Francesca Calabi – författare

The topic tackled in this book is Philo’s account of the complex, double-sided nature of God’s acting – the two-sided coin of God as transcendent yet immanent, unknowable yet revealed, immobile yet creating – and also the two sides of acting in humans – who, in an attempt to imitate God, both contemplate and produce.In both contexts, divine and human, Philo considers that it would not be proper to give precedence to either side – the result would be barren. God’s acting and man’s acting are at the same time both speculative and practical, and it is precisely out of this co-presence that the order of the world unfolds. Philo considers this two-sided condition as a source of complexity and fertility. Francesca Calabi argues that, far from being an irresolvable contradiction, Philo’s two-fold vision is the key to understanding his works. It constitutes a richness that rejects reduction to apparently incompatible forms and aspects.

Calabi analyzes Philo's exegetical work related to interpreting and explaining the revelation given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. Given that in the Hebrew Bible every single letter is basic to the expression of reality and cannot be modified, what is the relation between the Hebrew text, the Greek text utilized by Philo, and reality? Has the translation the same sacred character and authority as the original? Can both texts equally constitute a valid basis for every interpretation? The first two chapters of the book examine the relation between interpretation of the Law and its application, while the third focuses on the type of exegesis conducted by Philo, on its hermeneutic principles, and on the interpretative modes, which are also found in the Greek commentaries and/or in rabbinical literature.