Jewish Worship in Philo of Alexandria

Jewish Worship in Philo of Alexandria PDF Author: Jutta Leonhardt
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161475979
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
As a knowledgeable contemporary of the later Second Temple, Philo of Alexandria's approach to worship and his view of the essence of Jewish worship are of particular interest to the study of that period. Jutta Leonhardt discusses his views on the Jewish festivals, especially the Sabbath, on prayer, psalms, hymns, praise and thanksgiving, and on Temple offerings, sacrifices and purification rites. These aspects are presented with their parallels in Jewish and pagan traditions and in Greek and Hellenistic philosophy. Jewish worship in Philo has never been studied as a coherent whole before. Only individual aspects of worship, such as prayer of petition, or thanksgiving, or Philo has been used in studies on Second Temple Judaism as a quarry for general examples of acts of worship.Philo accepted and participated in Jewish worship, and even knew about details of various Jewish traditions of his time. His writings, however, do not refer to them directly and cannot easily be used to reconstruct Jewish rituals of his time. His main aim is to discuss the rites as collected in the Mosaic Torah, since these are binding for all Jews. These laws are frequently presented using the terminology of pagan cults and interpreted with recourse to Greek philosophy. In this philosophical description of actual rites there are parallels to Plato's references to religion in the ideal state in the Nomoi. Philo presents Judaism as the ultimate Hellenistic cult, which combines the various aspects of the different pagan cults in a sublime and perfect form to represent mankind and the universe in the worship of the one God who created the world.

Jewish Worship in Philo of Alexandria

Jewish Worship in Philo of Alexandria PDF Author: Jutta Leonhardt
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161475979
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book Here

Book Description
As a knowledgeable contemporary of the later Second Temple, Philo of Alexandria's approach to worship and his view of the essence of Jewish worship are of particular interest to the study of that period. Jutta Leonhardt discusses his views on the Jewish festivals, especially the Sabbath, on prayer, psalms, hymns, praise and thanksgiving, and on Temple offerings, sacrifices and purification rites. These aspects are presented with their parallels in Jewish and pagan traditions and in Greek and Hellenistic philosophy. Jewish worship in Philo has never been studied as a coherent whole before. Only individual aspects of worship, such as prayer of petition, or thanksgiving, or Philo has been used in studies on Second Temple Judaism as a quarry for general examples of acts of worship.Philo accepted and participated in Jewish worship, and even knew about details of various Jewish traditions of his time. His writings, however, do not refer to them directly and cannot easily be used to reconstruct Jewish rituals of his time. His main aim is to discuss the rites as collected in the Mosaic Torah, since these are binding for all Jews. These laws are frequently presented using the terminology of pagan cults and interpreted with recourse to Greek philosophy. In this philosophical description of actual rites there are parallels to Plato's references to religion in the ideal state in the Nomoi. Philo presents Judaism as the ultimate Hellenistic cult, which combines the various aspects of the different pagan cults in a sublime and perfect form to represent mankind and the universe in the worship of the one God who created the world.

Jewish Worship in Philo Von Alexandria

Jewish Worship in Philo Von Alexandria PDF Author: Jutta Leonhardt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783161587085
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
As a knowledgeable contemporary of the later Second Temple, Philo of Alexandria's approach to worship and his view of the essence of Jewish worship are of particular interest to the study of that period. Jutta Leonhardt discusses his views on the Jewish festivals, especially the Sabbath, on prayer, psalms, hymns, praise and thanksgiving, and on Temple offerings, sacrifices and purification rites. These aspects are presented with their parallels in Jewish and pagan traditions and in Greek and Hellenistic philosophy. Jewish worship in Philo has never been studied as a coherent whole before. Only individual aspects of worship, such as prayer of petition, or thanksgiving, or Philo has been used in studies on Second Temple Judaism as a quarry for general examples of acts of worship.Philo accepted and participated in Jewish worship, and even knew about details of various Jewish traditions of his time. His writings, however, do not refer to them directly and cannot easily be used to reconstruct Jewish rituals of his time. His main aim is to discuss the rites as collected in the Mosaic Torah, since these are binding for all Jews. These laws are frequently presented using the terminology of pagan cults and interpreted with recourse to Greek philosophy. In this philosophical description of actual rites there are parallels to Plato's references to religion in the ideal state in the Nomoi. Philo presents Judaism as the ultimate Hellenistic cult, which combines the various aspects of the different pagan cults in a sublime and perfect form to represent mankind and the universe in the worship of the one God who created the world.

Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria

Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria PDF Author: Maren R. Niehoff
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139501011
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Systematically reading Jewish exegesis in light of Homeric scholarship, this book argues that more than 2000 years ago Alexandrian Jews developed critical and literary methods of Bible interpretation which are still extremely relevant today. Maren R. Niehoff provides a detailed analysis of Alexandrian Bible interpretation, from the second century BCE through newly discovered fragments to the exegetical work done by Philo. Niehoff shows that Alexandrian Jews responded in a great variety of ways to the Homeric scholarship developed at the Museum. Some Jewish scholars used the methods of their Greek colleagues to investigate whether their Scripture contained myths shared by other nations, while others insisted that significant differences existed between Judaism and other cultures. This book is vital for any student of ancient Judaism, early Christianity and Hellenistic culture.

Philo of Alexandria

Philo of Alexandria PDF Author: Mireille Hadas-Lebel
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004232370
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Philo (20BCE?-45CE?) is the most illustrious son of Alexandrian Jewry and the first major scholar to combine a deep Jewish learning with Greek philosophy. His unique allegorical exegesis of the Greek Bible was to have a profound influence on the early fathers of the Church. Philo was, above all, a philosopher, but he was also intensely practical in his defence of the Jewish faith and law in general, and that of Alexandria’s embattled Jewish community in particular. A famous example was his leadership of a perilous mission to plead the community’s cause to Emperor Caligula. This monograph provides a guide to Philo's life, his thought and his action, as well as his continuing influence on theological and philosophical thought.

The Works of Philo

The Works of Philo PDF Author: Charles Duke Philo
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 1619701162
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1920

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Book Description
An affordable edition of Philo! A contemporary of Jesus and Paul, Philo wrote extensively on the Hebrew Scriptures and other Jewish topics, but few have read his work because all available sets were pricey. This edition features modern type, passages keyed to the Loeb referencing system, and several newly translated sections not found in other editions.

Various Aspects of Worship in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature

Various Aspects of Worship in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature PDF Author: Géza G. Xeravits
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110467402
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
The volume contains papers read at the International Conference of the ISDCL, held in Budapest in 2015. The contributors explore various aspects of worship as reflected in the literature of Judaism from the Second Temple period to Late Antiquity. The volume provides a fresh reading of various crucial issues especially within Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Rabbinic literature, Gnostic traditions, and the emerging synagogue. The papers analyse texts and artefacts that reveal how various groups of Judaism understood the concept of worship—a pre-eminent form of expressing religious identity and interpreting fundamental traditions.

Jewish Identity in the Greco-Roman World

Jewish Identity in the Greco-Roman World PDF Author: Jörg Frey
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047421558
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 443

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Book Description
The articles discuss various aspects of Jewish identity in the Greco-Roman period. Was there a common ‘Jewish’ identity, and how could it be defined? How could different groups develop and maintain their identity within the challenge of Hellenistic and early Roman culture? What about the images of ‘others’? How could some of those ‘others’ adopt a Jewish lifestyle or identity, whereas others, abandoned their inherited identity? Among the questions discussed are the translation of Ioudaios, Jewish and universal identity in Philo, the status of women and their conversion to Judaism, the participation of non-Jews in the temple cult, the practice of Emperor worship in Judaea, and the image of Egypt and the Nile as ‘others’ in Philo. Two articles enter the debate whether Jewish identity had an ongoing influence within early Christianity, in Paul and in the rules known as the Apostolic Decree.

The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora: Jewish Practice and Thought during the Second Temple Period

The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora: Jewish Practice and Thought during the Second Temple Period PDF Author: Jonathan Trotter
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004409858
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
In The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora, Jonathan Trotter shows how different diaspora Jews’ perspectives on the distant city of Jerusalem and the temple took shape while living in the diaspora, an experience which often is characterized by complicated senses of alienation from and belonging to an ancestral homeland and one’s current home. This book investigates not only the perspectives of the individual diaspora Jews whose writings mention the Jerusalem temple (Letter of Aristeas, Philo of Alexandria, 2 Maccabees, and 3 Maccabees) but also the customs of diaspora Jewish communities linking them to the temple, such as their financial contributions and pilgrimages there.

Philo's Scriptures: Citations from the Prophets and Writings

Philo's Scriptures: Citations from the Prophets and Writings PDF Author: Naomi Cohen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047422899
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
It is indeed remarkable that although Philo has quoted extensively from the Pentateuch, his works contain no more than forty-six references to the Prophets and Writings. The author provides a convincing explanation for every one of these citations. It corroborates the thesis that Philo availed himself of lexicographic aids and midrashic material, and further, that even when the language of their composition was Hebrew/Aramaic, that he used them in Greek translation. It identifies a circle engaged in esoteric philosophic allegorization of Scriptures, with which Philo associated, and it finds that the specific quotations from the Prophets point to the existence, already in the 1st century CE, of a traditional Haftarah Cycle. The book fills a long felt lacuna.

Philo of Alexandria and Greek Myth

Philo of Alexandria and Greek Myth PDF Author: Francesca Alesse
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789004411609
Category : Mythology, Greek
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In Philo of Alexandria and Greek Myth: Narratives, Allegories, and Arguments, a fresh and more complete image of Philo of Alexandria as a careful reader, interpreter, and critic of Greek literature is offered. Greek mythology plays a significant role in Philo of Alexandria's exegetical oeuvre. Philo explicitly adopts or subtly evokes narratives, episodes and figures from Greek mythology as symbols whose didactic function we need to unravel, exactly as the hidden teaching of Moses' narration has to be revealed by interpreters of Bible. By analyzing specific mythologems and narrative cycles, the contributions to this volume pave the way to a better understanding of Philo's different attitudes towards literary and philosophical mythology.