On the Change of Names -New Commentary!

Michael Cover, On the Change of Names: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, Vol. 8). Leiden: Brill, 2024. Hardback/PDF: EUR  €219.00. xxxiv + 630 pp. (hardback version to be published in March)

Abstract: “In the treatise On the Change of Names (part of his magnum opus, the Allegorical Commentary), Philo of Alexandria brings his figurative exegesis of the Abraham cycle to its fruition. Taking a cue from Platonist interpreters of Homer’s Odyssey, Philo reads Moses’s story of Abraham as an account of the soul’s progress and perfection. Responding to contemporary critics, who mocked Genesis 17 as uninspired, Philo finds instead a hidden philosophical reflection on the ineffability of the transcendent God, the transformation of souls which recognize their mortal nothingness, the possibility of human faith enabled by peerless faithfulness of God, and the fruit of moral perfection: joy divine, prefigured in the birth of Isaac.”

Congratulations to the author and editors of this series! Every commentary is so welcome and such a treasure of information and viewpoints. My only wish is that they all were somewhat (a lot) cheaper to buy. Yeah, I know I have said that more than once, but to be honest: €219 is a lot of money for a book!

The Studia Philonica Annual 2023

The Studia Philonica 2023 is available, fully loaded with good scholarly articles and reviews focusing on Philo of Alexandria, his world and works. No-one wanting to stay updated on recent research on Philo should miss this Annual. Below is a list of the contents of the most recent issue, the 2023 edition:

ARTICLES
David T. Runia, Naming Philo of Alexandria’s Exposition of the Law 1
Tatjana AleknienĖ, Caïn et Abel dans l’œuvre de Philon d’Alexandrie:
Arrière-plan Platonicien 13
Sami Yli-Karjanmaa, Individualism, Universalism, and Mysticism:
Observations on Philo’s Views of Virtue 35
Dexter Brown, How Did the Israelites Get Their Weapons? An Overlooked
Solution to a Famous Literary Zetema in Philo’s Life of Moses 67
Jesse Mirotznik, Philo’s Literary Use of the Apologoi 89
Erkki Koskenniemi, Philo and Rome: A Dramatic Change in His
Thoughts? 115

SPECIAL SECTION: PHILO’S DE CHERUBIM
Annewies van den Hoek, Introduction 139
Anne Boiché, “Distinguishing Differences between Things”:
On Philo’s Method in De Cherubim 145
Olivier Munnich, La Cohérence du De cherubim: La Notion
d’Acquisition 159
Michael B. Cover, The Poetics of Association: Secondary and Tertiary
Texts in the Thematic Development of Philo’s De Cherubim 177
Justin M. Rogers, A Little Cain in All of Us: De Cherubim and the Character
of Cain 201
Sean A. Adams, Philo of Alexandria on the Difference between
Philosophers and Sophists 211
INSTRUMENTA
David T. Runia, Yury Arzhanov, and Alexander Treiger,
References to Philo of Alexandria in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic
Literature up to 1500 CE 229

BIBLIOGRAPHY SECTION
D. T. Runia, M. Alesso, E. Birnbaum, A. C. Geljon, H. M. Keizer,
J. Leonhardt-Balzer, O. Munnich, M. R. Niehoff, J. M. Rogers,
S. Yli-Karjanmaa, Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated

Bibliography 2020 259
Supplement: A Provisional Bibliography 2021–2023 311

BOOK REVIEW SECTION
Jeffrey M. Hunt, De vita Mosis I: An Introduction with Text, Translation,
and Notes. Reviewed by Gregory E. Sterling 335
René Bloch, Ancient Jewish Diaspora: Essays on Hellenism
Reviewed by Erich S. Gruen 338
Jason A. Staples, The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New
Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity
Reviewed by Ellen Birnbaum 342
Radka Fialová, JiŘí Hoblík, and Petr Kitzler, eds., Hellenism, Early Judaism,
and Early Christianity. Transmission and Transformation of Ideas
Reviewed by Justin M. Rogers 347
Daniel Maier, Das Glück im antiken Judentum und im Neuen Testament
Reviewed by David T. Runia 350
Ryan Heinsch, The Figure of Hagar in Ancient Judaism and Galatians
Reviewed by Per Jarle Bekken 354
Torrey Seland, Crossing Borders: The Life and Work of Peder Borgen in
Context. Reviewed by David T. Runia 358

The StPhA 2022 is here

The Studia Philonica Annual 2022 is on its way from the press these days and is full of good reading stuff. Here is a list of its contents:

ARTICLES

Sean A. Adams, Treatise Order in the Greek Codices of Philo of Alexandria: Lists, Pinakes, and Manuscripts 1-31

Justin M. Rogers, Atheism in Philo of Alexandria 33-54

Giulia Guidara, Philon comme témoignage des présocratiques:
Mentions, citations et interprétations dans le Corpus Philonicum 55-92

Colten Cheuk-Yin Yam, Philo’s Knowledge of Physicians and Medicine in His Later Roman Writings 93-112

Markéta Dudziková, Seeing and Not Seeing in the Darkness: Philo of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa’s Exegeses of Exod 20:21 113-139

Jeffrey M. Hubbard, Philo’s Proselytes and “Paul within Judaism” 141-161

Per Jarle Bekken, The Jewish Debate on Gen 15:6 and Abraham’s Adequate Reward: Fresh Light on Romans 4:2–5 in the Jewish Context 163-188.

The follows a BIBLIOGRAPHY SECTION, containing an annotated bibliography of the works on Philo published in 2019, and then: a BOOK REVIEW SECTION dealing with:

Benjamin Schliesser, Jan Rüggemeier, Thomas J. Kraus, and
Jörg Frey, eds., Alexandria: Hub of the Hellenistic World
Reviewed by David T. Runia 263-66.

Bengt Alexanderson, Philon d’Alexandrie: Critique de texte et
interprétation. Reviewed by James R. Royse 266-69.

Ellen Birnbaum and John Dillon, Philo: On the Life of Abraham
Reviewed by Martina Böhm 269-73.

Joan E. Taylor and David M. Hay, Philo of Alexandria On the Contem-
plative Life: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Reviewed by Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer 273-75.

Ludovica De Luca, Il Dio architetto di Filone di Alessandria (De opificio mundi 17–20) Reviewed by Heleen Keizer 276-78

Philo van Alexandrië, De schepping van de wereld. Ingeleid, vertaald en toegelicht door Albert-Kees Geljon
Reviewed by Riemer Roukema 278-80.

John-Paul Harper, Paul and Philo on the Politics of the Land, Jerusalem,
and Temple. Reviewed by Gregory E. Sterling 280-83.

Sébastien Morlet and Olivier Munnich, eds., Les études philoniennes: Regards sur cinquante ans de recherche. Reviewed by Justin M. Rogers 283-89.

Carl R. Holladay, Hellenistic Jewish Literature and the New Testament: Collected Essays. Reviewed by Justin M. Rogers 289-93.

Peder Borgen, Illuminations by Philo of Alexandria: Selected Studies on Interpretation in Philo, Paul and the Revelation of John.
Reviewed by Gregory E. Sterling 293-98.

Alan Taylor Farnes, Scott D. Mackie and David T. Runia, eds.,
Ancient Texts, Papyri, and Manuscripts: Studies in Honor of James R. Royse
Reviewed by Brent Nongbri 298-301.

Ze’ev Strauss, Aufhellung des Judentums im Platonismus: Zu den jüdisch-platonischen Quellen des deutschen Idealismus, dargestellt anhand von Hegels Auseinandersetzung mit Philon von Alexandria. Reviewed by Benjamin Pollock 301-305

The volume ends with some News and Notes, including words of memorial of 5 Philo scholars.

David Winston 1927 – 2022.

Via David Runia, I have been informed that David Winston passed away on December 13., at the age of 95. The funeral will take place on Monday, December 19, at 1:15pm at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. There will be a zoom broadcast for those unable to attend in person.

David Winston was one of those very learned Jewish scholars who not only knew and loved his Judaism as he was an author, a rabbi, a professor, and a former director of the Center for Jewish studies at the Graduate Theological Union, buthe was also very well-versed in the ancient works of Philo of Alexandria.

In 2001 a volume was published on The Ancestral Philosophy. Hellenistic Philosophy in Second Temple Judaism. Essays of David Winston (edited by Greg Sterling). Brown Judaic Studies 331, 2001, published in his honor.

New Book of mine: Crossing Borders

The English version of my Norwegian biography of prof. Peder Borgen has just recently been published by Wipf & Stock. It is a somewhat revised version of the Norwegian edition, somewhat more aimed at an international reader:

Torrey Seland, Crossing Borders. The Life and Work of Peder Borgen in Context. Foreword by Paul Anderson. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, Sept 2022. $42 paperback; $62 hardback. 330 pages.

The volume is now also available at Amazon.com and other Amazon sites.

Abstract (as written on the back leaf): “The intention of this biography is–on the one hand–to describe what happened as Peder Borgen (b. 1928) grew up and tried to establish himself as a theologian and a New Testament scholar in his Norwegian and Lutheran state-church context. On the other hand, it also describes how his development and life as a student of the New Testament and Philo of Alexandria were influenced by his minority background and the borders he had to cross to achieve his goals. Crossing Borders is thus a description of the life and work of a Norwegian Methodist, scholar, church politician, ecumenist, and an internationally acclaimed writer on the Gospel of John and Philo of Alexandria. Students of both the New Testament and Philo of Alexandria should feel enlightened by this volume of how context may influence both a person and his scholarly achievements.”

Philo on divine forgiveness

Timmers, F. J. (2022). Philo of Alexandria on divine forgiveness (Doctoral dissertation). Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University.

Abstract: “This study investigates the meaning of divine forgiveness in the thought of Philo of Alexandria. Did Philo share in the common philosophical disregard for seeking divine pardon? Could he still encourage his readers to seek God’s pardon when they have done evil, while he at the same time explained to them that God cannot be hurt nor angered by human evil or made to change his mind? Can divine pardon have a meaningful place within the well-considered thought of a Hellenistic intellectual at all? This study shows that in the case of Philo of Alexandria the answer to this question is affirmative. Yes, divine amnesty has a meaningful place within Philo’s thought, while he managed to avoid implications he and other contemporary intellectuals considered inappropriate. He saw divine pardon as a vital manifestation of God’s goodness, allowing humans to purge their minds from the evil thoughts that have overwhelmed them and caused them to commit evil, to re-establish the control of good reason and welcome God’s wisdom to form their thoughts, words and acts, so that they think, speak and act rationally, as their Creator intended them when he created humans in his own image.”

Open Access is available here: https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/3308364

Karl-Gustav Sandelin 1940-2022

A couple of days ago I was informed of the sad news that the Finnish Prof.em. Karl-Gustav Sandelin died on July 18. There will be a funeral on August 13.

Karl-Gustav Sandelin was born on April 1, 1940, and studied at the University of Helsinki from 1959-62. He then moved to Åbo Akademi University and received his Master of Theology there in 1964. He was an ASLA-Fulbright student at Harvard University in 1967-68, then worked as a Pastor for a few years before returning to Åbo as a teacher of Greek and New Testament exegesis. He gained a licentiate degree in theology there in 1973, and his doctoral degree in 1977. In 1981 he became a lecturer in biblical languages and exegesis, and in 1995 he was appointed professor of New Testament Exegesis, still at Åbo. His doctoral dissertation dealt with a topic from 1 Corinthians, later he also published on Philo of Alexandria, and he will thus be well-known to Philo scholars. Karl-Gustav was a mild and friendly person; pleasant to work with and cooperative. He retired in 2006.

In 2000, he was given a Festschrift at his 60th Birthday, containing 10 articles, written by internationally renown scholars: A Bouquet of Wisdom. Essays in Honour of Karl-Gustav Sandelin, edited by Karl-Johan Illman, Tore Ahlbäck, Sven-Olav Back, and Risto Nurmela. Åbo: Åbo Akademi, 2000.

He had a personal webpage set up in 2018, which contains a lot of info about his life and work, including some article-length essays: https://karl-gustavsandeli.wixsite.com/minsida

I had the pleasure of working with him when I edited Reading Philo. A Handbook to Philo of Alexandria (published 2014), a project that, in fact, was initiated by him in a somewhat larger scale, but when that turned out not to be realizable, he -as he had by then retired – accepted that I proceeded on his idea and he even participated with a very interesting piece on ‘Philo as a Jew.’ I believe that this was one of his last scholarly articles published internationally.

As for his major publications (books), see the following works:

Die Auseinandersetzung mit der Weisheit in 1 Korinther 15. Åbo: Åbo Academi (Meddelanden från Stiftelsens før Åbo Akademi forskningsinstitut, 12 (Diss.).

Wisdom as Nourisher: A Study of an Old Testament Theme, Its Development Within Early Judaism and Its Impact on Early Christianity. Acta Academiae Aboensis Ser A. Humaniora, vol. 64. Åbo Akademi, 1986. UBT.

Sophia och hennes värld. Exegetiska uppsatser från fyra årtionden. Studier i exegetik och judaistik utgivna av Teologiska fakulteten vid Åbo Akademi Nr. 6. Åbo: Teologiska Fakulteten, Åbo Akademi, 2008. (Collection of articles)

Attraction and Danger of Alien Religion. Studies in Early Judaism and Christianity. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 290. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012. (A collection of articles).

Enduring Divine Discipline

Scot D. Mackie, “Enduring Divine Discipline in Philo, De congressu 157–180 and the Epistle to the Hebrews 12:5–17,” in Ancient Texts, Papyri, and Manuscripts: Studies in Honor of James R. Royse (ed. D.T. Runia, A.T. Farnes, and S.D. Mackie; NTTSD 64; Leiden: Brill, 2022), 269–301

Abstract: “The relationship of the Epistle to the Hebrews to Philo of Alexandria has been long debated. Though most scholars are pessimistic about the possibility of establishing any substantive connection between the two authors, there is widespread admission that they stand in proximate streams of Alexandrian Judaism and share somewhat similar cosmologies and metaphysics. This essay seeks to expand the potential range of their affinities by examining the remarkably similar theodicies offered in Philo’s De congressu 157–180 and Hebrews 12:5–17. Both texts pursue the same rhetorical goal (to defend the necessity of trials and tests, and the benefits of enduring adversities), quote Prov 3:11–12, and contain an extraordinary cluster of themes, including the contrast between appearance and reality, the need to correctly interpret adverse circumstances, the nature and role of παιδεία, confessing “kinship” with God, “looking ahead” to a reward, and the life of faith as an agonistic/athletic contest. “

Plutarch, Philo and the New Testament

Hirsch-Luipold, Rainer (ed.), “Part 2. Plutarch, Philo and the New Testament”. In: Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts. Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire. Series Brill’s Plutarch Studies, Volume 9, Leiden, Brill

Pleše, Zlatko (2022). ““God Is the Measure of All Things”: Plutarch and Philo on the Benefits of Religious Worship”. In: Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (ed.), Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts. Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire. Series Brill’s Plutarch Studies, Volume 9. Leiden: Brill, 87–108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505070_006

Sterling, Gregory E. (2022). “When East and West Meet: Eastern Religions and Western Philosophy in Philo of Alexandria and Plutarch of Chaeronea”. In: Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (ed.), Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts. Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire. Series Brill’s Plutarch Studies, Volume 9. Leiden: Brill, 109–124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505070_007

Reydams-Schils, Gretchen (2022). “Philautia, Self-Knowledge, and Oikeiôsis in Philo of Alexandria and Plutarch”. In: Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (ed.), Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts. Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire. Series Brill’s Plutarch Studies, Volume 9. Leiden: Brill, 125–140. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505070_008

Despotis, Athanasios (2022). “The Relation between Anthropology and Love Ethics in John against the Backdrop of Plutarchan and Philonic Ideas”. In: Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (ed.), Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts. Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire. Series Brill’s Plutarch Studies, Volume 9. Leiden: Brill, 141–161. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505070_009

Elschenbroich, Julian (2022). “The Mechanics of Death: Philo’s and Plutarch’s Views on Human Death as a Backdrop for Paul’s Eschatology”. In: Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (ed.), Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts. Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire. Series Brill’s Plutarch Studies, Volume 9. Leiden: Brill, 162–174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004505070_010

The Studia Philonica Annual 2021

The Studia Philonica Annual 2021 / Studies in Hellenistic Judaism Volume XXXIII is now available. Editors this year too are David T. Runia and Gregory E. Sterling. Publisher: SBL Press, Atlanta.

A lot of interesting articles (as usual), a large Bibliography section dealing with Philo-related works for the year 2018, with a Supplement: A Provisional Bibliography 2019–2021, presented some of the works to be presented in the coming years. In addition, there is also a Review section, presenting 13 in-depth reviews.

The articles contained in this volume can be listed thus:

ARTICLES
Carlos Lévy, La notion de progressant chez Philon et Sénèque: Des différences essentielles …………………………………………………………………….. 1
Carson Bay, Philo, the Gospel of John, and Two Moses Traditions: Traditionary Competition over a Cultural Icon ……………………………….. 35
Christopher S. Atkins, Human Body, Divine Image, and the Ascent of the Mind in Philo’s De plantatione………………………………………………… 73
Athanasios Despotis, Aspects of Cultural Hybridity in Philo’s Apophatic Anthropology ………………………………………………………………………………….. 91
David Satran, Repetition and Intention: Grammar and Philosophy in the Exegesis of Philo of Alexandria………………………………………………….. 109

SPECIAL SECTION: FROM EDITIO PRINCEPS TO EDITIO MAIOR: THE HISTORY OF EDITIONS OF PHILO
Gregory E. Sterling, Introduction……………………………………………………….. 125
Gregory E. Sterling, The First Critical Edition of Philo: Thomas Mangey and the 1742 Edition.………………………………………………………….. 133
Abraham Terian, Aucher’s 1822 and 1826 Editions of Philonis Judaei Opera in Armenia Conservata: A History……………………………………………. 161
Michael B. Cover, Karl Ernst Richter’s Schwickert Edition: An Opera Omnia for Its Season ………………………………………………………………………… 175
James R. Royse, The Cohn-Wendland Critical Edition of Philo of Alexandria.………………………………………………………………………………………. 197