Philo of Alexandria

Philo Judaeus of Alexandria Egypt was a contemporary of Jesus and Paul and of the three the only one of absolutely certain historicity. The absence of any mention of Jesus or Paul among contemporaries is what raises existential questions about Jesus and Paul. Philo had a great interest in the Essenes, among other gnostics and contemporary theologies. Philo clearly lived in the world of Hellenistic Judaism, and does not even mention early Christianity. The persecution of the Jews by Romans and Greeks is well documented in this work.

Philo utilizes the concept of logos and weaves it into Judaism. Philo also employs interpretive strategies which parallel those used by Paul as the author of the book of Hebrews. As the leading theologian in the court of Cleopatra and the Ptolemies, Philo sought to reconcile and synthesize the theologies of the Jews and the Greeks. In this work, his deputation to Rome on behalf of the temple and his objection to placing images of Caesar (Caligula) in the Temple are included.… (altro)

I had read this work before in Yonge's Works Of Philo. The nice thing about this edition is that I was able to refer to the Greek when important theological/philosophical terms are used. It does aid the reader enormously in understanding the overall Hellenistic literary context.
Philo was one of the first writers to bridge the Judeo-Hellenistic ideological divide. His adopting of Platonist and Stoical disciplines and marrying them with Judaic religion was pretty novel and paradigmatic at the time; although, some evidence of this is found in the New Testament as well; especially in the Epistle to The Hebrews, which is the New Testament book that indicates the most significant traces of Hellenistic and/or Alexandrian influence. Occasionally, the writer of Hebrews uses the same biblical passages and interprets them in a very similar way, e.g. regarding God's oaths and the figure of Melchizedek. Some parallels with Paul's Epistles is also evident. Whether Philo was aware of Christianity or whether the New Testament writers were familiar with him, is speculative but it remains an interesting possibility. Be that as it may, Philo left his definite mark on later church fathers such as Origen and many many others. His doctrine of multiplicity in the Godhead was set to be adopted by Christian writers where it was unlikely to be adopted by Jews of a more orthodox bent. The main parallel with the New Testament is Philo's theology surrounding the Logos as God's archetypal pattern and His mediator in creation.
To sum up, Philo is not only an important example of Middle Platonism in the history of philosophy, he is also important in the history of theology. Taking that into account, he is really essential reading.… (altro)