Podcast episode

March 22, 2019

Episode 57: The Esoteric Philo

Jacob's Ladder by Wenceslas Hollar

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In this episode we return to the thought of the great Philo of Alexandria, concentrating specifically on the contours of esotericism in his work. We look at three main topics:

  1.  Philo’s construction of a perennial, esoteric tradition, a conception which brings Jewish and Hellenic ideas into a fascinating synthesis which sets the stage for many later developments of perennialism in western esotericism,
  2. Philo’s esoteric hermeneutics, and
  3. The question of a doctrine of reincarnation in Philo, and the possible bearing this has on the question of whether we ought to read Philo as not only an exegete of a tradition which he believes to be esoteric, but also as an esoteric writer himself.

 Works Discussed in this Episode:

  • Eco, U., 1995. The Search for the Perfect Language. Blackwell, Oxford. For pansemioticism, see p. 25 et passim.
  • Philo (for the title-abbreviations used, see the handy table appended to episode 56): Moses a theologos: Mos ii. 115. Barbarian sages: Prob. 73-74. Hellenic philosophers including Pythagoras, Parmenides, Empedocles, Zeno, Cleanthes, Heraclitus, and Plato divinely-inspired initiates: e.g. Prob. i, ii; Her. 43; etc. Philo uses the double-human myth from Plato’s Symposium for scriptural exegesis: Op. 24; L.A. ii. 24. Vulgar myths fictions, scriptures bearers of truth: Det. 125; Op. 1, 157. The Hellenic mysteries false and rejected by Moses: Spec. 319-323. Philosophic silence and privileging of philosophic mysteries: Q.E. 1. On the privileging of sacred knowledge which ought to be practiced by the scriptural exegete, and the select kinds of people eligible for initiation into the mysteries of scripture: L.A. 57; Spec. ii 50; Fug. 81; Cher. 42; 48; Deus 61; 63-9; Somn. I 82; Cher. 48 ff. Prohibition on speaking the holy Name outside of initiated circles: Mos. Ii 114; cf. mystic terminology of silence at L.A. iii 219. God ineffable (ἄρρητον): Mut. 14; 15; Her. 170. The ‘spoken’ (ῥητή) and ‘subtextual’ (δι’ ὑπονοιῶν) levels of scripture, and ‘symbolic’ method: Abr. 88 et sæp; cf. 147; cf. Spec. i 200; L.A. I 1; Mos. I 23. God’s judgement of humans during their lifetimes: Plant. 108; Her. 271-4; Mos. Ii 217-18; Spec. iii 52, iv 171-2. Cosmic afterlife: Conf. 78; cf. Her. 283, 280, Q.E. ii 114.
  • Platonist philosophic silence: see Banner, N., 2018. Philosophic Silence and the ‘One’ in Plotinus. The University Press, Cambridge.
  • Raphael, P. S., 2009. Jewish Views of the Afterlife. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD., citing page 314.
  • Strauss, L., 1988. Persecution and the Art of Writing. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
  • Yli-Karjanmaa, S., 2015. Reincarnation in Philo of Alexandria. Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, GA.

Recommended Reading:

  • Borgen, P., 1997. Philo of Alexandria: An Exegete for His Time. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands.
  • Borgen, P.; Fuglseth, K. and Skarsten, R., 2000. The Philo Index: A Complete Greek Word Index to the Writings of Philo of Alexandria. Brill, Leiden.
  • Cohn, L.; Wendland, P. & Reiter, S. (Ed.), 1896-1930. Philonis Alexandrini opera quæ supersunt. Georg Reimer, Berlin.
  • Fischel, H., 1973. Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy: A Study of Epicurea and Rhetorica in Early Midrashic Writings. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands.
  • Grabbe, L. L., 1988. Etymology in Early Jewish Interpretation: The Hebrew Names in Philo. Scholars Press, Atlanta.
  • Kamesar, A. (2009). ‘Biblical Interpretation in Philo’. In: Kamesar, A. (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Philo, Cambridge University Press.
  • Litwa, M. D. (2014). ‘The Deification of Moses in Philo of Alexandria’, The Studia Philonica Annual 26 : 1-27.
  • Mayer, G., 1974. Index Philonicus. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York, NY.
  • Orlinsky, H. M. (1975). ‘The Septuagint as Holy Writ and the Philosophy of the Translators’, Hebrew Union College Annual 46 : 89-114.
  • Pépin, J., 1987. La tradition de l’allégorie de Philon d’Alexandrie à Dante, Paris.

On the Philonic reincarnation debate, see:

  • Goodenough, E. R. (1946). ‘Philo on Immortality’, Harvard Theological Review 39 : 85-108.
  • Burnett, F. (1984). ‘Philo on Immortality: A Thematic Study of Philo’s Concept of Palingenesia‘, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 46 : 459-62.
  • Termini, C. (2009). ‘Philo’s Thought within the Context of Middle Judaism’. In: Kamesar, A. (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Philo, Cambridge University Press.
  • Yli-Karjanmaa, S., 2015. Reincarnation in Philo of Alexandria. Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, GA.

Themes

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