My review of
Ware, James P.,The Mission of the Church in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Context of Ancient Judaism (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 120
Leiden: Brill, 2005)
have now been published on SBL's Review of Biblical Literature.

The author of this well researched and engaging volume presents here an extensive study of the role of Paul’s churches in his mission commitment, asking, What role did Paul envision his churches as having in the advancement of the gospel? This topic has received little attention in recent New Testament research, and while some recent studies argue that Paul expected individuals to be engaged in mission, the remaining question still is: did he expect his congregations themselves as such to be obligated to spread the gospel? It has been argued that Paul nowhere explicitly commands his congregations to spread the gospel, or exhorts his churches to engage in mission activity. Ware, on his part, however, suggests that in his letter to the Philippians, Paul reveals an unusual level of interest in the preaching and promotion of the gospel by his communities.
Concerning Philo, the author deals with Philo on pp. 131-142, focused as ‘Conversion of Gentiles.' According to my reading, "I wonder if his strong focus on conversion of gentiles and mission has sometimes led to a somewhat narrow selection and reading of texts: Considering his use of material from Philo, I do think there are some issues here he should have considered more thoroughly. ‘Messianic’ texts as Vita Mosis 1:289-290; Praem 91-97 and 163-172 receive only a brief reference in a footnote, and the important issues of particularism and universalism are hardly dealt with at all."

The rest of the reviwew is available here.

Two reviews

On the SBL Bookreviews site two reviews were published yesterday that is of relevance for students of Philo and diaspora Judaism:

James R. Davila
The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha: Jewish, Christian, or Other?
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 105
Leiden: Brill, 2005. pp. vi + 278. $142.00
Reviewed by Sabrina Inowlocki

Logos Bible Software
The Works of Philo: Greek Text with Morphology. Bellingham, Wash.: Logos Bible Software, 2005. CD-ROM.

Two more reviews of books

A couple of fine new reviews are offered at the SBL Book review site at www. bookreviews.org: the adresses are given below:

Steven Fine
Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5001
Reviewed by Hayim Lapin

Ruth Langer and Steven Fine, eds.
Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue: Studies in the History of Jewish Prayer
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5070
Reviewed by Gregory Glazov
Reviewed by Viktor Petrovich Roudkovski

Some Reviews

SBL Bookreviews has posted some recent reviews of works that should be of interest to Philo scholars, even though it is summer and vacation times...:

Böhm, Martina, Rezeption und Funktion der Vätererzählungen bei Philo von Alexandria: Zum Zusammenhang von Kontext, Hermeneutik und Exegese im frühen Judentum.
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche, 128. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2005. pp. xiii + 502. €128.00

van der Horst, Pieter W.,
Philo's Flaccus: The First Pogrom: Introduction, Translation and Commentary
Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, 2
Átlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005
pp. xii + 277. $29.95

Review by René Bloch.
and
Review by Gerbern Oegema.

Review of Fuglseth, Johannine Sectarianism

The SBL Bookreview service has now issued a review of my co-blogger's dissertation:Fuglseth, Kare Sigvald,
Johannine Sectarianism in Perspective: A Sociological, Historical, and Comparative Analysis of the Temple and Social Relationships in the Gospel of John, Philo, and Qumran (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, 119; Leiden: Brill, 2005), pp. xiv + 448.The review is written by Mary Coloe, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.

The reviewer considers the work of Fuglseth as "particularly helpful in that it offers sound definitions of terms and criteria for evaluating the category most appropriate for the Fourth Gospel. The study of other firstcentury Jewish communities of Philo and Qumran provides useful comparative material to situate John within a spectrum of social organizations with respect to Judaism, to mainstream Christianity, and to the Greco-Roman milieu." She is not quite convinced by his exegesis of the temple action by Jesus, but all in all the vook is considered "a very helpful contribution to Johannine studies and the complex relationship between this community and post-70 Judaism. The application of sociological models offers precision and clarity to his analysis, and he paves a way out of supersessionist interpretations of John." You can read the whole review here.

Congratulations to my co-blogger!

Another Review

A new review of David T. Runia's commentary on De Opificio On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses: Introduction, Translation and Commentary. Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, 1. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005 pp. xviii + 443. Paperback) has been published at the SBL's Review of Biblical Literature. It is written by Claudio Zamagni, and you can access it here as a .pdf file.

A Philo Review article

Reading the blog of Michael Bird, the Euangelion Blog, via Bloglines, I discover a review article written by Ellen Birnbaum, recently published in Currents in Biblical Research:

Ellen Birnbaum,
'Two Millennia Later: General Resources and Particular Perspectives on Philo the Jew,' Currents in Biblical Research 4 (2006):241-276.

I have not been able to get my hand on the article yet, but the journals own abstract runs like this:

Twenty centuries after he lived, Philo is regarded by scholars in many disciplines as an important and intriguing subject of study. Extensive print and electronic resources are available to facilitate and inform Philonic research. Fifty years ago, writers debated whether Philo—long neglected by mainstream Jewish tradition—was more fundamentally a Jew or a Greek. To illuminate this issue, these writers often focused on possible Jewish and/or Greek sources of Philo’s ideas and examined his ideas in relation to Jewish and/or Greek parallels. In recent works, however, scholars have probed the complexity of Philo’s Jewish identity from a wider range of perspectives. These include describing what constitutes Philo’s Judaism (‘the descriptive approach’); examining how he deals with Jewish and universal aspects of certain themes (‘the thematic approach’); comparing his ideas to Jewish and other traditions to see how he uses these traditions (‘the comparative approach’); studying how he presents Jews and Judaism to create a positive impression among his readers (‘the presentational approach’); and taking into account the socio-political context of first-century Alexandria to explore his attitudes about Jews and others, to find reflections of contemporary circumstances in his works or to explore the relationship between his exegetical and historical writings (‘the socio-political approach’). Generally considered by scholars today to have been a loyal and observant Jew, Philo is occasionally being integrated into broader studies of the Second Temple period and of Diaspora Jews during that time, and he has also been included in surveys of Jewish topics from the Bible to the present.

There is also another review article in the same volume, interesting for me, at least:
Mark Dubis
Research on 1 Peter: A Survey of Scholarly Literature Since 1985
Currents in Biblical Research 2006 4: 199-239.

Recent review

The first review (as far as I know) of my book 'Strangers in the Light' has now appeared on SBL's Review of Biblical Literature, written by Fika Van Rensburg, North-West University. Potchefstroom, N.W., South Africa 2520.
I find it most convenient not to comment on reviews of my own work, though....

Some more reviews

SBL's BookReviews are offering some new reviews you might find interesting:Barmash, Pamela,
Homicide in the Biblical World
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005
pp. xvi + 253.Hardcover.

Britt, Brian,
Rewriting Moses: The Narrative Eclipse of the Text
London: T&T Clark, 2005. pp. x + 208. Paperback

Barclay, John M. G., editor,
Negotiating Diaspora: Jewish Strategies in the Roman Empire
London: T&T Clark, 2004. pp. vi + 161. Hardcover

Review of Harland, Associations, Synagogues

The Bryn Mawr Classical Review has just published a review ofPhilip A. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003. Pp. xvi, 399. ISBN 0-8006-3589-2. $22.00. You can read the review Here.

The reviewer says, inter alia, that "Harland's most valuable contribution is to weave together his critical reading of areas that have generated particular academic interest in recent years -- Greco-Roman associations, the Roman imperial cult, and synagogues and churches during the formative period of Judaism and Christianity. In so doing, he succeeds in challenging a simplistic reading of early Judaeo-Christianity as self-enclosed sectarian groups, in favour of a more complex picture that allows for a spectrum of group-society interaction, ranging from the sectarian to the moderately integrated."

Bookreviews

Among the just recently posted book reviews on SBL's www.bookreviews.org there are, as almost always, some that should be pointed out as especially related to the field of study of this blog.Erich S.Gruen,
Diaspora: Jews amidst Greeks and Romans
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004
pp. ix +386 $19.95. Paperback
Some of the articles in this volume deal directly with Alexandria and/or the works of Philo.

Michael Tilly,
Jerusalem-- Nabel der Welt: Überlieferung und Funktionen von Heiligtumstraditionen im antiken Judentum
Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2002 pp. ix + 307. EUR 35.00. Paperback.

Athalya Brenner, editor, Are We Amused?: Humor about Women in the Biblical Worlds
London: T&T Clark, 2003. pp. viii + 158. $39.95. Paperback

More book reviews

A couple of new book reviews related to Diaspora Judaism are to be mentioned here:
Evans, Craig, editor
Of Scribes and Sages: Early Jewish Interpretation and Transmission of Scripture: Volume 2: Later Verions and Traditions
Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity/Library of Second Temple Studies, 10/51. London: T & T Clark, 2004. pp. x + 185. $130.00. Hardcover.

Hengel, Martin,
Biddle, Mark E., translator
The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon
Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004. pp. xvi + 153. Paperback. $24.99

Review of Runia, On the Creation

There is a review by Naomi G. Cohen
on David Runia, Philo of Alexandria: On the Creation of the Cosmos According to Moses. Introduction, Translation and Commentary to be found in Classical Review 2004, 54:50-51.

BookReview of StPhA 2003

Among the most recently reviews posted by the Review of Biblical Literature, we find a review of Studia Philonica Annual 2003: Runia, David T., Gregory E. Sterling and Hindy Najman, editors, The Studia Philonica Annual: Law Stamped with the Seal of Nature: Law and Nature in Hellenistic Philosophy and Philo of Alexandria (Studia Philonic Annual 15; Brown Judaic Studies 337)
Providence, R.I.: Brown University, 2003, pp. 199 $39.95 This review is written by John R Levison.
In addition, the Review of Biblical Literature also contains another review of the same book, written by Lutz Doering. Check it out here.

Review of Leonhardt, 'Jewish Worship'

The most recent issue of Journal for Theological Studies has a review of
Jutta Leonhardt, Jewish Worship in Philo of Alexandria, Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 84 (Mohr Siebeck, Tubingen, 2001). See Journal for Theological Studies 55.2 (2004):690-693. The review is by David T. Runia.

A few new reviews

Some of the more recent reviews on the Bryn Mawr Classical Review should be noted here as they are of interest for the study of the Diaspora at the time of Philo:
Olivia Remie Constable, Housing the Stranger in the Mediterranean World. Lodging, Trade, and Travel in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. 427. ISBN 0-521-81918-0. $65.00. Reviewed by Bert Roest.
Intro: In this fascinating multi-disciplinary study, Constable traces the evolution of the pandocheion in late antiquity (from its earliest references in the fifth century BC), following its transformation into the funduq of the Muslim Mediterranean and its further evolution into the fondaco merchant colonies of European traders.

Michael B. Poliakoff, Kampfsport in der Antike. Das Spiel um Leben und Tod. Translated from the original English by Hedda Schmidt. Düsseldorf: Patmos, 2004. Pp. 260. ISBN 3-491-69110-9. €11.95 (pb). Reviewed by Stephen Evans.
Intro: Michael Poliakoff is an acknowledged expert on combat sports and the English-language original Combat Sports in the Ancient World. Competition, Violence and Culture (1987) is already a classic in its own right. This is a timely German paperback reprint by Patmos brought out for the Athens Olympic year 2004, but without amendments or updating from the 1987 English original or from the first German publication by Artemis Verlag in 1989. Those original books are then linked to the atmosphere of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. BMCR readers will find the English version readily available.

William Hansen, Handbook of Classical Mythology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2004. Pp. 394. ISBN 1-57607-226-6. $75.00. $80.00 (e-book). Reviewed by Todd W. Ewing.
Intro: William Hansen, professor of Classical Studies and Folklore at Indiana University, has produced the latest contribution to ABC-CLIO's Handbooks of World Mythology series, which serves to provide introductory materials in the mythology of various cultures (from Native American to Hindu and Japanese), for high school and college students. Hansen's volume covers Classical mythology, focusing primarily on the Greek myths, yet still incorporating Rome's connection to them.

W. Deming, Paul on Marriage and Celibacy. The Hellenistic Background of 1 Corinthians 7. Second edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004. Pp. xxii, 271. ISBN 0-8028-3989-4. $28.00 (pb). Reviewed by Pieter W. van der Horst.
Intro: This book started its life as the author's 1991 dissertation, supervised at the Chicago Divinity School by Hans-Dieter Betz; it was then first published in a revised version in 1995 and is now available in a second, expanded and updated version. Although the apostle Paul does not enjoy great popularity among classical philologists, this book may yet be of importance to those among them who are interested in the debates among intellectuals in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Reviews of D. T. Runia: Philo of Alexandria-

In the recent issue of Classical Review (Volume 54, Issue 1, April 2004: pp. 50-51) Naomi G. Cohen has a review of D. T. Runia: Philo of Alexandria: On the Creation of the Cosmos According to Moses. Introduction, Translation and Commentary. : (Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series 1.) xviii + 443 pp. (Leiden, Boston, and Cologne: Brill, 2001).
The Review is available in PDF format, but, alas, only to subscribers.

Another review
of this same great book of Runia is to be found in The Journal of Theological Studies 54/2. 2003, pp. 662-664. This one is written by Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer, and this review itself is available in pdf format here.