Philo of Alexandria: An Introduction

by Samuel Sandmel

Paperback. Previous owner's name penned on ffep. Browning on all edges of text and inside front and back covers. Slight wear on upper front corner of cover. Else good

Genres: History

216 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 1979

Reviews

[Judy]

Philo, usually alluded to as Philo Judaeus ('The Jew') wrote of himself as an 'old man,' this around the year 42/43 BCE, the date of his death can be guessed about 50 CE. His lifetime overlapped that of Herod the Great, the Rabbinic Sages Hillel, Shammai, and Gamaliel (the latter mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles), Jesus and Paul. He was a native of Alexandria in Egypt, and hence he reflects on Jewish life and experience outside Judea. " Philo viewed God as transcendent and thereby not involved in the evil of the world. He "denies that Sarah and Hagar are historical persons; he says respecting Abraham's removal from Ur to Charran (Genesis 11:31) that we cannot have any interest in some journey some man made a long time ago, unless it is a spiritual journey we too can make." p.25
"The absence of a person messiah is the greatest distinction between Philo's messianic thought and the attendant range of views which became part of Rabbinic Judaism. There is no echo in Philo of the messiah as a son of David, of a great universal judgement day or of resurrection. One might put it that Philo has a vision of a future messianic age, but completely without a messiah." p. 109-110

[Deb W · Rating 1 out of 5]

I ordered this to read Philo's writings translated, and found it was an academic, interpreted survey of his works. Not what I was hoping for, so it's going back.

[Eliezer Sneiderman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to Philo