Ebook: Philo of Alexandria the contemplative life, the giants, and selections
Author: Alexandrinus Philo, Winston David
- Series: The classics of western spirituality
- Year: 1981
- Publisher: Paulist Press
- City: Mahwah, NJ
- Language: English
- pdf
The volume is edited by David Winston, Professor of Hellenistic and Judaic Studies and Director of the center for Judaic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. In his Introduction he summarizes the latest findings of Philonic scholarship and offers a new and more balanced appreciation of Philo's thought than was available before, based on a new full-scale study of Philo's religious philosophy which he is now in the process of preparing. In this volume Philo's The Contemplative Life and The Giants are translated in full. Selections from the other treatises are presented under the following themes: Allegorical Method; Creation, Time and Eternity; Divine Transcendence; The Mystic's Way to God; The Intermediary World; Logos, Ideas, Powers, and Daemons; The Soul; Preexistence and Immortality; Theory of Knowledge; Reason and Faith; Prophetic Revelation; and others. Professor Winston says, "Philo of Alexandria stands at the apex of the cultural activity of the Jewish-Alexandrian community, his literary work climaxing a long chain of Jewish-Hellenistic writings whose aim was to establish the validity and integrity of Jewish religious thought in the face of counter claims of the intellectually powerful Greek tradition."
John Dillon in his Preface to the book says, " This excellent selection of his works will give the reader a vivid picture of the essential Philo in all his aspects."