estudios griegos e indoeropeos 9 (1999) 191-212.
‘El libro de los sueños de Sinesio de Cirene’, in R. Teja (ed.), Sueños y visiones en el paganismo y el cristianismo (Santa María la Real 2001) 69–81.
‘Philo of Alexandria on Sleep’, in T. Wiedemann and K. Dowden (edd.), Sleep, Nottingham Classical Studies 8 (Bari 2003) 41–52.
She has also published other fields, as this little book demonstrates: Gramática de Copto Sahídico
CSIC. Madrid, 2001. 164 pp, which seems to be not so much a grammar as a manual for students and researchers.
In later years, I think, she has been engaged in a project on the police system in ancient Egypt, drawing especially on the ancient papyrii. But I have seen no publications from this research so far.
The reason I mention this today is the fact that I last night found a brief article on the net by a scholar I have never met, but whom I have been in contact with several times via e-mail. It is a Spanish scholar, presently at the Institute of Philology in the Department of Greek and Latin Philology, (at CSIC =Consejo Superior de Investigationes Cientificas); Sofia Torallas Tovar.
She has been working a lot on Philo's works De Somniis; her doctoral dissertation,"El De Somniis de Filón de Alejandría", was defended in Madrid (Universidad Complutense), September 12th. 1995.
I have, in fact, a summary of that dissertation, provided by Sofia, on my Philo site. You can read it here: Philo Alexandrinus' De Somniis: an attempt at reconstruction.
The article I found yesterday is in Spanish: Tres Estados De Conciencia En EN Filon De Alejandria: SUEÑO, VIGILIA Y ÉXTASIS. (see further J.-L. Cunchillos, J. M. Galán, J.-A. Zamora, S. Villanueva de Azcona (eds.), Actas del Congreso "El Mediterráneo en la Antigüedad: Oriente y Occidente", Sapanu. Publicaciones en Internet II (1998) [http://www.labherm.filol.csic.es] ).
In 1997 she published a Spanish translation of De Somniis /De Ioseph: Filón de Alejandría. Sobre Los Sueños. Sobre José. Introducción, Traducción y notas de Sfía Torallas Tovar (Biblioteca Clásica Credos, 253; Madrid, 1997).
Other related studies (on 'paper') are
'Sobre la clasificación de los sueños de Filón de Alejandría y sus implaciciones posteriores,' Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: estudios griegos e indoeropeos 9 (1999) 191-212.
‘El libro de los sueños de Sinesio de Cirene’, in R. Teja (ed.), Sueños y visiones en el paganismo y el cristianismo (Santa María la Real 2001) 69–81.
‘Philo of Alexandria on Sleep’, in T. Wiedemann and K. Dowden (edd.), Sleep, Nottingham Classical Studies 8 (Bari 2003) 41–52.
She has also published other fields, as this little book demonstrates: Gramática de Copto Sahídico
CSIC. Madrid, 2001. 164 pp, which seems to be not so much a grammar as a manual for students and researchers.
In later years, I think, she has been engaged in a project on the police system in ancient Egypt, drawing especially on the ancient papyrii. But I have seen no publications from this research so far.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Philo as an apologetic writer?
I know Kåre (Fuglseth), my companion on this blog, read a paper at the University of Århus, Denmark, last december, at a conference on "Philo as an apologete". There were also other scholars reading papers assessing the works of Philo. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the conference, hence I would challenge you, Kåre, to give a brief presentation of what happend at the seminar, how the papers were, and especially what points of view you presented in your own paper.
Kåre's own dissertation was titled: A Sectarian John? A sociological-Critical, Historical and Compaative Analysis of the Gospel of John, Philo and Qumran (2002). Hence I would also challenge you to present some aspects of this work here, and provide us with some further information about how you are progressing in your revision of your work for publication in an international setting.
I do think that would be very interesting tor the readers of this blog.
Kåre's own dissertation was titled: A Sectarian John? A sociological-Critical, Historical and Compaative Analysis of the Gospel of John, Philo and Qumran (2002). Hence I would also challenge you to present some aspects of this work here, and provide us with some further information about how you are progressing in your revision of your work for publication in an international setting.
I do think that would be very interesting tor the readers of this blog.
Monday, January 19, 2004
Laval théologique et philosophique online
A Canadian journal, quite unknown to me so far, is now available on-line: Laval théologique et philosophique. It was originally established in 1945, but became on-line last December. Most of its articles seem to be in French, but some are in English. You can access the English website here; the French site here. The site has information about the Journal, subscription information, guidelines for contributors, and a search engine for published articles.
The main gist of its self-presentation runs thus:
"The LTP is a unique journal in Quebec and in Canada as much because of its content as its orientation. Following the examples of several great international journals, such as the Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques (Paris) and Theologie und Philosophie (Freiburg, Basel, Vienna) to name a few, it has the primary characteristic of being open to theological and philosophical reflection at the same time. In principle, it covers the field of both of these disciplines. In its thematic issues, the LTP approaches in a very special way the questions that are found in the crossroads of the two disciplines, which lends itself to interdisciplinary elaborations. Its mission is to guide its readers in the understanding and discussion of currents of thought and of the main new developments that closely touch Theology and Philosophy.
The journal has three objectives: broadcasting researchers' work, making a synthesis of major questions linked to modern-day theological and philosophical trends and opening new fields of investigation or research."
The articles of the 58.1-2 (2002) and 59.1 (2003) issues are infact available online both as html and as .pdf files, and more is to come in the near future.
Using its search engine, I found the following articles dealing with the works of Philo:
Anton-Hermann Chroust,
Some Comments on Philo of Alexandria, 'De aeternitate mundi',
Volume 31, no 2 (1975), pp. 135-145.
Abstract not available.
Jean Laporte,
Philonic Models of Eucharistia in the Eucharist of Origen,
Volume 42, no 1 (1986), pp. 71-91.
Abstract not available.
Jean Laporte,
'Models from Philo in Origen’s Teaching on Original Sin',
,Volume 44, no 2 (1988), pp. 191-203.
Abstract:
If we accept the idea that the notion of original sin is not necessarily measured by the patterns of Augustine and Aquinas, we may recognize the depth and diversity of its aspects in early Christian literature. The author studies this notion in Origen, and shows that Origen does not only depend on Paul, but is deeply influenced by Philo of Alexandria regarding the priority of evil in our life. After summarizing the positions of Philo, the author deals with Origen concerning pre-existence, the devils power, the Ages of life, the flesh, the Adamic seeds, Levitical defilement, and baptism, in their relation to original sin. In Origen, Adam is not the key figure of this doctrine as he is for Augustine.
Harold E. Remus,
Moses and the Thaumaturges : Philo’s De vita Mosis As a Rescue Operation,
Volume 52, no 3 (1996), pp. 665-680.
Abstract:
Philo’s extended treatment of Balaam in the De Vita Mosis, denigrating him as a mercenary technician, stands in sharp contrast to his portrait of Moses, the true prophet as well as philosopher-god-king, priest, thaumaturge, and mystagogue - the answer to the longing of Philo’s contemporaries for just such a figure. The writing thus serves to rescue Moses from possible misunderstandings of Moses as a mere thaumaturge or as a magician, a reputation attested in a variety of sources. Rather, Moses’ command over nature derives from the revelation, received on the mountain, of the noetic reality - knowledge he employs for the benefaction of others. The De Vita Mosis thus sets the great leader apart from Balaam-like thaumaturges and magicians in Philo’s Egypt, a land noted for such figures. The article situates the writing in a long tradition of rhetoric and biography employed as vehicles both of polemic and praise.
The main gist of its self-presentation runs thus:
"The LTP is a unique journal in Quebec and in Canada as much because of its content as its orientation. Following the examples of several great international journals, such as the Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques (Paris) and Theologie und Philosophie (Freiburg, Basel, Vienna) to name a few, it has the primary characteristic of being open to theological and philosophical reflection at the same time. In principle, it covers the field of both of these disciplines. In its thematic issues, the LTP approaches in a very special way the questions that are found in the crossroads of the two disciplines, which lends itself to interdisciplinary elaborations. Its mission is to guide its readers in the understanding and discussion of currents of thought and of the main new developments that closely touch Theology and Philosophy.
The journal has three objectives: broadcasting researchers' work, making a synthesis of major questions linked to modern-day theological and philosophical trends and opening new fields of investigation or research."
The articles of the 58.1-2 (2002) and 59.1 (2003) issues are infact available online both as html and as .pdf files, and more is to come in the near future.
Using its search engine, I found the following articles dealing with the works of Philo:
Anton-Hermann Chroust,
Some Comments on Philo of Alexandria, 'De aeternitate mundi',
Volume 31, no 2 (1975), pp. 135-145.
Abstract not available.
Jean Laporte,
Philonic Models of Eucharistia in the Eucharist of Origen,
Volume 42, no 1 (1986), pp. 71-91.
Abstract not available.
Jean Laporte,
'Models from Philo in Origen’s Teaching on Original Sin',
,Volume 44, no 2 (1988), pp. 191-203.
Abstract:
If we accept the idea that the notion of original sin is not necessarily measured by the patterns of Augustine and Aquinas, we may recognize the depth and diversity of its aspects in early Christian literature. The author studies this notion in Origen, and shows that Origen does not only depend on Paul, but is deeply influenced by Philo of Alexandria regarding the priority of evil in our life. After summarizing the positions of Philo, the author deals with Origen concerning pre-existence, the devils power, the Ages of life, the flesh, the Adamic seeds, Levitical defilement, and baptism, in their relation to original sin. In Origen, Adam is not the key figure of this doctrine as he is for Augustine.
Harold E. Remus,
Moses and the Thaumaturges : Philo’s De vita Mosis As a Rescue Operation,
Volume 52, no 3 (1996), pp. 665-680.
Abstract:
Philo’s extended treatment of Balaam in the De Vita Mosis, denigrating him as a mercenary technician, stands in sharp contrast to his portrait of Moses, the true prophet as well as philosopher-god-king, priest, thaumaturge, and mystagogue - the answer to the longing of Philo’s contemporaries for just such a figure. The writing thus serves to rescue Moses from possible misunderstandings of Moses as a mere thaumaturge or as a magician, a reputation attested in a variety of sources. Rather, Moses’ command over nature derives from the revelation, received on the mountain, of the noetic reality - knowledge he employs for the benefaction of others. The De Vita Mosis thus sets the great leader apart from Balaam-like thaumaturges and magicians in Philo’s Egypt, a land noted for such figures. The article situates the writing in a long tradition of rhetoric and biography employed as vehicles both of polemic and praise.
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Final(?) comments on Megasites...
The discussion between Mark Goodacre, Jim Davila and me seems to run somewhat dry now. I am grateful for the responses they have given; our positions have been clarified during this change of opinions. Hence just a few comments here..
1) My inital quest was: "Have we reached the point where we should seriously consider coordinating more of this work, get some sponsors, and establish a team to work on a really megasite for Biblical studies?"
2) There was some possible misunderstanding when Jim wrote that "Personally, I prefer a Darwinian 'emergent order'" or "But what I wouldn't want to see is a committe trying to disseminate a cantrally planned vision of how biblical studies on the Internet should look."
I don't think I wrote anything that could be interpreted in that way (but as English is my second language, I may not have expressed myself clearly enough). I totally agree with Jim "That there aren't any heararchical controls over the Internet", nor do I think (or hope for) that there ever willl be.
3) What I just wanted to discuss was the possible need for was a kind of a more official (SBL sponsored?), megasite, run by several biblical experts, that could help the general public to get a kind of overview, and hence an easier access to our research. For some the Internett is a bunch of flowers, for others a labyrint; but we all need some guidance to find our way through it. At the present time, I appreciate Goodacre's NTGatway as the most efficient tool in finding relevant research. But the mere presence and popularity of his site, as well as mine and other 'megasites', demonstrate the need for these kind of sites.
4) The pinpointing of Mark in his last post about Felix Just' proposal a few years ago about "a kind of SBL sponsored loose confeederation of key sites" was interesting. Whatever will be made in the future of megasites, it/they will have to be combined with the evolutionary model, but provide some structures for search. In fact, a megasite is unthinkable without all the flowers out there. I only see a need for this: how can I and others, in a more efficient way, find the best flower, suited for my specific purpose.
I also congratulate Mark on being a member of the SBL Forum Advisory Board. In that position he will be able to further the viewpoints voiced in this thread.
5) Thanks for your comments, guys, and I consider a coming together in San Antonio november a deal.. :-)
6) If you want to read the preceeding postings on this topic, you will find them here:
my initial suggestion on the future for megasites.
Mark's first response here;
My response to Mark;
Jim Davila offered his response;
and here is my response to Jim.
Mark's second response.
1) My inital quest was: "Have we reached the point where we should seriously consider coordinating more of this work, get some sponsors, and establish a team to work on a really megasite for Biblical studies?"
2) There was some possible misunderstanding when Jim wrote that "Personally, I prefer a Darwinian 'emergent order'" or "But what I wouldn't want to see is a committe trying to disseminate a cantrally planned vision of how biblical studies on the Internet should look."
I don't think I wrote anything that could be interpreted in that way (but as English is my second language, I may not have expressed myself clearly enough). I totally agree with Jim "That there aren't any heararchical controls over the Internet", nor do I think (or hope for) that there ever willl be.
3) What I just wanted to discuss was the possible need for was a kind of a more official (SBL sponsored?), megasite, run by several biblical experts, that could help the general public to get a kind of overview, and hence an easier access to our research. For some the Internett is a bunch of flowers, for others a labyrint; but we all need some guidance to find our way through it. At the present time, I appreciate Goodacre's NTGatway as the most efficient tool in finding relevant research. But the mere presence and popularity of his site, as well as mine and other 'megasites', demonstrate the need for these kind of sites.
4) The pinpointing of Mark in his last post about Felix Just' proposal a few years ago about "a kind of SBL sponsored loose confeederation of key sites" was interesting. Whatever will be made in the future of megasites, it/they will have to be combined with the evolutionary model, but provide some structures for search. In fact, a megasite is unthinkable without all the flowers out there. I only see a need for this: how can I and others, in a more efficient way, find the best flower, suited for my specific purpose.
I also congratulate Mark on being a member of the SBL Forum Advisory Board. In that position he will be able to further the viewpoints voiced in this thread.
5) Thanks for your comments, guys, and I consider a coming together in San Antonio november a deal.. :-)
6) If you want to read the preceeding postings on this topic, you will find them here:
my initial suggestion on the future for megasites.
Mark's first response here;
My response to Mark;
Jim Davila offered his response;
and here is my response to Jim.
Mark's second response.
Friday, January 16, 2004
A Philo-discussion on the Johannine Literature Discussion List
Thank you, Torrey, for inviting me, I am more than willing to contribute. As an initial post on the blog, I would like to mention a discussion on Philo in the Johannine Literature Discussion List . This is not a uniquely scholarly list, as the questions asked also indicate. It nevertheless demonstrates an interest in Philo.
(If you are interested in knowing more about the place where I live (latitude 67°17'N), see www.bodoe.com, a wonderful place on earth.)
(If you are interested in knowing more about the place where I live (latitude 67°17'N), see www.bodoe.com, a wonderful place on earth.)
Thursday, January 15, 2004
New Blogger: Kåre Fuglseth!
I am happy to announce that Kåre Fuglseth has now accepted to join me in this Philo Weblog.
Kaare is associate professor at Bodø University College, and is one of the guys who made the Philo Index (in fact the primary one in the finalizing work), published by Brill/Eerdmans.
I hope he will be able to enrich this blog with many of his postings. Welcome Kaare!
Kaare is associate professor at Bodø University College, and is one of the guys who made the Philo Index (in fact the primary one in the finalizing work), published by Brill/Eerdmans.
I hope he will be able to enrich this blog with many of his postings. Welcome Kaare!
A word of Philo for teachers..
The works of Philo give us important information not only about his own ideology, but also about central aspects of the social world of his time. Here is one saying about teachers to contemplate for today (Questions on Genesis 4,106):
For genuine teachers and instructors direct their teaching not to display but to the profit of their pupils, and compel them to repeat from memory what has been said to them, thus firmly impressing upon them what they have heard.
How long? More on megasites....
A few postings ago I had some comments on the problems of keeping up-to-date the great megasites like my own Resource Pages for Biblical Studies (RPBS), NTGateway, and others.
Mark Goodacre, the owner of NTGateway, gave a response (read here), to which I responded again.
Last night, James Davila, the keeper of PaleoJudaica, also joined the debate (read here), and I would like to offer some further comments, not at least proffered by his posting.
I cannot quote his posting in full, just some of the sections I want especially to focus on.
Jim wrote:
"This is certainly a worthwhile conversation to have and to keep having. My thoughts:
By sponsors do you mean someone to give us web space? Probably one or more academic institution could supply that. Or if we want to have separate space, one can get quite a bit very cheaply. I'm not sure what else we would need sponsors for."
For my part, by 'sponsors', I do not primarily think about someone providing webspace. Academic institutions may be willing to offer space; for my part I have moved my site from the webserver of my institution to a commercial one, and I am paying for it myself (don't tell my wife..). But that's a personal choice, due to the fact that I also wanted to have some pages of personal and family interest on that site.
What I am thinking of is the fact that my institution does not pay me for surfing the Internet, and for all the other work involved in building and keeping websites. By 'sponsors' I meant someone who could raise money so a megasite could be run by (part-time) persons paid to do just that; run the site. I don't know exactly how this is done with the ETANA site, but sponsors were mentioned on that site.
Furthermore, to evade a mistake that may be inherent in Jim's response; I am NOT thinking about the various Weblogs out there, but megasites of links like RPBS and NTGateway. I enjoy both Jim's and Mark's weblogging, and theirs are the direct inspiration of my own. (There are a lot of rambling blogs out there, but the two mentioned above are scholarly and to the point, as is also the one by Stephen Carlson, and some others).
The focus of my discussion is how to run the megasites. I for my part try to gather links about the New Testament, that is all the writings of the NT, links concerning the social world of the New Testament, methods, etc etc,- and not to forget: Philo. But to be honest, I don't think it is possible for one person to keep such a comprehensive site updated on a sparetime hobby basis. Even Mark admits that he gets too little sleep, too little research done (probably an overstatement....:-), and he does not manage to keep up with all the articles now published on the Internet.
Furthermore, Jim wrote:
" True, it would potentially be useful to have a megasite of links to all our manifold sites and blogs etc. But various people, Torrey included, maintain such things. I'm not sure what the benefit would be to adding another."
I have partly commented on this; I think one of the benefits would be that such a site would be more efective, more comprehensive, and more often updated. I try to imagine a site, in which several persons are involved, having their own fields of research to cover, fields in which they would be specialists in. As it is now, both Mark and I try to include the Gospel of John, but then we have the site of Felix Just being much more comprehensive, and others are focusing on other sections of the NT (not to speak of the Old testament/Hebrew Writings, pseudepigrapha etc ).
Well, I think I have made my point clear; I do enjoy the availability of research on the Internet; being a profesor at a minor institution, in a small town of 6000 people, the internet opened up the world in the early nineties that has been wonderfully profitable for my self and for my research. I started my RPBS as a hobby for myself, then placed it on a server, and it soon got visitors.
But I see the need for thinking about the future, someone has to do that, and I welcome further comments to this thread started here.
Hence I also second this comment of Jim:
"As for Mark's idea of involving the SBL, I would need to hear more about exactly how. It would be fine for us all to get together over beers at the meetings and discuss what we're doing and what we want to do. I suppose we could consider starting a group on Internet matters and biblical studies, although it would have to be clearly differentiated from CARG, which might not be easy. Or, as Torrey suggests, we could see about arranging a CARG session (or sessions) on the subject. "
Maybe this little exchange of opinions could go on a little more, and then we could meet at SBL in San Antonio to share further reflections. That would be wonderful. (though I would prefer wine rather than beer......:-)
Mark Goodacre, the owner of NTGateway, gave a response (read here), to which I responded again.
Last night, James Davila, the keeper of PaleoJudaica, also joined the debate (read here), and I would like to offer some further comments, not at least proffered by his posting.
I cannot quote his posting in full, just some of the sections I want especially to focus on.
Jim wrote:
"This is certainly a worthwhile conversation to have and to keep having. My thoughts:
By sponsors do you mean someone to give us web space? Probably one or more academic institution could supply that. Or if we want to have separate space, one can get quite a bit very cheaply. I'm not sure what else we would need sponsors for."
For my part, by 'sponsors', I do not primarily think about someone providing webspace. Academic institutions may be willing to offer space; for my part I have moved my site from the webserver of my institution to a commercial one, and I am paying for it myself (don't tell my wife..). But that's a personal choice, due to the fact that I also wanted to have some pages of personal and family interest on that site.
What I am thinking of is the fact that my institution does not pay me for surfing the Internet, and for all the other work involved in building and keeping websites. By 'sponsors' I meant someone who could raise money so a megasite could be run by (part-time) persons paid to do just that; run the site. I don't know exactly how this is done with the ETANA site, but sponsors were mentioned on that site.
Furthermore, to evade a mistake that may be inherent in Jim's response; I am NOT thinking about the various Weblogs out there, but megasites of links like RPBS and NTGateway. I enjoy both Jim's and Mark's weblogging, and theirs are the direct inspiration of my own. (There are a lot of rambling blogs out there, but the two mentioned above are scholarly and to the point, as is also the one by Stephen Carlson, and some others).
The focus of my discussion is how to run the megasites. I for my part try to gather links about the New Testament, that is all the writings of the NT, links concerning the social world of the New Testament, methods, etc etc,- and not to forget: Philo. But to be honest, I don't think it is possible for one person to keep such a comprehensive site updated on a sparetime hobby basis. Even Mark admits that he gets too little sleep, too little research done (probably an overstatement....:-), and he does not manage to keep up with all the articles now published on the Internet.
Furthermore, Jim wrote:
" True, it would potentially be useful to have a megasite of links to all our manifold sites and blogs etc. But various people, Torrey included, maintain such things. I'm not sure what the benefit would be to adding another."
I have partly commented on this; I think one of the benefits would be that such a site would be more efective, more comprehensive, and more often updated. I try to imagine a site, in which several persons are involved, having their own fields of research to cover, fields in which they would be specialists in. As it is now, both Mark and I try to include the Gospel of John, but then we have the site of Felix Just being much more comprehensive, and others are focusing on other sections of the NT (not to speak of the Old testament/Hebrew Writings, pseudepigrapha etc ).
Well, I think I have made my point clear; I do enjoy the availability of research on the Internet; being a profesor at a minor institution, in a small town of 6000 people, the internet opened up the world in the early nineties that has been wonderfully profitable for my self and for my research. I started my RPBS as a hobby for myself, then placed it on a server, and it soon got visitors.
But I see the need for thinking about the future, someone has to do that, and I welcome further comments to this thread started here.
Hence I also second this comment of Jim:
"As for Mark's idea of involving the SBL, I would need to hear more about exactly how. It would be fine for us all to get together over beers at the meetings and discuss what we're doing and what we want to do. I suppose we could consider starting a group on Internet matters and biblical studies, although it would have to be clearly differentiated from CARG, which might not be easy. Or, as Torrey suggests, we could see about arranging a CARG session (or sessions) on the subject. "
Maybe this little exchange of opinions could go on a little more, and then we could meet at SBL in San Antonio to share further reflections. That would be wonderful. (though I would prefer wine rather than beer......:-)
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
What is a Blog?
Definition:
blog
A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.
Information
A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.
People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.
Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files.
Synonyms
web log
weblog
This is taken from http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/, The site also contains references to some articles discusssing the phenomenon of WeBlogs.
As you may have gathered from the previous postings, the present Blog is not so much about 'personal thoughts' as about research related to the study of the works of Philo of Alexandria. As such it will be dealing both with material available on the Internett as well as research published on paper.
To make this WeBlog about Philo more effective, I hope to be able to get some more people interested in joining me in blogging. Stay tuned...:-)
blog
A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.
Information
A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.
People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.
Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files.
Synonyms
web log
weblog
This is taken from http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/, The site also contains references to some articles discusssing the phenomenon of WeBlogs.
As you may have gathered from the previous postings, the present Blog is not so much about 'personal thoughts' as about research related to the study of the works of Philo of Alexandria. As such it will be dealing both with material available on the Internett as well as research published on paper.
To make this WeBlog about Philo more effective, I hope to be able to get some more people interested in joining me in blogging. Stay tuned...:-)
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
More on Associations
As a kind of following up to my former posting on associations, I would
like to point your attention to a very informative site about the
ancient Greco-Roman clubs and associations, the site of Philip A Harland.
It contains info about his book on Associations, Synagogues, and
Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society
as well as some other relevant information
on the issue of associations. The site also carries links to several of
his publications.
Nice site, Philip!
like to point your attention to a very informative site about the
ancient Greco-Roman clubs and associations, the site of Philip A Harland.
It contains info about his book on Associations, Synagogues, and
Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society
as well as some other relevant information
on the issue of associations. The site also carries links to several of
his publications.
Nice site, Philip!
Collegia, symposium, - eucharist
The various collegia and symposia of the Greco-Roman world has received great attention among New Testament scholars in recent years. Philo has something to say about such gatherings too, as I have tried to demonstrate in an article still available in a preliminary form on the Ioudaios list server (it was printed in the S.G. Wilson/John S. Kloppenborg, Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World (Routledge, London, 1996), pp.110-127).
Now a major volume has been published, and has received a threefold review on the Review of Biblical Literature website:
Dennis E.Smith, From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), pp. xi + 411.).
It contains the following chapters:
The Banquet as Social Institution; The Greco-Roman Banquet;
The Philosophical Banquet; The Sacrificial Banquet; The Jewish Banquet; The Banquet in the Churches of Paul; The Banquet in the Gospels; The Banquet and Christian Theology.
On the back cover it says (from Chapter One):
"If we are to understand properly any individual instance of formalized meals in the Greco-Roman world, such as Greek philosophical banquets, or Jewish festival meals, or early Christian community meals, we must first understand the larger phenomenon of the banquet as a social institution. This perspective, that the banquet was one social institution that cut across ethnic, religious, and social lines, has not been given its due in scholarship. Instead, scholars have concentrated on comparing individual types of meals. This study seeks to define the banquet as a social institution in its own right in the ancient world and thereby provide a common model that can be utilized for the study of all data on formal meals from the Greco-Roman world."
This is a comprehensive thesis, which I look forward to have a closer look at, and especially how he treats the Philonic material. In my reading Philo was sceptical of joining associations and symposia; though he did so himself, it was not for everyone to do so as they could represent settings of apostasy. But I have to read this one. Tolle lege!
Now a major volume has been published, and has received a threefold review on the Review of Biblical Literature website:
Dennis E.Smith, From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), pp. xi + 411.).
It contains the following chapters:
The Banquet as Social Institution; The Greco-Roman Banquet;
The Philosophical Banquet; The Sacrificial Banquet; The Jewish Banquet; The Banquet in the Churches of Paul; The Banquet in the Gospels; The Banquet and Christian Theology.
On the back cover it says (from Chapter One):
This is a comprehensive thesis, which I look forward to have a closer look at, and especially how he treats the Philonic material. In my reading Philo was sceptical of joining associations and symposia; though he did so himself, it was not for everyone to do so as they could represent settings of apostasy. But I have to read this one. Tolle lege!
How long??
A few postings ago I voiced a concern for how we can best keep up the sites like my own Resource Pages for Biblical Studies, NTGateway, and other.
Today, Mark Goodacre, has commented on my posting (what I hoped he would do ..:-); saying inter alia,
(4) I've sometimes wondered out loud about the possibilities of greater collaboration and it may indeed be the way forward to begin thinking seriously about this. My hunch is that it would only work if one could involve a major organisation and the obvious one would be the SBL. But all this needs some more thought.
Let me make clear that I have absolutely no intention of stopping developing and maintaining the NT Gateway, but I do think that Torrey Seland is asking some useful questions for the long term about how we all look to the future for Biblical (and related) resources on the web.
I am glad to hear he will not stop developing his site,- but even without being a prophet, I can foresee that it will be a more and more demanding task as a one-man work.
Hence I also do think it is time to start thinking about the future. I totally agree with Mark, that SBL would be the major organisation to involve in this. Maybe the CARG sessions at the SBL Annual Meeting would be a setting to start some serious discussions on how to develop ways to get further. The relevant material on the Internet is growing so rapidly, that it is hard to imagine what even the next year will bring.
Today, Mark Goodacre, has commented on my posting (what I hoped he would do ..:-); saying inter alia,
Let me make clear that I have absolutely no intention of stopping developing and maintaining the NT Gateway, but I do think that Torrey Seland is asking some useful questions for the long term about how we all look to the future for Biblical (and related) resources on the web.
I am glad to hear he will not stop developing his site,- but even without being a prophet, I can foresee that it will be a more and more demanding task as a one-man work.
Hence I also do think it is time to start thinking about the future. I totally agree with Mark, that SBL would be the major organisation to involve in this. Maybe the CARG sessions at the SBL Annual Meeting would be a setting to start some serious discussions on how to develop ways to get further. The relevant material on the Internet is growing so rapidly, that it is hard to imagine what even the next year will bring.
Monday, January 12, 2004
The Ancient Library of Alexandria
I have tried to update my info on the ancient Library of Alexandria for my Philo Resource page. Some links had become outdated, while some new was found on the Internet.
The library is somewhat of an enigma; we do not have much 'hard facts' to work with, and especially the socalled 'burning' of the library seems hard to assess.The lack of real archaeological remains, as well as the variety of the descriptions in written sources make the case for the history of the library very difficult.
The main material I found published on the Internet about the ancient library (and some links about the new) are now listed on my webpage.
There you can find, inter alia, a course paper from 1965 by Ellen N. Brundage, a greater site by Matthew Collins (no further info on him available..), and some more popular pages. The most scholarly and critical paper found is propably the short paper by Uwe Jochum on The Alexandrian Library and its aftermath. Well worth reading.
The flourishing of cultural and economic life i Alexandria, and the scholary activities of both Philo, his predecessors and successors, make it most likely that Libraries played an important role in the city. Considering the lack of knowledge about ancient bookstores from this times, make the existence of libraries even more important. Living in the age of the Internet, I do think we can hardly imagine what it meant 2000 years ago ....
The library is somewhat of an enigma; we do not have much 'hard facts' to work with, and especially the socalled 'burning' of the library seems hard to assess.The lack of real archaeological remains, as well as the variety of the descriptions in written sources make the case for the history of the library very difficult.
The main material I found published on the Internet about the ancient library (and some links about the new) are now listed on my webpage.
There you can find, inter alia, a course paper from 1965 by Ellen N. Brundage, a greater site by Matthew Collins (no further info on him available..), and some more popular pages. The most scholarly and critical paper found is propably the short paper by Uwe Jochum on The Alexandrian Library and its aftermath. Well worth reading.
The flourishing of cultural and economic life i Alexandria, and the scholary activities of both Philo, his predecessors and successors, make it most likely that Libraries played an important role in the city. Considering the lack of knowledge about ancient bookstores from this times, make the existence of libraries even more important. Living in the age of the Internet, I do think we can hardly imagine what it meant 2000 years ago ....
Saturday, January 10, 2004
ETANA-Abzu-news
as announced on Ioudaios List.
We are pleased to announce the availability of a new mailing list that will serve to inform the public of developments at ETANA: Electronic Tools and Ancient Near Eastern Archives, and of additions
to Abzu, ETANA's guide to the ancient Near East on-line. Instructions for adding your address to the list can be found at:
https://listhost.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ETANA-Abzu-news
The ETANA project seeks to serve as a model of how a discipline-specific content site in ancient Near Eastern Studies can be constructed to become the dominant site for that discipline. ETANA
will take a leadership role in developing standards specific to this discipline, test altruistic funding models, utilize OpenArchive metadata standards and create discipline-specific harvest engines to work with these metadata. ETANA will create a structure whereby scholarship can be accessible from data capture to finished scholarship on a single site. It will host data capture and access, core texts and born-digital publications in an environment of rights management, appropriate levels of peer review, and archival
permanence. ETANA encompasses the primary portal in ancient Near Eastern Studies: Abzu, and the multiple rich image databases being created in the discipline.
ETANA is a cooperative project of:
American Oriental Society | American Schools of Oriental Research | Case Western Reserve University | Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State | Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago | Society of Biblical Literature | Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University | Vanderbilt University | Virginia Polytechnic and State University.
.
Etana turns out to be an excellent site for students of Philo and his social world too. But it makes me think about how long it is useful to keep up all these other collections of links like my own site, NTGateway, and others. I know from my own work that it eats my time, and I can't imagine how Mark Goodacre gets time to keep up his great site as a one-man work...
Have we reached the point where we should seriously consider coordinating more of this work, get some sponsors, and establish a team to work on a really megasite for Biblical studies? Viewpoints are welcome....
We are pleased to announce the availability of a new mailing list that will serve to inform the public of developments at ETANA: Electronic Tools and Ancient Near Eastern Archives, and of additions
to Abzu, ETANA's guide to the ancient Near East on-line. Instructions for adding your address to the list can be found at:
https://listhost.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ETANA-Abzu-news
The ETANA project seeks to serve as a model of how a discipline-specific content site in ancient Near Eastern Studies can be constructed to become the dominant site for that discipline. ETANA
will take a leadership role in developing standards specific to this discipline, test altruistic funding models, utilize OpenArchive metadata standards and create discipline-specific harvest engines to work with these metadata. ETANA will create a structure whereby scholarship can be accessible from data capture to finished scholarship on a single site. It will host data capture and access, core texts and born-digital publications in an environment of rights management, appropriate levels of peer review, and archival
permanence. ETANA encompasses the primary portal in ancient Near Eastern Studies: Abzu, and the multiple rich image databases being created in the discipline.
ETANA is a cooperative project of:
American Oriental Society | American Schools of Oriental Research | Case Western Reserve University | Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State | Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago | Society of Biblical Literature | Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University | Vanderbilt University | Virginia Polytechnic and State University.
.
Etana turns out to be an excellent site for students of Philo and his social world too. But it makes me think about how long it is useful to keep up all these other collections of links like my own site, NTGateway, and others. I know from my own work that it eats my time, and I can't imagine how Mark Goodacre gets time to keep up his great site as a one-man work...
Have we reached the point where we should seriously consider coordinating more of this work, get some sponsors, and establish a team to work on a really megasite for Biblical studies? Viewpoints are welcome....
Friday, January 09, 2004
Philo of Alexandria Homepage
Due to the changes announced in my former blog, I have now updated my page for Resources for the Study of Philo of alexandria.
If you, however, should find some links that are still not updated, would you please send me a mail?
If you, however, should find some links that are still not updated, would you please send me a mail?
The Studia Philonica Homepage
As announced earlier this week on this WebLog, the Studia Philonica Homepage at The University of Leiden, the Netherlands, was soon to be closed down. That seems to have happened now. If you go to the old homepage, you will be directed to the new.
They seem, not however, to have made a redirection link on all the subpages. Hence you may still here get a page not found message (Pagina niet gevonden) if you had a link to some of these.
Looks like I have to update some of the links on my Philopage.
They seem, not however, to have made a redirection link on all the subpages. Hence you may still here get a page not found message (Pagina niet gevonden) if you had a link to some of these.
Looks like I have to update some of the links on my Philopage.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Rhetorical Hermeneutics in Philo
Searching for 'Philon d'Alexandrie' on the Internet I came over an article I had not seen on the Internet before, though I knew it was published on paper some time ago:
Manuel Alexandre Jr.
Rhetorical Hermeneutics in Philo's Commentary of Scripture,
Logo. Revista de Retorica y teoria de la Comunicacion Ano I,no 1. Enero 2001, pp. 29-41.
Manuel Alexandre who is the author of 'Rhetorical Argumentation in Philo of Alexandria (Brown Judaic Studies 122/Studie Philonica Monographs 2; Scholars press, Atlanta, 1999), in this article says thus about Philo and rhetorics:In no better way could we summarize the basic characteristics of Philo’s exegetical commentary. His allegorical interpretation rarely contradicts classical sources. He is nurtured by those sources in order to transmit, with relevance and power, the message disclosed in the text. And it does not surprise us, because sacred exegesis and classical philology have the same origins. The only difference is that while philology is the art of reading texts, hermeneutics is the art of reading texts in order to restore, update and apply the life intention theyincarnate.
A Hellenized Jew with good rhetorical education, Philo consciously uses the same principles of interpretation, though accommodated to the terminology of Jewish law. Reading Scripture, he looks beyond the letter to the intention of the divine writer and beyond the part to the whole, in order to understand not just what the words signify but also what the writer meant, and how to accommodate his meaning to new circumstances without loosing the essence of its message. In keeping with the rhetorical tradition of interpretation, Philo, as an equitable interpreter, reads Scripture as an activity that can be illuminated by the rhetorical tradition of interpretation and “reaches beyond the words to the intention, beyond the letter to the spirit”.
This article is available both in pdf format and html, and these references will be included in my next update of my Resource Pages.
Have a nice weekend, evrbody. I'll be back on monday.
Manuel Alexandre Jr.
Rhetorical Hermeneutics in Philo's Commentary of Scripture,
Logo. Revista de Retorica y teoria de la Comunicacion Ano I,no 1. Enero 2001, pp. 29-41.
Manuel Alexandre who is the author of 'Rhetorical Argumentation in Philo of Alexandria (Brown Judaic Studies 122/Studie Philonica Monographs 2; Scholars press, Atlanta, 1999), in this article says thus about Philo and rhetorics:
A Hellenized Jew with good rhetorical education, Philo consciously uses the same principles of interpretation, though accommodated to the terminology of Jewish law. Reading Scripture, he looks beyond the letter to the intention of the divine writer and beyond the part to the whole, in order to understand not just what the words signify but also what the writer meant, and how to accommodate his meaning to new circumstances without loosing the essence of its message. In keeping with the rhetorical tradition of interpretation, Philo, as an equitable interpreter, reads Scripture as an activity that can be illuminated by the rhetorical tradition of interpretation and “reaches beyond the words to the intention, beyond the letter to the spirit”.
This article is available both in pdf format and html, and these references will be included in my next update of my Resource Pages.
Have a nice weekend, evrbody. I'll be back on monday.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Philo - John
A collegue of mine (thanks; Gunnar Haaland) points me to a recent article by a Sweedish scholar which includes some discussion of the Vitae in Philo's works in connection with the quest for the genre of John:
Tobias Hagerland;
John’s Gospel: A Two-Level Drama?
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Vol. 25 No. 3 (March 2003): 309-322
The Journal's website provides the following abstract:
During the past decades, scholars have attempted to reconstruct the history of a Johannine community through reading John’s Gospel as a two-level drama. According to this understanding, the Gospel relates events that took place in the community after Jesus’ earthly ministry, while these events are presented as a story about Jesus himself. The present essay evaluates this allegorical reading of the Gospel, first through a search for ancient parallels that would constitute a genre of the two-level drama, secondly through a discussion of the alleged intra-textual indications of the Gospel’s allegorical character. The conclusion arrived at is that both the search for an ancient two-level genre and the search for hints of allegory in the text are unsuccessful. The hypothesis of a Johannine two-level drama is therefore highly implausible. I have not been able to read the article yet, but according to this abstract, it seems to argue a very interesting point of view.
Tobias Hagerland;
John’s Gospel: A Two-Level Drama?
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Vol. 25 No. 3 (March 2003): 309-322
The Journal's website provides the following abstract:
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Testament of Abraham
Dale C. Allison published his great commentary on the Testament of Abraham last fall:
Testament of Abraham. (Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature; Walter de Gruyter; Berlin, 2003). 527 pages.
This book would surely prove valuable to Philo-scholars too; the commentary is a mine of background- and parallell-references to Abraham traditions, and as such interesting for those studying Philo’s works too.
The Testament of Abraham came to the attention of western scholars as late as in the 1892. Its content is a fascinating story recounting “the dramatic and humerous circumstances of Abraham’s death.” (Allison 3). I might have some further comments on the commentary, but I have to read more in it before I would venture into that.
What caught my attention today, however, was Allison’s Preface to his commentary: He says“ Several years ago, I read some of the Pseudepigrapha to my children, who were then 6, 8 and 10. They hated Joseph and Asenath. They liked the Testament of Job. But they loved the Testament of Abraham. Their delight in the latter, and a latter request to hear it again, solidified my conviction that the Testament of Abraham is a wonderful story with a potentially wide appeal.” (xii) I had never before thought about its potential as a book for children readings, now the idea seems quite good to me. But now my children are grown ups...
Hm, maybe some day some grandchild reading?
Tolle lege!.
Testament of Abraham. (Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature; Walter de Gruyter; Berlin, 2003). 527 pages.
This book would surely prove valuable to Philo-scholars too; the commentary is a mine of background- and parallell-references to Abraham traditions, and as such interesting for those studying Philo’s works too.
The Testament of Abraham came to the attention of western scholars as late as in the 1892. Its content is a fascinating story recounting “the dramatic and humerous circumstances of Abraham’s death.” (Allison 3). I might have some further comments on the commentary, but I have to read more in it before I would venture into that.
What caught my attention today, however, was Allison’s Preface to his commentary: He says
Hm, maybe some day some grandchild reading?
Tolle lege!.
Monday, January 05, 2004
New article on Philo.
Some articles are buried deep down in anthologies, and difficult to discover. Here is one of these, which I just discovered announced, and hence have not been able to read yet. It was most recently announced by Mohr- Siebeck:
Eckart Reinmuth:
Wunderbare Geburten. Zur Allegorese biblischer Erzählinhalte bei Philo von Alexandrien
in
Frühjudentum und Neues Testament im Horizont Biblischer Theologie
Mit einem Anhang zum Corpus Judaeo-Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti
Herausgegeben von Wolfgang Kraus, Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr unter Mitarbeit von Lutz Doering
2003. XV, 417 Seiten (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 162)
ISBN 3-16-148163-1 Leinen € 99.00
The full list of contents can be viewed at this Mohr-Siebeck page.
Eckart Reinmuth:
Wunderbare Geburten. Zur Allegorese biblischer Erzählinhalte bei Philo von Alexandrien
in
Frühjudentum und Neues Testament im Horizont Biblischer Theologie
Mit einem Anhang zum Corpus Judaeo-Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti
Herausgegeben von Wolfgang Kraus, Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr unter Mitarbeit von Lutz Doering
2003. XV, 417 Seiten (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 162)
ISBN 3-16-148163-1 Leinen € 99.00
The full list of contents can be viewed at this Mohr-Siebeck page.
Philo on the SBL Annual Meeting 2003
Well, I know this is late news to some, but as my PhiloBlog was not up at that time, and for those who were not attending the meeting, I would like to point out that Philo was dealt with in several lectures this year, perhaps in more than for a long time at a SBL Annual Meeting. In addition to the regular Philo of Alexandria Group, there were four more lectures presented that dealt explicitly with issues from the works of Philo. Due to collisions with other sessions, I was not able to attend all of them, but here is a brief review.
On Saturday, Nov. 22nd, there was a consultation initiated last year, called “Violence and Representations of Violence Among Jews and Christians Consultation”, presided over by Shelly Matthews, Furman University. This year issues of violence was dealt with from the perspective of Q, of the Acts of the Apostles, of Josephus and from Philo.Torrey Seland, Volda University College, Norway, read a paper on (Re)Presentations of Violence in Philo. The paper was published in SBL Seminar Papers -Annual Meeting 2003 (Atlanta, Georgia, 2003), pp. 117-140, but is now also accessible here.
On Sunday, Nov. 23rd, the (S23-60) Hellenistic Moral Philosophy and Early Christianity Section, dealt with “Etymology as Allegorical Technique in Jewish and Christian Interpretaton.” Here David T Runia (University of Melbourne) presented a summary of his paper on ‘Etymology as allegorical technique in Philo’. No abstract was available of this paper, but papers may be available via the Program Unit Homepage
On Monday, Nov. 24th, the S24-21: Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity Section dealt with the theme: Wilderness Motifs in Early Judaism and ChristianityOne of the lectures here was given by Louis H Feldman, Yeshiva University, on Philo's Account of the Golden Calf Incident
Author’s abstract:
In line with the tremendous attempt in the rabbinic tradition, as in Josephus, to absolve Aaron of blame in the making of the Golden Calf, Philo does not even mention the role of Aaron at all, and he omits Moses' rebuke of Aaron. As the head of the Jewish community in Egypt, Philo centers his attack on the lawlessness of the Israelites and on the fact that the Golden Calf was an imitation of the animal held most sacred in Egypt. Whereas Josephus, presumably because he found it embarrassing, omits the incident, Philo, despite the fact that he aims in De Vita Mosis to elevate the role of Moses, includes it, noting in particular that on his descent Moses, to his great credit, assumed the role of mediator and reconciler. Concerned lest the reader think that it was a fit of temper, unbecoming to a great leader, that Moses smashed the tablets that he was carrying, Philo omits his smashing of the tablets. Clearly troubled by the moral problem in condemning all the Israelites, Philo declares that Moses noticed that not everyone had joined in building the calf. In the most comprehensive account of the episode in De Vita Mosis, Philo, aware of the theological problem in the biblical portrayal of G-d as being angry at all the Israelites and not separating the guilty from the innocent, makes no mention of G-d's determination to exterminate all the Israelites, of G-d's decision to start a new people starting with Moses, and of Moses' colloquy with G-d, in which Moses is apparently more merciful and in which G-d, Who is supposedly unalterable in His ways, actually changes His mind and forgives the Israelites. In his concern to defend Aaron, Pseudo-Philo totally omits Moses' rebuke of Aaron and Aaron's reply, the very portion of the episode that the Mishnah (Megillah 4:10) says may be read but not translated in public.
Then on on the very same day, Monday, Nov. 24th, in S24-63: Pseudepigrapha Sectionfocusing on Themes in the Study of Adamic and Enochic Literature, Crispin H T Fletcher-louis, gave a lecture on “The Worship of Adam as God’s Image Story in Philo of Alexandria”
Here is the author’s own abstract:
In a now much discussed pseudepigraphical tale Adam is worshipped by the angels and/or other creatures when he is first created (Life of Adam and Eve 12-16 etc …). In an earlier study (“All The Glory of All Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in The Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 42; Brill: Leiden, 2002)) I have argued that this worship of a human being is grounded in the belief that Adam is to Israel’s god what a pagan statue or idol, or image, is to its god. Given the widespread evidence for the story, the way it is picked up in several NT passages and the likelihood that it is now attested in a fragmentary DSS scroll (4Q381 frag. 1), it must have been well-known long before the rise of early Christianity. In this paper I will examine the little noticed attestation of this story in Philo of Alexandria’s On The Creation §83. Philo says that Adam, when created as the last of God’s works, caused consternation and spontaneous homage from the creatures that preceded him. Discussion of Philo’s text will (a) offer the first detailed comparison of his version of this story with the others in early Jewish and Christian literature, and (b) argue that Philo probably knew very well that the worship offered to Adam was grounded in the belief that as bearer of God’s image he functioned as a cultic idol. Elsewhere in On The Creation (esp. §§ 69, 137) and in his other works Philo explains the biblical image of God concept through precisely this cultic terminology. (c) Philo also knows (On Dreams 1:208-215), that the Adam story is related to the role of the high priest as second Adam and God's idol in the temple-as-microcosm, as I have already suggested is the case in the DSS. However, it is clear that (c) Philo in On The Creation strains to transform the humanity-as-god’s idol story through his dualistic anthropology
Then, the main sessions for all Philonists, the sessions of the Philo of Alexandria Group, held on Sunday and Monday Nov. 23-24. The first session focused on “Interpreting Philo of Alexandria's On the Contemplative Life”, with Ellen Birnbaum, Cambridge, Ma, Presiding.Professor David M Hay, Coe College (emeritus), presented here a paper on Issues of Interpretation in Philo of Alexandria's On the Contemplative Life (40 min).Professor Hay is currently working on a commentary on Philo’s On the Contemplative life to the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series (PACS ), and his lecture dealt with some problems and issues from this work he wanted the audience response on. Annewies Vandenhoek (Harvard University) was the respondent. Much of the response and questions focused on historical and geographical issues concerning the life and location of the Thereapeutae. The next session of this group, held on Monday Nov 24, focused on the theme: How Original a Thinker Was Philo of Alexandria? Adam Kamesar, Hebrew Union College, was presiding.
The following two lectures were given: Prof. Gregory E. Sterling, Univ of Notre Dame:“Tradent or Creator? Was Philo an Original Thinker?” and Prof. Thomas H. Tobin, Loyola University: “Philo and the Transformation of Tradition.”
For reasons unknown to me, the Abstract Book of the Annual Meeting provided no abstracts to these lectures. I presume and do hope, however, that they will both be printed in the next issue of Studia Philonica Annual.
On Saturday, Nov. 22nd, there was a consultation initiated last year, called “Violence and Representations of Violence Among Jews and Christians Consultation”, presided over by Shelly Matthews, Furman University. This year issues of violence was dealt with from the perspective of Q, of the Acts of the Apostles, of Josephus and from Philo.Torrey Seland, Volda University College, Norway, read a paper on (Re)Presentations of Violence in Philo. The paper was published in SBL Seminar Papers -Annual Meeting 2003 (Atlanta, Georgia, 2003), pp. 117-140, but is now also accessible here.
On Sunday, Nov. 23rd, the (S23-60) Hellenistic Moral Philosophy and Early Christianity Section, dealt with “Etymology as Allegorical Technique in Jewish and Christian Interpretaton.” Here David T Runia (University of Melbourne) presented a summary of his paper on ‘Etymology as allegorical technique in Philo’. No abstract was available of this paper, but papers may be available via the Program Unit Homepage
On Monday, Nov. 24th, the S24-21: Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity Section dealt with the theme: Wilderness Motifs in Early Judaism and ChristianityOne of the lectures here was given by Louis H Feldman, Yeshiva University, on Philo's Account of the Golden Calf Incident
Author’s abstract:
In line with the tremendous attempt in the rabbinic tradition, as in Josephus, to absolve Aaron of blame in the making of the Golden Calf, Philo does not even mention the role of Aaron at all, and he omits Moses' rebuke of Aaron. As the head of the Jewish community in Egypt, Philo centers his attack on the lawlessness of the Israelites and on the fact that the Golden Calf was an imitation of the animal held most sacred in Egypt. Whereas Josephus, presumably because he found it embarrassing, omits the incident, Philo, despite the fact that he aims in De Vita Mosis to elevate the role of Moses, includes it, noting in particular that on his descent Moses, to his great credit, assumed the role of mediator and reconciler. Concerned lest the reader think that it was a fit of temper, unbecoming to a great leader, that Moses smashed the tablets that he was carrying, Philo omits his smashing of the tablets. Clearly troubled by the moral problem in condemning all the Israelites, Philo declares that Moses noticed that not everyone had joined in building the calf. In the most comprehensive account of the episode in De Vita Mosis, Philo, aware of the theological problem in the biblical portrayal of G-d as being angry at all the Israelites and not separating the guilty from the innocent, makes no mention of G-d's determination to exterminate all the Israelites, of G-d's decision to start a new people starting with Moses, and of Moses' colloquy with G-d, in which Moses is apparently more merciful and in which G-d, Who is supposedly unalterable in His ways, actually changes His mind and forgives the Israelites. In his concern to defend Aaron, Pseudo-Philo totally omits Moses' rebuke of Aaron and Aaron's reply, the very portion of the episode that the Mishnah (Megillah 4:10) says may be read but not translated in public.
Then on on the very same day, Monday, Nov. 24th, in S24-63: Pseudepigrapha Sectionfocusing on Themes in the Study of Adamic and Enochic Literature, Crispin H T Fletcher-louis, gave a lecture on “The Worship of Adam as God’s Image Story in Philo of Alexandria”
Here is the author’s own abstract:
In a now much discussed pseudepigraphical tale Adam is worshipped by the angels and/or other creatures when he is first created (Life of Adam and Eve 12-16 etc …). In an earlier study (“All The Glory of All Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in The Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 42; Brill: Leiden, 2002)) I have argued that this worship of a human being is grounded in the belief that Adam is to Israel’s god what a pagan statue or idol, or image, is to its god. Given the widespread evidence for the story, the way it is picked up in several NT passages and the likelihood that it is now attested in a fragmentary DSS scroll (4Q381 frag. 1), it must have been well-known long before the rise of early Christianity. In this paper I will examine the little noticed attestation of this story in Philo of Alexandria’s On The Creation §83. Philo says that Adam, when created as the last of God’s works, caused consternation and spontaneous homage from the creatures that preceded him. Discussion of Philo’s text will (a) offer the first detailed comparison of his version of this story with the others in early Jewish and Christian literature, and (b) argue that Philo probably knew very well that the worship offered to Adam was grounded in the belief that as bearer of God’s image he functioned as a cultic idol. Elsewhere in On The Creation (esp. §§ 69, 137) and in his other works Philo explains the biblical image of God concept through precisely this cultic terminology. (c) Philo also knows (On Dreams 1:208-215), that the Adam story is related to the role of the high priest as second Adam and God's idol in the temple-as-microcosm, as I have already suggested is the case in the DSS. However, it is clear that (c) Philo in On The Creation strains to transform the humanity-as-god’s idol story through his dualistic anthropology
Then, the main sessions for all Philonists, the sessions of the Philo of Alexandria Group, held on Sunday and Monday Nov. 23-24. The first session focused on “Interpreting Philo of Alexandria's On the Contemplative Life”, with Ellen Birnbaum, Cambridge, Ma, Presiding.Professor David M Hay, Coe College (emeritus), presented here a paper on Issues of Interpretation in Philo of Alexandria's On the Contemplative Life (40 min).Professor Hay is currently working on a commentary on Philo’s On the Contemplative life to the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series (PACS ), and his lecture dealt with some problems and issues from this work he wanted the audience response on. Annewies Vandenhoek (Harvard University) was the respondent. Much of the response and questions focused on historical and geographical issues concerning the life and location of the Thereapeutae. The next session of this group, held on Monday Nov 24, focused on the theme: How Original a Thinker Was Philo of Alexandria? Adam Kamesar, Hebrew Union College, was presiding.
The following two lectures were given: Prof. Gregory E. Sterling, Univ of Notre Dame:“Tradent or Creator? Was Philo an Original Thinker?” and Prof. Thomas H. Tobin, Loyola University: “Philo and the Transformation of Tradition.”
For reasons unknown to me, the Abstract Book of the Annual Meeting provided no abstracts to these lectures. I presume and do hope, however, that they will both be printed in the next issue of Studia Philonica Annual.
Friday, January 02, 2004
The Studia Philonica Annual:Studies in Hellenistic Judaism, Volume XIV, 2002
Another review, published just before Christmas: David Runia and Gregory E. Sterling, eds., The Studia Philonica Annual:Studies in Hellenistic Judaism, Volume XIV, 2002. Brown Judaic Studies
335; Providence: Brown Judaic Studies, 2002. Pp. 254., Reviewed in IOUDAIOS REVIEW VOLUME 13.001. November 2003, by Sam Silverman. The reviewer says, inter alia, "The editors are to be congratulated in the encouragement of newer voices in the field of Philo studies, as well as including contributors who have been in the field for many years. The authors of the articles and
reviews include three doctoral candidates and three emeritus professors. Congratulations are also in order for the editor's broadening of the international area of Philo studies by the inclusion of reviews of activity in other countries -- in this annual that of Russia."
335; Providence: Brown Judaic Studies, 2002. Pp. 254., Reviewed in IOUDAIOS REVIEW VOLUME 13.001. November 2003, by Sam Silverman. The reviewer says, inter alia, "The editors are to be congratulated in the encouragement of newer voices in the field of Philo studies, as well as including contributors who have been in the field for many years. The authors of the articles and
reviews include three doctoral candidates and three emeritus professors. Congratulations are also in order for the editor's broadening of the international area of Philo studies by the inclusion of reviews of activity in other countries -- in this annual that of Russia."
The 2002 book by Karl Olav Sandnes, Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles, (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, 120; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), was reviewed in Review of Biblical Literature last december by H. H. Drake Williams III. You can read the review here.
The book contains a section on Philo on pp. 108-135: The belly in Philo's Writings. It is the thesis of the author that Paul is using a traditional idiom, a topos or a literary commonplace attested in ancient Graeco-Roman sources, and appropriated in Jewish sources as well. This view should not surprise readers of Philo, but Sandnes demonstrates that many interpretations in pauline research of the role of Paul's belly-statements have been far off the point.
The review is quite positive, though it finds that the investigation of Jewish sources is somewhat brief; "Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles is a well-argued and informative volume on a neglected portion of Paul's writings. Sandnes's Greco-Roman contextual examination is extensive and thought-provoking. His study will be a help to others studying cultural backgrounds for methodology as well, though his attention to Paul's Jewish mind-set is underdeveloped. This volume will be of interest to anyone considering pauline ethics." And we might add; it will be profitable for philonic scholars to read too.
The book contains a section on Philo on pp. 108-135: The belly in Philo's Writings. It is the thesis of the author that Paul is using a traditional idiom, a topos or a literary commonplace attested in ancient Graeco-Roman sources, and appropriated in Jewish sources as well. This view should not surprise readers of Philo, but Sandnes demonstrates that many interpretations in pauline research of the role of Paul's belly-statements have been far off the point.
The review is quite positive, though it finds that the investigation of Jewish sources is somewhat brief; "Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles is a well-argued and informative volume on a neglected portion of Paul's writings. Sandnes's Greco-Roman contextual examination is extensive and thought-provoking. His study will be a help to others studying cultural backgrounds for methodology as well, though his attention to Paul's Jewish mind-set is underdeveloped. This volume will be of interest to anyone considering pauline ethics." And we might add; it will be profitable for philonic scholars to read too.
Thursday, January 01, 2004
The Studia Philonica Annual Vol XV 2003 is out!
The Studia Philonica Annual. Studies in Hellenistic Judaism Vol XV 2003. Editors: David T. Runia, Gregory Sterling and Hindy Najman. Laws Stamped With the Seals of Nature. Law and Nature in Hellenistic Philosophy and Philo of Alexandria.
Brown Judaic Studies 137. Brown University, Providence, 2003.
After a brief Introduction by David K. O'Connor, there follows five articles related to the issue of natural law:
David Sedley, The Nomothethes in Plato's Cratylus, pp. 5-16
Paul A. Vander Waerdt, The Original Theory of Natural Law, pp. 17-34,
Phillip Mitsis, The Stoics and Aquinas on Virtue and Natural Law, pp.35-53
Hindy Najman, A Written Copy of the Law of Nature: An UNthinkable Paradox?, pp. 54-63,
Gregory E. Sterling, Universalizing the Particular: Natural Law in Second Temple Jewish Ethics, pp. 64-80,
Brad Inwood, Natural Law in Seneca, pp. 81-99
Review article:
Tessa Rajak, The Ancient Synagogue, pp. 100-108. In this article she comments primarily on Lee I. Levine, The Ancient Synagogue (New Haven, 2000).
After these articles, The Studia Philonica Annual brings its always useful Bibliography Section (pp. 109-148), and a Book Review Section (pp. 158-180).
Usually these volumes can be ordered through forms offered on the Studia Philonica's homepage, but this has not been updated yet. The page does, however, contain adresses to be used when ordering.
The Studia Philonica Annual. Studies in Hellenistic Judaism Vol XV 2003. Editors: David T. Runia, Gregory Sterling and Hindy Najman. Laws Stamped With the Seals of Nature. Law and Nature in Hellenistic Philosophy and Philo of Alexandria.
Brown Judaic Studies 137. Brown University, Providence, 2003.
After a brief Introduction by David K. O'Connor, there follows five articles related to the issue of natural law:
David Sedley, The Nomothethes in Plato's Cratylus, pp. 5-16
Paul A. Vander Waerdt, The Original Theory of Natural Law, pp. 17-34,
Phillip Mitsis, The Stoics and Aquinas on Virtue and Natural Law, pp.35-53
Hindy Najman, A Written Copy of the Law of Nature: An UNthinkable Paradox?, pp. 54-63,
Gregory E. Sterling, Universalizing the Particular: Natural Law in Second Temple Jewish Ethics, pp. 64-80,
Brad Inwood, Natural Law in Seneca, pp. 81-99
Review article:
Tessa Rajak, The Ancient Synagogue, pp. 100-108. In this article she comments primarily on Lee I. Levine, The Ancient Synagogue (New Haven, 2000).
After these articles, The Studia Philonica Annual brings its always useful Bibliography Section (pp. 109-148), and a Book Review Section (pp. 158-180).
Usually these volumes can be ordered through forms offered on the Studia Philonica's homepage, but this has not been updated yet. The page does, however, contain adresses to be used when ordering.
This volume brings interesting articles I do want to dig into at the beginning of this year.
Happy New Year 2004!
This Philo of Alexandria weblog page was launched just a few days ago. It is a part of my Resource Pages for Biblical Studies, and as such it will focus on research related to Philo of Alexandria.
This is the page on which I hope to be able to bring news and comments on recent philonic research as
If you know about anything related to Philo coming up, please send me a mail, and I will report it on this page. Studies related to the social world of Philo (e.g., diaspora Judaism, Alexandria etc) are also relevant. Please bookmark the page, and return here. Tell your students about it. :)
This Philo of Alexandria weblog page was launched just a few days ago. It is a part of my Resource Pages for Biblical Studies, and as such it will focus on research related to Philo of Alexandria.
This is the page on which I hope to be able to bring news and comments on recent philonic research as
- articles,
- books published,
- conference papers,
- whether published on paper or published on the Web.
If you know about anything related to Philo coming up, please send me a mail, and I will report it on this page. Studies related to the social world of Philo (e.g., diaspora Judaism, Alexandria etc) are also relevant. Please bookmark the page, and return here. Tell your students about it. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
