The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition

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.

I have used it for reference. Print is a good size.

if anyone is interested in the study of early christianity then this book should not be neglected.if anyone wishes to compare the writings of paul/saul with philo, and has not thus far done so, then this is a book well worth reading.there is one software program on the market that i know of that will offer a greek and interlinear text, so this book is somewhat behind the curve in that regard. however, for the sake of the leisure of reading and not crunching, this is the book that will at the least provide the trail for further study.to the best of my knowledge this is the only other text besides the new testament that mentions the Paraclete in theological similarity to the notion put forward in the canonical new testament. i will leave it to other scholars to hand down the final verdict on this set of ancient writings.

I just received this excellent volume, and I'm already devoting way too much time to reading the text, reading more on line about Philo, and sending emails to others about this particular translation.My parish priest is currently focusing on some of the Wisdom literature in the Old Testament, and as an adjunct to these lessons, I decided to give Philo a try. Indeed, Philo is keenly interested in Wisdom. He describes the Tabernacle as an image of Wisdom. What is also of interest to me is Philo's adoption of a dualist view of the world. The body is evil to him. One can easily infer that Mani and the successor schools of Christian dualism were clearly sewing on fertile ground in the subsequent centuries.Philo writes as if he were speaking to a student, and this is only right as he would indeed have been imparting a great body of knowledge, as a true generalist, to students who have attached themselves to this man of learning who is the teacher of his school of philosophy. The reader too now gets to walk with this teacher.It is no wonder that Patristic writers would find much of Philo to be a great value, and much of what he concludes to be rejected too -- the dualistic view of man and creation being a prime example. Still, to see the imagery and language of the Hellenistic world in Philo's writing gives one insight into the thoughts, the idioms, the common language of the thinkers of the Grecco-Roman world. His use of the Hellenistic imagery, vocabulary, and methods of reasoning will be seen again, and taken to new (transformed)levels by the Church Fathers of Christendom over the next several hundred years. For Patristic scholars, Philo seems like something of a prototype.Philo speaks the language of Plato, Cicero, Seneca, and Aristotle. His religion is certainly different, but the world in which he lives is the same world, and he interprets, and divines the meanings of his Sacred Texts in the context of this world.While some translations of philosophical and theological works, especially from antiquity, are so wooden and stilted as to make the text too formidable for non-academicians, not so this translation. Philo is made approachable to this reader in large part due to the translation. Despite the amount of reading, the translation assures that the text is never off-putting. Would that all translations could be this readable.

Must have for ecclesiastical studies!

Wife was not happy with this book, purchased for her.She read this work sometime in the past and insist this is not the same book.Book interpretations can change and do, so am hesitant to comment uponthis version of the book. I spent a bit of time reviewing the book, written well, and seemsto me a good compilation of a Plato's worksPhilo was a very interesting individual and a contemporary of so many of thepeople who were acquainted with Jesus who became the Christ.

A first-rate reference. I was mainly interested in researching the Essenes. The book has a few maps, an excellent subject index and a scripture index which ties Biblical verses to the pages where they are footnoted in the text (extremely useful). The book has over 900 pages and would be difficult reading, except the font size and type make it quite legible and easy to skim. It is a sturdy hardback. I recommend this one.

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

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。

The most significant part of the title of this book is the second part: "Complete and Unabridged". There are very few complete works of Philo and none at this inexpensive price. There is a very cheap  Kindle edition , although it is not the complete works. There is also the  Loeb editions  in 10 volumes with English and Greek parallel texts.Considering that this is the complete works, this book is physically very manageable and the fount is easy to read and not too small. It has 897 pages of text plus a Subject Index, scripture Index and a section of maps.Philo of Alexandria lived from about 20 BCE to 50 CE and was an important Jewish writer, but he is not as well known as his younger contemporary  Josephus . Philo was a devout Jew who was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, notably Platonism. Many of his writings are biblical paraphrases, such as "On Abraham" and "On the Life of Moses". There are more philosophical works such as "On the Eternity of the World" and "On Virtues" but there are also more varied writings, for example "On Drunkenness", "On Sobriety", "On Dreams" and "On the Embassy to Gaius", where Gaius is beater known to us as  Caligula .He is often read as part of New Testament studies as he offers an independent view of Judaism in the Greek world at a time when the New Testament documents were being written by Jews in Greek in the same Hellenistic world of the eastern Mediterranean. Kindle editionLoeb editionsJosephusCaligula

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.

I choose this rate because it is my first book about the bible explained from someone who was actually there. I haven't finished reading it yet so I can't tell you that much yet.