Tuesday, February 25, 2014

On reading Philo, Legatio ad Gaium

This week I read Kenneth Schenck's magnificent little primer to Philo, A Brief Guide to Philo (Westminster John Knox, 2005), which has motivated me to face my Philophobia and wade into Philo's writings. I enjoyed reading In Flaccum and am now reading Legatio ad Gaium. I am surprised by some of the things Philo says, and I'm hoping that some of you Philo experts might be able to provide some guidance.

Okay, here's my question (in bold), with some brief introduction: I think Schenck (and others) is right to approach Philo as first an interpreter/exegete of Israel's biblical traditions and also a philosopher, mystic (in a limited sense), apologist, etc. In other words, Philo remains a staunchly observant Jew committed to keeping Torah despite the thoroughly Hellenistic, even middle-Platonic expression of his Judaism. So how should we describe the tension between the following two observations from Legatio ad Gaium? One the one hand, Philo gives surprisingly straightforward and even glowing encomia of the demigods Dionysius, Heracles, and the Dioscuri (Legat. 77–92) and of the gods Hermes, Apollo, and Ares (Legat. 93–113) as part of his condemnation of Gaius Caligula. On the other hand, Philo acknowledges and even participates in the Jewish insistence "to acknowledge one God who is the Father and Maker of the world" [ἕνα νομίζειν τὸν πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τοῦ κόσμου θεόν; Legat. 114–18 (115 quoted)]. Notice that these are adjacent sections of Legatio ad Gaium; Philo goes immediately from lauding Greco-Roman demigods and deities (in contrast to Caligula) to expressing the fierce monotheism we often think more typical of second-temple Judaism. How do those more expert in Philo's thought and writings manage and/or resolve this tension, or am I seeing non-existent ghosts?

6 comments:

Pastorcoolguy said...

I think the key issue Philo is trying to get across is that Gaius was choosing to emulate the Hellenistic deities for all the wrong reasons. Rather than the virtue that they were commonly known to represent, Gaius’ self-deification involved emulating qualities that made him look foolish. The admirable attributes Philo ascribes to the each deity show up throughout his work and are ascribed to human Biblical characters along with an abundance of virtue language attributed directly to God. Rather than looking at this as specific veneration of the Hellenistic deities (which I don’t know of any secondary source that posits this) it would be best to consider what he is doing here as a rhetorical move that sets up later discussion about virtue. I believe that using the Greek deities to illustrate specific virtues was commonplace during Philo’s time and didn’t necessitate a fudging of monotheistic convictions.

sherry said...

My husband is back!!! I had a problem with my husband 8 months ago,which lead to us apart. When he broke up with me,I was no longer myself,I felt so empty inside .Until a friend of mine told me about one of her spells that helped her in same problem too that she found on a television program. i emailed the spell caster and I told him my problem and I did what he asked me. To cut the story short,Before I knew what was happening,not up to 48 hours,my husband gave me a call and he come back to me and told me he was sorry about what has happened, I'm so grateful to this spell caster and i will not stop publishing his name on the internet just for the good work he has done for me.If you need his help,you can email him at (ezizaspellhome@gmail.com)or tel +2347068534025.....thank you sir great Dr.EZIZA for all that you do and i greatly appreciate that.

Ken Stephenson said...

Hi, Rafael. I'm actually responding to a contribution you made to the book Pray Knox, but this was the only way I found of contacting you. Many thanks for the meditation and prayer I read today. You can write back to me at kds203@txstate.edu. (I'm teaching in Texas this school year but will be back in Knoxville in May.) ---Ken Stephenson

Ken Stephenson said...

Or I see now that you can write back to me through my Blogger blog. :)

Kayla Boaten said...

HOW DR AZUKA HERBAL MEDICINE HELPED ME GET RID OF MY 3 YEARS HERPES
Hello everyone, am from Texas USA i have been suffering from (HERPES) disease since 2015 and had constant pain, especially in my knees. During the first year,I had faith in God that i would be healed someday.This disease started circulate all over my body and i have been taking treatment from my doctor, few weeks ago i came on search on the internet if i could get any information concerning the prevention of this disease, on my search i saw a testimony of someone who has been healed from (Hepatitis B and Cancer) by this Man Dr Azuka and she also gave the email address of this man and advise we should contact him for any sickness that he would be of help, so i wrote to Dr Azuka telling him about my (HERPES Virus) he told me not to worry that i was going to be cured!! hmm i never believed it,, well after all the procedures and remedy given to me by this man few weeks later i started experiencing changes all over me as the Doctor assured me that i have been cured,after some time i went to my doctor to confirmed if i have been finally healed behold it was TRUE, So friends my advise is, if you have such sickness or any other at all like hepatitis A,B,C, CANCER ,HPV, HIV/AIDS ,DIABETES 1 AND 2, PENIS PROBLEM, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, WEAK ERECTION, PENIS ENLARGEMENT AND many more .......
you can email him on>( Dr.azukasolutionhome@gmail.com) or call and Whats App him on +2348132777335 i am indeed grateful for the help i will forever recommend you to my friends!!! Thanks.

Eric brunt said...

i am ERIC BRUNT by name. Greetings to every one that is reading this testimony. I have been rejected by my wife after three(3) years of marriage just because another Man had a spell on her and she left me and the kid to suffer. one day when i was reading through the web, i saw a post on how this spell caster on this address AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com have help a woman to get back her husband and i gave him a reply to his address and he told me that a man had a spell on my wife and he told me that he will help me and after 3 days that i will have my wife back. i believed him and today i am glad to let you all know that this spell caster have the power to bring lovers back. because i am now happy with my wife. Thanks for helping me Dr Akhere contact him on email: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com
or
call/whatsapp:+2349057261346




i am ERIC BRUNT by name. Greetings to every one that is reading this testimony. I have been rejected by my wife after three(3) years of marriage just because another Man had a spell on her and she left me and the kid to suffer. one day when i was reading through the web, i saw a post on how this spell caster on this address AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com have help a woman to get back her husband and i gave him a reply to his address and he told me that a man had a spell on my wife and he told me that he will help me and after 3 days that i will have my wife back. i believed him and today i am glad to let you all know that this spell caster have the power to bring lovers back. because i am now happy with my wife. Thanks for helping me Dr Akhere contact him on email: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com
or
call/whatsapp:+2349057261346

My Visual Bookshelf