Sessions on Philo at the SBL Annual Meeting

The preliminary Program Book of teh SBL Annual Meeting is now available on the sbl-site.org, and I am trying to get an overview of what sessions I would like to attend. The following is a presentation of the primary Philo sessions in the Philo group:

S18-128

Philo of Alexandria
11/18/2007. 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Emma C - GH

Theme: Philo in Context

Hindy Najman, University of Toronto, Presiding
Julia Annas, University of Arizona
Philo and Plato's Laws (35 min)

Abstract: Philo is familiar with Plato's Laws, and some of his language in his works on the Decalogue and the Special Laws reflects this. More importantly, his project in these works can reasonably be seen as similar to Plato's attempt, in the Laws, to show how a system of laws can be presented in a persuasive framework which brings out the ethical aims of the laws and the virtues encouraged in those who live according to them. Law is thus presented in a eudaimonistic framework.

Robert A. Kraft, University of Pennsylvania
Looking for Philo's Abraham in all the Wrong Places (35 min)

Abstract: Philo's information about Abraham is mostly built on the Genesis traditions, but occasionally also takes the reader outside that body of material. What other Abrahamic literature or traditions might have been extant in the mid first century, apart from what is also found in Josephus? This presentation is intended as part of the "new M.R.James" (Lost Apocrypha of the OT) project, and surveys the various possibilities that have been suggested over the years (with Philo as a focal point).

Allen Kerkeslager, Saint Joseph's University
Rome as an Alternative to Alexandria in the Early Transmission of Philo's Works and Philonism (35 min)

Abstract: The most popular reconstruction of the early history of Philo's works and ideas is that they were directly transmitted from Philo through Jewish communities in Alexandria to the earliest Christian communities in Alexandria. In this view these Christian communities survived the devastating revolt of 116-117 and transmitted various forms of Philonism during the second century, including forms associated with "Gnosticism." This reconstruction is assumed in extrapolations from second-century Christianity in Alexandria back to first-century Judaism and Christianity in Alexandria. Despite its tantalizing simplicity, this reconstruction has become increasingly untenable. First, recent research on the revolt in 116-117 has shown that its suppression was much more devastating than once supposed. Jewish and Christian communities in Egypt could not have survived to pass on Philo's works or ideas. Second, much of the purported evidence for Philonism in second-century Christian documents from Egypt can be better explained as a recent development in Egyptian Christianity. Extrapolation of first-century Jewish or Christian communities from these documents is anachronistic. Third, the use of Philo in Egypt in the late second century appears with a flood of Christian and Jewish literature imported into Egypt. Philo's works had circulated widely enough before the revolt in 116-117 that their appearance in Egypt after this point might also be due to transmission from another region. This paper will suggest that the survival of Philo's works and ideas up to the middle of the second century is due largely to their transmission in Rome, not Alexandria. Philo sent copies of his works to Herodians and other elites in Rome. Philo's works and ideas were transmitted from Rome in the second century by Gentile Christian travelers and missionaries, some of whom reintroduced them to Alexandria.

C. T. Robert Hayward, University of Durham
Philo, Jerome, and Jewish Exegesis of Genesis 49:14-15 (35 min)
Discussion (10 min)

Abstract: The paper will seek to identify ancient materials in the exegesis of the these verses as represnted by LXX, the Aramaic Targumim, and the Midrashim, comparing and contrasting them with the particular observations offered by Philo on the one hand, and with the remarks made by Jerome in his Hebrew Questions on Genesis and the translation he offered in his Vulgate.

S19-120

Philo of Alexandria
11/19/2007. 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Oxford - GH

Theme: Interpreting Philo’s De Abrahamo

Annewies van den Hoek, Harvard University, Presiding
John Dillon, Trinity College, Dublin
A Sample Commentary on Philo De Abrahamo 119–132 (25 min)

Abstract: A sample commentary of De Abrahamo 119-132 will be presented. In this section Philo enters upon an allegorization of the incident described in Genesis 18, where Abraham is approached by, and entertains, a trio of strangers, who are in fact the Lord, under an alternately monadic and triadic guise. This leads Philo to an exposition of the relation between God himself and his two chief Powers, the Creative and the Administrative (represented by theos and kyrios respectively) which is of great interest, both as to its possible sources and to its philosophical significance. The issue of three levels of approach to God, linked to the triad of manifestations of the divinity, is also of much interest, and requires discussion.

Erich Gruen, University of California-Berkeley, Respondent (15 min)
Ellen Birnbaum, Cambridge, MA, Respondent (15 min)

David T. Runia, University of Melbourne

The Place of De Abrahamo in Philo’s Oeuvre (25 min)

Abstract: Philo’s treatise De Abrahamo is called a bios and it describes the life of the first Patriarch. But at the same time it is part of a much larger work, known as the Exposition of the Law. The paper first explores the link between De opificio mundi (the opening treatise) and De Abrahamo (the next treatise). It then examines how the themes in the treatise reflect the larger agenda that Philo had before him when composing his lengthy Commentary on the Law.

James R. Royse, San Francisco State University
The Text of Philo’s De Abrahamo (25 min)

Abstract: The treatise De Abrahamo is well-attested within the manuscript tradition of Philo, and is also included within the ancient Armenian translation of Philo’s works, which often confirms the readings of the better Greek manuscripts. In this paper I examine the place of De Abrahamo within the Philonic corpus, looking at both the Greek manuscripts and the Armenian version. Special attention will be given to the several places where Cohn judges that the Armenian alone has preserved the authentic text.

Discussion (15 min)
Other (30 min)

The Philo Index

The Philo Index: A Complete Greek Word Index to the Writings of Philo of Alexandria is still available. A recent check on the Amazon.co.uk shows that they now also have added the possibility of looking into the book, and even search it. They also have some used copies for sale; prices from 7 pounds....
And you haven't bought it yet???

RPBS- Resource pages - going into sleep?

My Resource Pages for Biblical Studies has been on the Internet for some years now; but over the last couple of years it has been harder and harder to be able to find time to keep them updated.

At the present time several issues tell me to - not really closing them down - but after a major update of the links to come, I will probably not be able to spend time on them any more. The work is simply too time-consuming, and the pages structures and coding are much too old-fashioned.

I have been involved in a little discussion - some time ago- on the role of what was then called megasites, and I then called for some sort of collaborations, and maybe even some sort of organizational associations. But at that time people liked to go on for themselves. Now it look like fellows as Mark Goodacre are feeling the burden of work too. One the one hand he is a much more competent person than myself to deal with modern webpages (mine are like fossils), but he also seems more open for some sort of collaboration with other interested and able scholars. His experimenting and ideas about how he will carry out his work are interesting, and I wish him every good wish.

For my own part, I will keep on doing some Philo-blogging on this blog; I am also considering establishing a similar blog on 1 Peter in January. But my Resource Pages for Biblical Studies will be rather static; that is - not being regularly updated.

Moses and the thaumaturges

I December 21 I blogged here about an article by Harold Remus, "Moses and the thaumaturges: Philo's De Vita Mosis as a rescue Operation," in Laval Theologique et Philosophiique 52 (1996): 665-680, and said, that "Alas, this article is not available in Norway."

Today I received it as a pdf file from Prof. Dr. G.H. van Kooten, Professor of New Testament & Early Christianity, Faculty of Theology & Religious Studies, University of Groningen, who had used the article himself for one of his own studies.

What a pleasant surprise! It made my day! Thank you very much. I appreciate very much such interest and helpful attitude. This is internet at its best!

Creation and Salvation

Congratulations to Ronald Cox who has his great study on Creation and Salvation published this summer:Ronald Cox,
By the Same Word. Creation and Salvation in Hellenistic Judaism and Early Christianity.
July 2007. 23 x 15.5 cm. Approx. X, 380 pages. Cloth. Euro [D] 98.00 / sFr 157.00 / for USA, Canada, Mexico US$ 132.30. ISBN 978-3-11-019342-8
The publishers description of the volume runs like this:

"Middle Platonism explained how a transcendent principle could relate to the material world by positing an intermediary, modeled after the Stoic active cause, that mediated the supreme principle’s influence to the world while preserving its transcendence. Having similar concerns as Middle Platonism, Hellenistic Jewish sapientialism, early Christianity, and Gnosticism appropriated this intermediary doctrine as a means for understanding their relationship to God and to the cosmos. However, these traditions vary in their adaptation of this teaching due to their distinctive understanding of creation and humanity’s place therein. The Jewish writings of Philo of Alexandria and Wisdom of Solomon espouse a holistic ontology, combining a Platonic appreciation for noetic reality with an ultimately positive view of creation and its place in human fulfillment. The early Christians texts of 1 Cor 8:6, Col 1:15-20, Heb 1:2-3, and the prologue of John provide an eschatological twist to this ontology when the intermediary figure finds final expression in Jesus Christ. Contrarily, Poimandres (CH 1) and the Apocryphon of John, both associated with the traditional rubric “Gnosticism”, draw from Platonism to describe how creation is antithetical to human nature and its transcendent source."

If you are interested in this volume, you should consider its List of contents, available on the publishers webpage.

Philo on Moses

Walter de Gruyter announces a new book on Moses in Biblical and extra-Biblical traditions to be published these days: Moses in Biblical and Extra-Biblical Traditions
Ed. by Axel Graupner & Michael Wolter
(Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 372)
2007. 277 pages. Cloth. Euro [D] 88.00 / sFr 141.00 / for USA, Canada, Mexico US$ 123.00. ISBN 978-3-11-019460-9 The announcement says furthermore: "The papers in this volume revolve around the history of the influence exerted by the person of Moses and the traditions associated with him. They deal not only with the function of the figure of Moses in the Pentateuch, the salvation in the Red Sea and the final day of Moses’ life, but also with the way Moses was received in the Deuteronomic history, the Psalms, the Book of Jeremiah, the Septuagint, in Qumran, early Jewish extra-biblical literature, the New Testament and the Early Church."

It turns out that the volume also contain a couple of articles on Philo:

Pierluigi Lanfranchi, 'Reminiscences of Ezekiel's Exagoge in Philo's De Vita Mosis,' pp. 143-150;
and
Hywel Clifford, 'Moses as Philosopher-Sage in Philo.' pp. 151-168.

I have not seen the volume yet, just its announcement, so I have no further information than this bibliographic note.

Still vacation

The Philo blogger is still on vacation, and will be away even till August 1.
In the meantime you can have a look at another site with some Philo stuff:

http://www.deeperstudy.com/link/philo_index.html

The Restoration of Israel:

SBL's Bookreview services (www.bookreviews.org) announces some new reviews being published on their web site. Among these is a review of Fuller, Michael E.
The Restoration of Israel: Israel’s Re-gathering and the Fate of the Nations in Early Jewish Literature and Luke-Acts (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche 138; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006. Pp. xi + 332. Cloth. €91.59.ISBN 3110188961.
The reviewer is M. Eugene Boring, says in his introduction: "This informative study is a slightly revised version of the author’s 2005 Ph.D. dissertation
at the University of Durham, directed by Loren T. Stuckenbruck. The volume is a timely contribution to the current discussion of the theme of exile and restoration in early Jewish literature, regarded both in its own right and as context and background for themes of New Testament theology. E. P. Sanders, for example, has emphasized the importance of Israel’s ideas of restoration in studying first-century Jewish eschatology, the Pauline writings, and especially the historical Jesus, and N. T. Wright has declared the early Jewish understanding of exilic theology to be the mother of early Christian origins—in opposition to Ernst Käsemann’s dictum that apocalyptic played this central role. Although Fuller does not make his dissertation a direct challenge to Wright’s thesis, he claims that Wright has overstated the prevalence of the exilic model of restoration in the period of Second Temple Judaism and does not do justice to the diversity and complexity of this motif (10–11). Fuller divides the exile/restoration model of early Judaism’s selfunderstanding into three main motifs—Israel’s regathering, the defeat of the nations, and a new temple—devoting a chapter to each of the first two topics, but dealing with the
motif of a new temple only incidentally."

Concerning Philo, who is dealt with in chapter One, part 6 (The Return as Spiritual Journey; Philo of Alexandria:The UNiversal Pilgrimage to God, pp. 82-102), Boring says: "The chapter concludes with a discussion of Philo as representative of that Diaspora Judaism that did not find the Diaspora as such oppressive and did not anticipate a literal return of Israel to the land. Philo mostly ignores biblical references to restoration. When he does attend to them, he mostly spiritualizes them. Whatever lingering expectation of a literal return may be present in Philo’s writings is subjugated to this spiritual or allegorical aspect."

Philo usually keeps both to a spiritual and literal interpretations, and one might wonder if Fuller here underplays the literal view of Philo's view on the return of Israel; cf. here at least the famous statment in Praem 162-172. I wonder how Fuller interprets this passage.

You can find a link to the List of contents on this page.