The Works

The Works of Philo is a very readable translation of a significant but overlooked scribe of early Christianity.

Great book. Arrived in a perfect state. And the service was impeccable.

The book came in great condition, but I've worn it out a bit. These treatises by Philo of Alexandria are an important source for understanding Judiasim and Christianity in the first century. Philo followed an ancient philosophical method of gleaning allegory from texts. He only deals with the Torah, but makes reference to a few psalms as well. There are two treatises which break the pattern. Both are about events in the ancient Roman empire to which Philo was often an eyewitness. These are an invaluable source for understanding events in Egypt and Judea during the reign of Caligula. Philo's philosophy of allegorical interpretation follows methods that were popular in the Roman empire, but which are not widely believed now. There were many treatises then which dealt with Homer allegorically. Origen of Alexandria used allegorical exposition in his writings as well.A strong comparison and contrast can be made between the writings of Philo and Flavius Josephus. Philo discusses the Essenes briefly and with great respect, Josephus writes admiringly of them. Josephus considers himself a Pharisee, but Philo never labels himself. Philo makes a fairly brief mention of angels in one treatise, but never explicitly denies their existence. Since the Sadducees are supposed to have denied the existence of angles, and were possibly skeptical of scripture other than Torah, I wondered often whether Philo represented them to some extent, or whether he was really a free thinking philosopher. Perhaps someone knows, but I wonder what this philosophy should be called.The best reason to get a hard copy is the index. I don't think I'll read most of these treatises a second time in full, but this is in some ways a reference work. There are no essays by translators, but there are some very sparse footnotes, most of which give chapter and verse references to the Bible. There are also notes about translation matters, and finally some notes comparing Philo with other ancient Roman authors. This book is a good choice if you want something to look up quotations by Philo.

Philo is a very exciting book. The fact that it comes from an educated contemporary of Jesus and Paul is sufficient as a magnet for the reader who is interested in ancient Greece and the Levant. The book is complex and requires some prior knowledge of the Bible and other actors of that time and that part of the world. Very exciting.

イエスやパウロと同時代のユダヤ教哲学者フィロンの英訳全著作集です。七十人訳聖書（ギリシア語旧約聖書）で学んだヘレニズム期のユダヤ教の考えを知る重要な手がかりになります。本書は2段組ですが、本のサイズ自体が大きいので、文字はそれほど小さく感じません。それでこの値段ですから、大変お得です。もちろん、原典のギリシア語と対照したい方は、Harvardから出ているLoeb Classical Libraryに全著作が20巻を超えるシリーズで収められていますので、そちらをご覧ください。

Philo Judaeus, the great Jewish exegete and philosopher, was a contemporary of Josephus and the Apostles Paul and Peter during the 1st century A.D. This volume of his complete works must be one of the most, if not the most, exhaustive commentaries on the five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) in existence.In true rabbinic fashion, Philo discourses on the letter and spirit of the Pentateuch, from all the major characters of the five books of the Old Testament to the creation of the world. His prose style is a combination of stream-of-consciousness, meditation, and textual exposition. Philo's works are not merely a collection of essays on the Pentateuch, but a window into rich allegorical and contemplative mind of a great rabbi--the Pentateuch interpreted by a rabbi within the context of first century Hellenism buttressed by nearly 2000 years of a tradition personally handed down from God. Philo addresses the reader in 2nd person; it is almost as if the reader was a student sitting and listening at the feet of the rabbi.It is, however, easy to lose one's place in the text. Philo divides his essays topically: e.g., The Creation of the World, Abel, Cain, Noah's Drunkenness, Abraham's Exodus from Ur, The Tower of Babel, Moses, etc. Within each essay, however, Philo waxes upon the topic and upon anything tangentially related to it in a great stream-of-consciousness. Moreover, the text is invariably printed in two columns, justified, separated with a line in 10 point font on every page, front and back. If it were not for the consecutive paragraph numbering, the text would seem like a great jumbled mass of impenetrable rabbinic commentary.But Philo writes some true gems, and it is worth culling the dense text for them. His first essay alone, "On the Creation of the World", justifies purchasing the entire volume. Philo's exposition of Genesis chapter 1 is second to none. Not even St. Augustine's commentary of Genesis in "City of God" raises you to such heights. One of Philo's many insights into the purpose behind the order of creation is his answer to why God created vegetation before He created the sun. Philo's final essays, "Questions and Answers," offers his interpretation into every conceivable question concerning the Book of Genesis. In between "On the Creation of the World" and "Questions and Answers" are fascinating commentaries on all major characters in the first five books of the Old Testament and on the laws, the Ten Commandments and the 613 laws in the Pentateuch.Philo's works are still relatively obscure. But they rank with the works of Josephus. Josephus gives us history; Philo, interpretation. It is as if Philo was a Jewish Augustine who mixed "Confessions" and "City of God" into one volume.