Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series – serie

This study is the first volume in the new Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series. It contains a new English translation of Philo’s famous treatise On the creation of the cosmos (the first for seventy years), and the first ever commentary in English.In this work the Jewish exegete and philosopher gives a selective exegesis of the Mosaic creation account and the events in Paradise as recorded in Genesis 1–3. It is the first preserved example of Hexaemeral literature, and had a profound influence on early Christian thought.The commentary aims to make Philo’s thought accessible to readers such as graduate students who are just beginning to read him, but also contains much material that will be of interest to specialists in Hellenistic Judaism, ancient philosophy and patristic literature.

In the treatise On Virtues (part of his so-called Exposition of the Law), Philo of Alexandria demonstrates how Moses, his laws, and the nation constituted by these laws each embody certain widely-discussed moral values, specifically, courage (andreia), humanity (philanthropia), repentance (metanoia), and nobility (eugeneia). Although it makes extensive use of material drawn from the Pentateuch, what the treatise provides is far more than a commentary on scripture. Rather, it contributes to a sophisticated apologetic reconstruction of Jewish origins, idealized according to the principles of both Greek philosophy and Roman political culture. Guided by such principles, Philo endeavors to establish the moral, legal, and social status of Judaism within the Greco-Roman world.