God to be ontologically prior to everything else that was good. He identi-
fied thehoZnof Exod. 3:14 with theto onof Platonism and emphasized di-
vine transcendence (Det.160;Mut.11–15). Like other Middle Platonists, he
posited an intermediary who was God’s face to the cosmos and humanity’s
access to God, that is, the Logos. He thought that the Logos was God’s im-
age based on his interpretation of Gen. 1:27. In his thought there is God,
the Image of God (the Logos), and human beings who were created in the
image of God’s Image (the Logos) (Opif.24–25). Humanity can ascend to
God through the Logos. The Scriptures are the key to understanding this
reality. He understood that philosophy and the Scriptures taught the same
thing about the Ultimate Cause (Virt.65). Philosophy provided an intel-
lectual framework, but it did not displace the legislation of Moses as the
authoritative statement of the divine realities.
An assessment of Philo depends on how he is measured. If he is mea-
sured by the impact of his work on subsequent thinkers, then we may call
this Jewish writer “the first Christian theologian.” If, on the other hand, he
is measured by what he accomplished, we may say that he is the most im-
portant representative and apex of the rich Jewish exegetical tradition that
flourished in Alexandria from the end of the third centuryb.c.e.to the be-
ginning of the second centuryc.e.bibliography
General
Te x t
Cohn, Leopold, Paul Wendland, Siegfried Reiter, and Hans Leisegang, eds. 1896-
1930.Philonis Alexandrini opera quae supersunt.7 vols. Berlin: Reimer (2d ed.
1962).
Translations
Arnaldez, Roger, Clement Mondéseret, and Jean Pouilloux. 1961-1992.Les Œuvres
de Philon d’Alexandrie.34 vols. Paris: Cerf.
Cohn, Leopold, Isaak Heinemann, Maximilian Adler, and Willy Theiler. 1909-1938.
Philo von Alexandria: Die Werke in deutscher Übersetzung.7 vols. Breslau:
Marcus (2d ed. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1962-1964).
Colson, Francis H., George H. Whitaker, and Ralph Markus. 1929-1962.Philo. 10
vols. and 2 supp. vols. LCL. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.284
sterling, runia, niehoff, and van den hoekEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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