A Jew with Many Faces: Exegesis and Theology in Philo of Alexandria
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Jul 21, 2020
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Juan Sebastián Hernández-Valencia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9567-4205
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9567-4205
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Abstract
The work and theological figure of Philo of Alexandria has been open to multiple interpretations during the 20th Century and the run of the 21st . How to understand them? As a rereading of the tradition of the Bible in light of Middle Platonism, or as an apology on the cultural value of Judaism before the Greek paideia? This problem is approached in this article with the perspective of the correlation between exegesis and theology in the work of Philo. As an exegete, Philo comments on the Torah. His method of exegesis is not the midrash or the pesher, but rather the alegoresis, typical of the Stoic tradition. As a theologian, Philo proposes a remarkable system, discarded by the nascent Pharisaicrabbinical current. In this article, two lines of the very wide philonic theology are explored. The former exposes mystical theology as the center of its theological system. The latter deals with the problem of theodicy.
Keywords
Filón de Alejandría, teología, judaísmo helenístico, exégesisPhilo of Alexandria, Theology, Hellenistic Judaism, exegesis
References
Aland, Kurt (ed.) Vollständige Konkordanz zum Griechischen zum Neuen Testament. New York/Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 1978.
Alekniené, T. “L’extase” mystique dans la tradition platonicienne: Philon d’Alexandrie et Plotin”. Studia Philonica Annual 22 (2010): 53-82.
Anderson (Jr), R. Dean. “allēgoria”. En Glossary of Greek Rhetorical Terms, editado por R. Dean Anderson, 14-16. Leuven: Peeters, 2000.
Aranda Pérez, Gonzalo y otros. Literatura judía intertestamentaria. Estella (Navarra): Verbo Divino, 1996.
Beumer, J. “El método teológico”. En Historia de los dogmas. Tomo 1. Cuaderno 6, editado por Michael Schmaus, Alois Grillmier, Leo Scheffczy, 1-16. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1977.
Birnbaum, Ellen. The Place of Judaism in Philo’s Thought. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press, 1996.
Borgen, Peder. “Philo of Alexandria”. En Anchor Bible Dictionary, editado por David N. Freedman V, 333-342. New York (NY): Doubleday, 1992.
_____. Philo of Alexandria: An Exegete for His Time. Leiden-Boston: Brill. 1997.
Bousset, Wilhelm. Jüdisch -christlicher Schulbetrieb in Alexandria und Rom. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1915.
Brewer, David I. Techniques and Assumptions in Jewish Exegesis Before 70 CE. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992.
Cadiou, René. Philon D’Alexandrie: La Migration d’Abraham. Paris: Du Cerf, 1957.
Calabi, Francesca. God’s Acting, Man’s Acting. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2008.
_____. (ed.) Italian Studies on Philo of Alexandria. Boston-Leiden: Brill, 2003.
Chilton, Bruce D. “Judaism and Christianity in the Formative Age”. En The Blackwell Companion to Judaism, editado por Jacob Neusner y A. J. Avery-Peck, 112-130. Oxford (UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
Cohen, Naomi G. Philo’s Scriptures Citations from Prophets and Writtings. LeidenBoston: Brill, 2007.
Colson, F. H.; G. H. Whitaker; y Ralph Marcus (trads. y eds.). Philo Judaeus. With an English Translation. 10 vols. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press, 1981-1991.
Culpepper, R. Alan. The Johannine School. Missoula (MT): Scholars Press, 1975.
Davies, William D. y Louis Finkelstein (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism. 2: The Hellenistic Age. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Díez Macho, Alejandro. Apócrifos del Antiguo Testamento. Tomo 1: Introducción general. Madrid: Cristiandad, 1984.
Dillon, John. The Golden Chain: Studies in the Development of Platonism and Christianity. Aldershot-Brookfield (VT): Variorum, 1990.
Gilson, Étienne. Las constantes filosóficas del ser. Pamplona: Eunsa, 2005.
Grabbe, Lester L. A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period. Vol. 2: The Early Hellenistic Period, 335-175 BCE. New York (NY): T & T Clark, 2008.
_____. (ed.) Did Moses Speak Attic? Jewish Historiography and Scripture in the Hellenistic Period. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 2001.
Goodenough, Erwin R. An Introduction to Philo Judæus. New Haven (CN): Yale University Press, 1940.
_____. “New Light on Hellenistic Judaism”. Journal of Bible and Religion 5 (1937): 18-28.
Goodhart, Howard L. y Erwin R. Goodenough. “A General Bibliography of Philo Judaeus”. En The Politics of Philo Judaeus: Practice and Theory, editado por E. R. Goodenough, 125-321. New Haven (CN): Yale University Press, 1938.
Heininger, Bernhard.“Paulus und Philo als Mystiker? Himmelsreisen im Vergleich (2Kor 12,2-4; SpecLeg III 1-6)”. En Philo und das Neuen Testament, editado por Rolad Deines y Karl-W. Niebuhr, 189-204. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.
Hengel, Martin. Giudaismo ed ellenismo. Brescia: Paideia, 2001.
_____. The Hellenization of Judaea in the First Century after Christ. London: SCM Press, 1984.
Holladay, Carl R. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish. Vol. 3: Aristobulus. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press, 1995.
Jonas, Hans. Gnosis und spätantiker Geist. Bd. 1: Die mythologischer Gnosis (4.a ed.). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998.
Kaiser, Gerhard.“Theodizee als biblisch erzählte Geschichte”. Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 102 (2005): 115-142.
Klein, F.-N. Die Lichtterminologie bei Philon von Alexandrien und in den hermetischen Schriften. Leiden: Brill, 1962.
Krämer, Hans J. Platonismus und hellenistische Philosophie. Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1971.
Liddell, Henry G. y Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and Augmented Throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones, with the Assistance of Roderic McKenzie. With a Revised Supplement. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1996.
Loveday, Alexander. “Schools, Hellenistic”. En Anchor Bible Dictionary, editado por David N. Freedman V, 1005-1111. New York (NY): Doubleday, 1992.
Mackie, S. D. “Seeing God in Philo of Alexandria: the Logos, the Powers, or the Existent One?”. Studia Philonica Annual 21 (2009): 25–47.
Manning, J. G. Land and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Martín, José Pablo (dir.). Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. I. Madrid: Trotta, 2009.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. II. Madrid: Trotta, 2010.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. III. Madrid: Trotta, 2012.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. IV. Madrid: Trotta, 2016.
Matusova, E. “Allegorical Interpretation of the Pentateuch in Alexandria: Inscribing Aristobulus and Philo in a Wider Literary Context”. Studia Philonica Annual 22 (2010): 1-52.
Moreau, J. “A Noocentric Exegesis: The Function of Allegory in Philo of Alexandria and Its Hermeneutical Implications”. Studia Philonica Annual 29 (2017): 61-80.
Moulton, James H. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914.
Muraoka, Takamitsu. A Greek English-Lexicon of the Septuagint. Louvain-Paris-Walpole: Peeters, 2009.
Nairne, Alexander. The Alexandrine Gospel: Sirach, Wisdom, Philo, the Epistle to the Hebrews. London/New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1917.
Niehoff, Maren R. Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Nikiprowetzky, V. Le commentaire de l’Écriture chez Philon d’Alexandrie. Leiden: Brill, 1977.
Pearson, Birger A. “Christians and Jews in First-Century Alexandria”. Harvard Theological Review 79 (1986): 206-216.
Praechter, Karl. Friedrich Ueberwegs. Grundrifs der Geschichte der Philosophie. Erster Teil: Das Altertum. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, 1920.
Reventlow, Hening G. History of Biblical Interpretation. Volume 1: From the Old Testament to Origen. Atlanta (GA): Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.
Runia, David T. Exegesis and Philosophy. Aldershot (VT): Variorum, 1990.
_____. Philo in Early Christian Literature. Minneapolis (MN): Fortress Press, 1999.
_____. Philo of Alexandria and the Timaeus of Plato, Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Boekhandel, 1983.
_____. Philo of Alexandria. On the Creation of the Cosmos According to Moses. LeidenBoston: Köln-Brill, 2001.
Runia, David T., y otros. “Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography (2014)”. Studia Philonica Annual 29 (2017): 185-228.
Runia, David T. y Roberto Radice. Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography.
1937-1986. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 1988.
_____. Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography. 1987-1996. Leiden-Boston:Köln- Brill, 2001.
_____. Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography. 1997-2006. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2012.
Saudelli, L. “Loi de Moïse et philosophie grecque: le judaïsme alexandrin”. En Alexandrie la divine, editado por Charles Méla y Fréderic Möri, 726-731. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière, 2014.
Scholem, Gershom. Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition. New York (NY): The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1965.
Segal, Alan F. Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2002.
Sterling, G. “‘The School of Sacred Laws’: The Social Setting of Philo’s Treatises”. Vigilia Christiana 53 (1999): 148-164.
Stone, Michael E. Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period. Philadelphia (PA): Fortress Press, 1984.
Stuckenbruck, Loren T. The Book of Giants from Qumran. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997.
Stroumsa, Gedaliahu A.G. Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythologies. Leiden: Brill, 1984.
Tarn, William W. Alexander the Great. Vol. 2: Sources and Studies. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1950.
Triviño, José M. (trad., notas e introducción). Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 1. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 1976.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 2. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 197.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 3. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 1976.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 4. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 1976.
Van Winden, J. C. M. “The World of Ideas in Philo of Alexandria: An Interpretation of the Opificio Mundi 24-25”. Vigilia Christiana 37 (1983): 209-217.
Vílchez Lindez, J. Sabiduría. Estella (Navarra): Verbo Divino, 1990.
Watts, E. J. City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. Los Angeles (CA): California University Press, 2006.
Wilckens, Ulrich. La Carta a los Romanos. Tomo 1: Rom 1-5. 3 ed. Salamanca, Sígueme, 2006.
Williamson, Ronald. Jews in the Hellenistic World. Philo. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Winston, David. Logos and Mystical Theology in Philo of Alexandria. Cincinnati (OH): Hebrew Union College Press, 1985.
Alekniené, T. “L’extase” mystique dans la tradition platonicienne: Philon d’Alexandrie et Plotin”. Studia Philonica Annual 22 (2010): 53-82.
Anderson (Jr), R. Dean. “allēgoria”. En Glossary of Greek Rhetorical Terms, editado por R. Dean Anderson, 14-16. Leuven: Peeters, 2000.
Aranda Pérez, Gonzalo y otros. Literatura judía intertestamentaria. Estella (Navarra): Verbo Divino, 1996.
Beumer, J. “El método teológico”. En Historia de los dogmas. Tomo 1. Cuaderno 6, editado por Michael Schmaus, Alois Grillmier, Leo Scheffczy, 1-16. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1977.
Birnbaum, Ellen. The Place of Judaism in Philo’s Thought. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press, 1996.
Borgen, Peder. “Philo of Alexandria”. En Anchor Bible Dictionary, editado por David N. Freedman V, 333-342. New York (NY): Doubleday, 1992.
_____. Philo of Alexandria: An Exegete for His Time. Leiden-Boston: Brill. 1997.
Bousset, Wilhelm. Jüdisch -christlicher Schulbetrieb in Alexandria und Rom. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1915.
Brewer, David I. Techniques and Assumptions in Jewish Exegesis Before 70 CE. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992.
Cadiou, René. Philon D’Alexandrie: La Migration d’Abraham. Paris: Du Cerf, 1957.
Calabi, Francesca. God’s Acting, Man’s Acting. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2008.
_____. (ed.) Italian Studies on Philo of Alexandria. Boston-Leiden: Brill, 2003.
Chilton, Bruce D. “Judaism and Christianity in the Formative Age”. En The Blackwell Companion to Judaism, editado por Jacob Neusner y A. J. Avery-Peck, 112-130. Oxford (UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
Cohen, Naomi G. Philo’s Scriptures Citations from Prophets and Writtings. LeidenBoston: Brill, 2007.
Colson, F. H.; G. H. Whitaker; y Ralph Marcus (trads. y eds.). Philo Judaeus. With an English Translation. 10 vols. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press, 1981-1991.
Culpepper, R. Alan. The Johannine School. Missoula (MT): Scholars Press, 1975.
Davies, William D. y Louis Finkelstein (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism. 2: The Hellenistic Age. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Díez Macho, Alejandro. Apócrifos del Antiguo Testamento. Tomo 1: Introducción general. Madrid: Cristiandad, 1984.
Dillon, John. The Golden Chain: Studies in the Development of Platonism and Christianity. Aldershot-Brookfield (VT): Variorum, 1990.
Gilson, Étienne. Las constantes filosóficas del ser. Pamplona: Eunsa, 2005.
Grabbe, Lester L. A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period. Vol. 2: The Early Hellenistic Period, 335-175 BCE. New York (NY): T & T Clark, 2008.
_____. (ed.) Did Moses Speak Attic? Jewish Historiography and Scripture in the Hellenistic Period. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 2001.
Goodenough, Erwin R. An Introduction to Philo Judæus. New Haven (CN): Yale University Press, 1940.
_____. “New Light on Hellenistic Judaism”. Journal of Bible and Religion 5 (1937): 18-28.
Goodhart, Howard L. y Erwin R. Goodenough. “A General Bibliography of Philo Judaeus”. En The Politics of Philo Judaeus: Practice and Theory, editado por E. R. Goodenough, 125-321. New Haven (CN): Yale University Press, 1938.
Heininger, Bernhard.“Paulus und Philo als Mystiker? Himmelsreisen im Vergleich (2Kor 12,2-4; SpecLeg III 1-6)”. En Philo und das Neuen Testament, editado por Rolad Deines y Karl-W. Niebuhr, 189-204. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.
Hengel, Martin. Giudaismo ed ellenismo. Brescia: Paideia, 2001.
_____. The Hellenization of Judaea in the First Century after Christ. London: SCM Press, 1984.
Holladay, Carl R. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish. Vol. 3: Aristobulus. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press, 1995.
Jonas, Hans. Gnosis und spätantiker Geist. Bd. 1: Die mythologischer Gnosis (4.a ed.). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998.
Kaiser, Gerhard.“Theodizee als biblisch erzählte Geschichte”. Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 102 (2005): 115-142.
Klein, F.-N. Die Lichtterminologie bei Philon von Alexandrien und in den hermetischen Schriften. Leiden: Brill, 1962.
Krämer, Hans J. Platonismus und hellenistische Philosophie. Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1971.
Liddell, Henry G. y Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and Augmented Throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones, with the Assistance of Roderic McKenzie. With a Revised Supplement. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1996.
Loveday, Alexander. “Schools, Hellenistic”. En Anchor Bible Dictionary, editado por David N. Freedman V, 1005-1111. New York (NY): Doubleday, 1992.
Mackie, S. D. “Seeing God in Philo of Alexandria: the Logos, the Powers, or the Existent One?”. Studia Philonica Annual 21 (2009): 25–47.
Manning, J. G. Land and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Martín, José Pablo (dir.). Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. I. Madrid: Trotta, 2009.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. II. Madrid: Trotta, 2010.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. III. Madrid: Trotta, 2012.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. IV. Madrid: Trotta, 2016.
Matusova, E. “Allegorical Interpretation of the Pentateuch in Alexandria: Inscribing Aristobulus and Philo in a Wider Literary Context”. Studia Philonica Annual 22 (2010): 1-52.
Moreau, J. “A Noocentric Exegesis: The Function of Allegory in Philo of Alexandria and Its Hermeneutical Implications”. Studia Philonica Annual 29 (2017): 61-80.
Moulton, James H. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914.
Muraoka, Takamitsu. A Greek English-Lexicon of the Septuagint. Louvain-Paris-Walpole: Peeters, 2009.
Nairne, Alexander. The Alexandrine Gospel: Sirach, Wisdom, Philo, the Epistle to the Hebrews. London/New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1917.
Niehoff, Maren R. Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Nikiprowetzky, V. Le commentaire de l’Écriture chez Philon d’Alexandrie. Leiden: Brill, 1977.
Pearson, Birger A. “Christians and Jews in First-Century Alexandria”. Harvard Theological Review 79 (1986): 206-216.
Praechter, Karl. Friedrich Ueberwegs. Grundrifs der Geschichte der Philosophie. Erster Teil: Das Altertum. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, 1920.
Reventlow, Hening G. History of Biblical Interpretation. Volume 1: From the Old Testament to Origen. Atlanta (GA): Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.
Runia, David T. Exegesis and Philosophy. Aldershot (VT): Variorum, 1990.
_____. Philo in Early Christian Literature. Minneapolis (MN): Fortress Press, 1999.
_____. Philo of Alexandria and the Timaeus of Plato, Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Boekhandel, 1983.
_____. Philo of Alexandria. On the Creation of the Cosmos According to Moses. LeidenBoston: Köln-Brill, 2001.
Runia, David T., y otros. “Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography (2014)”. Studia Philonica Annual 29 (2017): 185-228.
Runia, David T. y Roberto Radice. Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography.
1937-1986. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 1988.
_____. Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography. 1987-1996. Leiden-Boston:Köln- Brill, 2001.
_____. Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography. 1997-2006. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2012.
Saudelli, L. “Loi de Moïse et philosophie grecque: le judaïsme alexandrin”. En Alexandrie la divine, editado por Charles Méla y Fréderic Möri, 726-731. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière, 2014.
Scholem, Gershom. Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition. New York (NY): The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1965.
Segal, Alan F. Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2002.
Sterling, G. “‘The School of Sacred Laws’: The Social Setting of Philo’s Treatises”. Vigilia Christiana 53 (1999): 148-164.
Stone, Michael E. Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period. Philadelphia (PA): Fortress Press, 1984.
Stuckenbruck, Loren T. The Book of Giants from Qumran. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997.
Stroumsa, Gedaliahu A.G. Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythologies. Leiden: Brill, 1984.
Tarn, William W. Alexander the Great. Vol. 2: Sources and Studies. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1950.
Triviño, José M. (trad., notas e introducción). Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 1. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 1976.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 2. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 197.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 3. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 1976.
_____. Filón de Alejandría. Obras completas. Vol. 4. Buenos Aires: Acevedo Cultural Editores, 1976.
Van Winden, J. C. M. “The World of Ideas in Philo of Alexandria: An Interpretation of the Opificio Mundi 24-25”. Vigilia Christiana 37 (1983): 209-217.
Vílchez Lindez, J. Sabiduría. Estella (Navarra): Verbo Divino, 1990.
Watts, E. J. City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. Los Angeles (CA): California University Press, 2006.
Wilckens, Ulrich. La Carta a los Romanos. Tomo 1: Rom 1-5. 3 ed. Salamanca, Sígueme, 2006.
Williamson, Ronald. Jews in the Hellenistic World. Philo. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Winston, David. Logos and Mystical Theology in Philo of Alexandria. Cincinnati (OH): Hebrew Union College Press, 1985.
How to Cite
Hernández-Valencia, J. S. (2020). A Jew with Many Faces: Exegesis and Theology in Philo of Alexandria. Theologica Xaveriana, 70. https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.tx70.jretfa
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