Problems solved

My problems (see below)with accessing this blog via the Firefox browser has been solved, mainly by the help of Jim Davila. Thanks Jim.

If you ever run into the same problem, try this:
1 Clear your cache.
2 Delete your Blogger cookie.
3 Check your Cookie settings.
4 Check your JavaScript settings.
5 Quit your browser and restart it.
6 Use another browser.
Options 1 and 2 solved my problems; if you don't know how to clear your cache or cookies, have a look in the Firefox Help file.

Assimilated to the Blogosphere?

Jim Davila has an informative article on the latest issue of SBL Forum about "Assimilated to the Blogosphere: Blogging Ancient Judaism", this time with all his links retained. Even though he forgot to mention this Philoblog (what a pity....:-), the article is interesting and welcome. Tolle lege!

Google Print

Mark Goodacre commented yesterday on the features of Google Print, revealing to me aspects of this search engine that I was not fully aware of. It shows up to have been developed into a very interesting instrument for finding things on the internet. Or as Mark phraces it: "there has been a dramatic change. I really mean dramatic -- I was quite taken aback by the riches that Print.Google.com was turning up." Give it a try!
On its homepage the finction of Google print is described thus: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information, but much of that information isn't yet online. Google Print aims to get it there by putting book content where you can find it most easily – right in your Google search results."
"Just do an ordinary Google search. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you'll see the page of the book that has your search terms, along with other information about the book and "Buy this Book" links to online bookstores (you can view the entirety of public domain books or, for books under copyright, just a few pages or in some cases, only the title’s bibliographic data and brief snippets). You can also search for more information within that specific book and find nearby libraries that have it." You may search on word, phrases, sentences, personal names, and you will find it very helpful. What a nice feature to be able to find, for instance, where in a specific book a particular book or article is cited, and /or be able to see the list of contents of a book before you buy it!

Mark Gooacre also refers to David Meadows and his blog, who have some reservations. I also know that some of the same features are available on the American Amazon site (http://www.amazon.com/), but it might turn out that this will be a helpful instrument in finding relevant material on the Internet. It might be useful to keep an eye on how this develops.

A question to my readers

Problem:
I have a problem when using the browser Firefox on this website; when I try to access this site as http://philoblogger.blogspot.com, the Firefox browser now most often (if not always) changes this to http://www.blogger.com/start, that is the Blogger homepage. It never happens when I use Internett Explorer 6.0 or Netscape 7.2.

My question to you is;
has this happened to any of you when accessing my site via Firefox?
Please use the comments field below for any response. Thanks!

Boycotting scholars?

Jim Davila has had several interesting posting on his blog PaleoJudaica.com on the Britain’s Association of University Teachers efforts of boycotting Israeli scholars because of the politics of the Israeli government.

I usually do not indulge in contemporary politics on this blog, but whatever you may judge the politics of the present Israeli government, I don't think this is a appropriate way to react.
I will not repeat Jim Davila's postings, just voice my concern and agreements with Jim's postings by providing some links to them. See especially here, here and here.

Philo online

The old English translation of the works of Philo by C.D. Yonge, from the middle of the nineteenth century, is free domain ware and is now available from several sites on the Internet. I thought I had most, if not all of them, listed on my Resource page for the study of Philo; but yesterday I discovered another one, presenting not only the individual files, but also a downloadable zip file of all his books.
The page is called The Philo Library.
I don't know who is behind the site, as they do not present themselves on their webpages.
Readers not familiar with the Greek text, or any newer translations of the works of Philo, should still consider David T. Runias evaluation of this old translation of Yonge. It can still be found on the page of mine mentioned above.

Erotapokriseis

Today there is a new book review on BrynMawr, concerning a book that also contains an article dealing with the works of PhiloAnnelie Volgers, Claudio Zamagni (edd.), Erotapokriseis: Early Christian Question-and-Answer Literature in Context. Proceedings of the Utrecht Colloquium, 13-14 October 2003. Leuven: Peeters, 2004. Pp. 197.
ISBN 90-429-1480-7. EUR 30.00. I have not seen the book myself, but the topic should be relevant for the study of Philo's two books on Questions and Answers. It turns out that Pieter van der Horst is a contributor to this volume; his essay are calledPhilo and the Rabbis on Genesis: Similar Questions, Different Answers (pp. 55-70). The review is written by Arietta Papaconstantinou, CNRS Paris, and is as a whole not quite favorable, but tolle lege, and judge for your selv. The review can be read by clicking HERE.

Philo, a Leader with a Vision . . .

As mentioned in an earlier posting, I would like to present and briefly comment on a recent article of Ellen Birnbaum. As it is published in a volume not easily availably in a Norwegian setting, I am very grateful for her sending me a copy:
Ellen Birnbaum,
‘A leader with Vision in the ancient Jewish Diaspora. Philo of Alexandria,’
Jack Wertheimer, (ed.), Jewish Religious Leadership: Image and Reality (New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary, 2004) I:57-90.
There are not many studies coming to my mind, that explicitly deals with Philo as a leader; this may be one of the very few, if not the only one that has this topic as its main focus.

But how does one go about in order to write about Philo as a Leader? The first aspect that strikes one is that there is not much material to work with. Well, his book production is voluminous, but there are not much therein that explicitly deals with his role and function as a leader. And there are very few other literary works telling about him. Birnbaum is, of course, aware of these problems. She quite correctly points out that, with the exception of Josephus, we have in fact no other non-philonic sources dealing with Philo. Furthermore, his subsequent influence seems to have been limited both in the religious and political sphere (if I may use this rather anachronistic distinction).

There is, however, something to be found in his writings, and some inferences may be drawn from other aspects of his teachings as known from his writings, a careful reading between the lines. Birnbaum’s article is an interesting effort to make the best out of such a procedure.

Her article has several main headlines: The first one deals with The Political Situation in First Century Alexandria. Here she outlines the development the anti-Jewish activities in the city that resulted in the riots of 38CE. Philo does not tell us much about how this influenced his own life, except for his participation in a delegation to the Emperor. This role probably indicates that he enjoyed a certain position in the Jewish communities of Alexandria, but a closer description is difficult. Furthermore, one can surmise about what impact his family background had on this position (pp. 63-64) and Philo’s character (pp. 64-66). Here Spec. 3,1-6 is important, perhaps the most important passage in his works as it has a strong self-biographical nature.

Birnbaum also draws heavily on the various natures of Philo’s works, i.e., the Allegorical Commentary, the Exposition of the Law, and Questions and Answers as well as the other books less directly concerned with biblical texts: “central to Philo’s thought is the metaphor of vision, because he believed that the highest human goal was to “see God.” Philo’s ideas about God, virtue, and the Jews also constituted for him a vision, not only of the way things were, but also of the way things should have been”(69). This is important for Birnbaum when she further tries to spell out Philo’s message to different groups (71-79).

Her section, Portrayals of Leadership: The Virtues of the Ideal Leader, (80-82), then, presents how Philo evaluates Moses, Joseph, and Pharaoh as leaders, trying to draw lessons for the main topic from how he describes these. Moses is the consummate leader, the one who assumed the comprehensive roles of king, philosopher, legislator, priest and prophet. Hence he is the ideal leader. Joseph, however, is the politicos, the statesman, and Pharaoh the very opposite of a leader. Joseph, as a politicos, is a man of many sides and many forms (Jos34). One might here perhaps wonder if she underexposes the somewhat varied descriptions of Joseph in Philo’s works. De Josepho is probably the one most favorable to this character.

Then, in the last 9 pages of the article (Evaluating Philo’s leadership, 82-90), she comes to grip with a more direct description of Philo’s as a leader. Here she presents three criteria for her evaluation: “the apparent suitability and effectiveness of Philo’s messages for his contemporary situation; the ‘afterlife’ of Philo’s messages – that is what happened to his teachings after his time; and finally, the qualities Philo exhibited that may have enhanced his effectiveness as a leader” (83).
a) Central in Philo’s political message was his pride in the Jewish resistance to Caligula’s plans of erecting a statue in the Jerusalem Temple, his conviction that the Jews were especially protected by God, and that Philo favored peacable relations with the Romans. Furthermore, he presented the Jewish values as of universal importance; the Jewish Law, for instance, was to be considered a copy of the Law of nature. Birnbaum writes: “Philo’s attempt to make Jewish ways relevant, meaningful, and accessible to a broad audience was certainly fitting for his time and had the potential to enrich the commitment of loyal Jews to their religion, to bring alienated Jews back into the fold, and to impress his non-Jewish readers” (85).
b) An observation that may contradict the impact of Philo’s vision for his contemporaries is the fact that Philo’s politics was probably rejected by many of his contemporaries. We know nothing about if he had any followers during his life time, not to speak about after his time. His writings were not kept and cherished by later Jews, but by the Christians. Birnbaum does not, however, want to say that Jews rejected Philo because of his ideas. “It may rather be more correct to say that he was simply neglected” (86). Perhaps so, but I would have liked Birnbaum to have developed this a little more in her article.
c) The last section here, dealing with the qualities Philo exhibited that may have enhanced his effectiveness as a leader, is an effort to evaluate Philo’s (possible) success as a leader by identifying 3 characteristics that may have contributed to his effectiveness: namely “while participating in the surrounding culture, Philo clearly defined his values”; “Philo presented his messages to appeal to a variety of readers”; and “Philo maintained a vision of and commitment to the entire Jewish nation, especially in times of crisis.”

I think it is to correct to say that Birnbaum has a certain admiration for Philo. The last pages of her article certainly demonstrate that: Philo was “a man of great integrity” (88). One might, however, in some sections perhaps have expected a stronger focus on the possible conflict between “image and reality” as seems to be the focus of the volumes the article belongs to.

However, my overall assessment is that the article is informative, stimulating and interesting reading. It will certainly go into my files of articles dealing with the personal life of Philo. Birnbaum has given an informed presentation of aspects of Philo’s life from a perspective that has been neglected, and we are to be grateful for her contribution.

Philo's Therapeutae

Several journals have a sample issue available on their website; this is the case with Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha too. The volume presently available as such a sample issue contains the following article on Philo's Therapeutae: Mary Ann Beavis,
Philo's Therapeutae; Philosopher's Dream or Utopian Construction? Vol. 14, No. 1 (2004), pp. 30-42. The abstract given runs thus: "This article takes issue, on rhetorical and geographical grounds, with Engberg-Pedersen’s (1999) argument that Philo’s De Vita Contemplativa is a ‘philosopher’s dream’. Further, it is argued that while Philo’s description of the Therapeutai/Therapeutrides is shaped by Hellenistic utopian conventions,particularly Iambulus’ account of the Islands of the Sun (Diodorus Siculus 2.55-60), Philo’s account is sober and realistic enough to suggest
that he was describing a real community of Jewish contemplatives of which he had direct knowledge." I have a certain feeling that I have mentioned this article on this blog some time ago, but as I can't find any such postings of mine, I give it here. You can download the article (in .pdf format) by clicking HERE.

A brief guide to Philo

The following book, to be reviewed at Review of Biblical Literature, has arrived on my desk: Kenneth Schenck, A brief guide to Philo (Louisville; Westminster, John Knox Press, 2004) ISBN 0-664-22735-x. 172 pp.
This book will most certainly be a welcome introduction to the life and work of Philo. From a few glances at its contents, it seems to be a fine contribution to the other introductions already published. As most of the readers of this blog will probably know, the main other introductions available are the ones by E. R. Goodenough (An Introduction to Philo Judaeus. J. Neusner. Brown Classics in Judaica. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc., 1986 (orig.publ.1940, sec. ed. 1962), and Samuel Sandmel (Philo of Alexandria. An Introduction (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1979)) The more recent book by Peder Borgen (Philo of Alexandria. An Exegete for His Time. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 86. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997.) is certainly recommendable too, but most probably for those a little more initiated (!) into the world of Philo. The book by Kenneth Schenck seem to be a worthy addition to the volumes of Goodenough and Sandmel. Further comments of mine will have to be given in the review to be published on the site of Review of Biblical Literature somewhat later this year.

The Creation of Heaven and Earth

On BrynMawr, there is a review of the following volume, hitherto unknown to me:George H. van Kooten (ed.),
The Creation of Heaven and Earth.
Re-interpretations of Genesis 1 in the Context of Judaism, Ancient
Philosophy, Christianity, and Modern Physics. Themes in Biblical
Narrative 8. Leiden: Brill, 2005. Pp. xiv, 284. ISBN 90-04-14235-5.
EUR 109.00.
Reviewed by Pieter W. van der Horst,Utrecht University (The Netherlands)
The 14 contributions to this volume are the revised versions of papers read at an international conference at Groningen University in 2003. They deal with the creation of the cosmos in the Hebrew Bible and with the interpretations of this story in antiquity, both Jewish and Christian and Greco-Roman. In my opinion, in a volume like this there should at least be one article on Philo, and that seems to be the case: the reviewer writes that "In a short but fascinating contribution, John Dillon discusses the context of Philo's interpretation of Plato's Timaeus and the book of Genesis and argues "both that there had been a good deal of discussion in the Hellenistic schools, in the wake of Plato's Timaeus and Aristotle's response in De Caelo, as to the logical and ontological status of the physical world, and that Philo was pretty well acquainted
with the ins and outs of this. Not only his exposition in De opificio mundi , but the (hostile) account of Plato's position, and of Academic defences of it, that he provides (in his persona as a defender of Aristotle) at the beginning of De aeternitate mundi (Sections 13-16), fully demonstrate this. He had to balance this, however, with his stance as a pillar of the Jewish faith and of Jewish culture generally, within an Alexandrian milieu, and this inevitably serves to obscure his
position" (106-7)."
I presume the article is much longer than page 106-107 (which is most probable the location of the quotation given), but the length of the article is not given by the reviewer, nor the title of the contribution. You can read the rest of the review at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2005/2005-04-31.html

Update by April 22.
In a letter David T. Runia has kindly commented on this posting. I post it here as it certainly adds value to the posting of mine given above:

"Having just read the latest report on your blog I can tell you that
the pages for John Dillon's interesting article on Philo's interpretation of Plato's Timaeus (a subject dear to my heart) are 97-107.
I would also recommend the article by the editor, George van Kooten, entitled The 'True Light which enlightens everyone' (John 1:9): John, Genesis, the Platonic Notion of the 'True, Noetic Light,' and the Allegory of the Cave in Plato's Republic
discussion of Philo on pp. 153-155. Van Kooten puts forward the strongest case mounted so far for the influence of Platonism on the Gospel of John."
Thanks David!

See also the comments field below.

Review of "Laws Stamped with the Seals of Nature"

Jed Wyrick, California State University, Chico, has been so kind as to draw my attention to his review of the Laws Stamped with the Seals of Nature: Law and Nature in Hellenistic Philosophy and Philo of Alexandria. David T. Runia, Gregory E. Sterling, and Hindy Najman, editors, The Studia Philonica Annual: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism, Volume XV, Providence: Brown University, 2003. x + 199 p. The review is printed in Studies in Religion/ Sciences Religieuses 33.2 (2004) 261-2. Alas this is not available on the Internet, but those interesting in the review must consult the Journal in paper version.

Johannine Sectarianism in Perspective

The upcoming publication of the doctoral dissertation of my co-blogger, Kåre Fuglseth, is now on the announcement pages of its publisher E.J. Brill:Kåre Fuglseth,
Johannine Sectarianism in Perspective
A Sociological, Historical, and Comparative Analysis of Temple and Social Relationships in the Gospel of John, Philo, and Qumran.
Novum Testamentum, Supplements 119. E.J. Brill, 424 pp.The announcement text runs thus: The central aim of the investigation is to evaluate the claim that the Gospel of John was a product of a ‘sectarian’ milieu.
Fuglseth is using methods primarily derived from sociology and the study of new religious movements today. He discusses in particular the ‘cult’-model as an alternative to ‘sect,’ and compares the Johannine texts with texts from two contemporary milieus: Philo and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The thesis is embedded in a comprehensive survey of research and discussions of methods and of the existence of a Johannine community.
There are still serious debates going on about the existence and nature of the Johannine group, its ‘Jewish’ roots and settings, the attitude to the ‘Jews’ and the ‘synagogue’, and the two levels of meanings in the Johannine text according to Martyn and Brown. In this situation Fuglseth’s investigation is of great current interest and gives new answers to central questions in the Johannine research.
This is great news about a publication that deserves a much wider readership than the limited publication of the dissertation version of 2002. Hopefully the volume will soon be released from the press.

Roman Banquets

Due to my own interest in ancient banquets, clubs and associations, I would like to direct your attention to the review of this book:Katherine M. D. Dunbabin,
The Roman Banquet: Images of Conviviality.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. xvii, 291. ISBN 0-521-82252-1. $75.00.Reviewed by
Ruth Westgate, Cardiff School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff
University (WestgateR@cardiff.ac.uk)
Snipped from her introduction to the review:
"Banquets and food are among the most popular subjects in Roman art, and eating and drinking have been among the most popular objects of scholarship in recent years, but, as Katherine Dunbabin points out in her introduction to this book, the Roman banquet has never received the same volume of academic attention as the Greek symposium. Here, she sets out to remedy that deficit by examining the representation of banquets in Roman art from the first century BC to the sixth century AD, with the laudable aim of treating the visual material as a source in its own right, rather than as a mere illustration of the textual evidence. The book grew out of a series of lectures delivered at Harvard in 1998, and it retains the somewhat discontinuous feel of a collection of separate papers, but this is more than compensated for by
the richness of Dunbabin's insights into a collection of material which, as she demonstrates, was produced by a much wider section of society than that represented by the literary sources."

You can read the rest of the review HERE.