Philo biography

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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StephenGoranson
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:10 am

Philo biography

Post by StephenGoranson »

A new (2018) book, Philo of Alexandria: An Intellectual Biography, by Maren R. Niehoff, proposes that he had a change in philosophy after his mission to Rome.
A review is here:
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2018/2018-05-36.html

I have just received a copy of the book. Though I have not always agreed with the author in the past (e.g., about her claim that the Jew presented by Celsus was drawn from an Alexandrian text, J. of Early Christian Studies v. 21 [2013] 151-175*), this book so far appears to be an ambitious and learned attempt at a diachronic analysis of Philo's many writings. "Appendix I: Philo's Date and Works," pp. 245-6, (boldly) proposes dividing Philo's works into two batches, the first ones circa 10-35 CE and then others in circa 40-49 CE. For example, Every Good Man is Free, thought by some earlier commentators to be an early work by Philo, she places in the second, later, batch.

* My view of Celsus:
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/Celsus_of_Pergamum.pdf
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Jax
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Re: Philo biography

Post by Jax »

StephenGoranson wrote: Thu May 31, 2018 2:15 am A new (2018) book, Philo of Alexandria: An Intellectual Biography, by Maren R. Niehoff, proposes that he had a change in philosophy after his mission to Rome.
A review is here:
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2018/2018-05-36.html

I have just received a copy of the book. Though I have not always agreed with the author in the past (e.g., about her claim that the Jew presented by Celsus was drawn from an Alexandrian text, J. of Early Christian Studies v. 21 [2013] 151-175*), this book so far appears to be an ambitious and learned attempt at a diachronic analysis of Philo's many writings. "Appendix I: Philo's Date and Works," pp. 245-6, (boldly) proposes dividing Philo's works into two batches, the first ones circa 10-35 CE and then others in circa 40-49 CE. For example, Every Good Man is Free, thought by some earlier commentators to be an early work by Philo, she places in the second, later, batch.

* My view of Celsus:
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/Celsus_of_Pergamum.pdf
I really enjoyed your paper on Celsus and look forward to a book report from you on Philo of Alexandria: An Intellectual Biography, by Maren R. Niehoff. :)

I have a quick question: It seems that one of the gripes that Celsus had with the Christians was the fact that they avoided military service. I seem to recall that at the time Celsus might be writing that the majority of troops for the Roman army came primarily from the colonies of Roman veterans. Do you know anything about this?

Λῆν
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