Recommended Reading List II

This is the second posting in a series of Recommended Reading Lists in Philo. The first posting can be read below, or by clicking here.

Recommended Reading List II.

I would still recommend the reader to postpone a little more the reading of the works of Philo. Reading a couple of more introductory articles will greatly inform the readers of both what to look for and what has been discussed in more recent research.

Of course, there is here also the danger of being (too) influenced by former research instead of reading the works of Philo in a fresh way by oneself. Nevertheless, I still do think the works of Philo are so complex that if you want to read through the works of Philo to see what he says, and to understand what he is trying to say, the procedure of mine is preferable.

The introductory articles I want to recommend today are the following two, both written by Peder Borgen: Borgen, Peder. "Philo of Alexandria." In Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period. (Compendia Rerum ad Ioudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum), II,2, (Assen, 1985), pp. 233–82.

Borgen, Peder. "Philo of Alexandria A Critical and Synthetical Survey of Research Since World War II." In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II 21,1 : Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. 2, Principat. Religion: (Hellenistisches Judentum in römischer Zeit: Philon und Josephus), edited by Wolfgang Haase, (Berlin, 1984), pp. 98-154.There is another introductory volume that not has been mentioned so far. It is introductory, but perhaps it nevertheless should not be the first volume to be read by beginners; I am here thinking of

Erwin 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).
Goodenough had some specific ideas about the Judaism of Philo, and about the mystical nature of his religion. You will find an excurse on Goodenough in Sandmels work mentioned in the former posting of mine.

However, Goodeough provides some very useful suggestions of how to proceed when starting to read the works of Philo himself; that is, he recommends which works to start with, and how to work ones way through the writings of Philo. I recommend these suggestions of Goodenough, and shall present them in a more comprehensive way in my next posting concerning Recommended Readings.