PHILO-JUDÆUS
BY
NORMAN BENTWICH
Sometime Scholar of Trinity College,
Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA
PHILO-JUDÆUS
OF ALEXANDRIA,
TO MY MOTHER
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | page | ||
| PREFACE | 7 | ||
| I. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AT ALEXANDRIA | 13 | ||
| II. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PHILO | 44 | ||
| III. PHILO'S WORKS AND METHOD | 74 | ||
| IV. PHILO AND THE TORAH | 104 | ||
| V. PHILO'S THEOLOGY | 132 | ||
| VI. PHILO AS A PHILOSOPHER | 167 | ||
| VII. PHILO AND JEWISH TRADITION | 199 | ||
| VIII. THE INFLUENCE OF PHILO | 242 | ||
| BIBLIOGRAPHY | 263 | ||
| ABBREVIATIONS USED FOR THE REFERENCES | 266 | ||
| INDEX | 269 |
PREFACE
It is a melancholy reflection upon the history of the Jews thatthey have failed to pay due honor to their two greatestphilosophers. Spinoza was rejected by his contemporaries from thecongregation of Israel; Philo-Judæus was neglected by thegenerations that followed him. Maimonides, our third philosopher,was in danger of meeting the same fate, and his philosophical workwas for long viewed with suspicion by a large part of thecommunity. Philosophers, by the very excellence of their thought,have in all races towered above the comprehension of the people,and aroused the suspicion of the religious teachers. Elsewhere,however, though rejected by the Church, they have left theirinfluence upon the nation, and taken a commanding place in itshist