Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction by George W. E. Nickelsburg

Author:George W. E. Nickelsburg [Nickelsburg, George W. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2008-01-04T09:58:00+00:00

Philo the Philosopher

Thus, if the principal form of Philo's writing was exposition of the biblical text, its content was thoroughly informed by Greek philosophical speculation-more so than any other contemporary Jewish author whose works have been preserved. He drew eclectically from the traditions of the Platonists, the Stoics, and the Pythagoreans. The initial treatise of his paraphrase of the Pentateuch, On the Creation of the World (De opificio mundi), retells the Genesis story of creation "in terms of Plato's Timaeus as Philo understood it,"124 and his lengthy expostulation on the number seven would have brought a gleam to a Pythagorean's eye. He is in constant critical dialog with Stoic cosmology, but draws deeply from their well as he expounds his ethics.125 Philo's worldview is fundamentally Platonic. God is being itself, the unknowable, the one who exists. Logos is a multivalent term that denotes the complex ways in which God extends himself in order to form matter and to communicate and interact with the sensible, empirical world. Logos is the mind of the Creator in the act of creation, and it is the means by which God speaks through the mouth of Moses, in particular, and acts by means of angels and archangels. Aspects of this world have their counterparts in the world of forms, which is the lowest extension of the Logos. 12' The Jerusalem temple has its counterpart in the cosmic heavenly temple, and priestly purity reflects the image of God.127 The Mosaic laws and the righteous politikos mediate true justice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.