Philo and the Church Fathers: A Collection of Papers

288 Pages·1997·18.841 MB·English

by  Douwe (David) Runia

PHILO AND THE CHURCH FATHERS
SUPPLEMENTS TO
VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE
Fomzerly Philosophia Patrum
TEXTS AND STUDIES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE
AND LANGUAGE
EDITORS
J. DEN BOEFT - R. VAN DEN BROEK - A.F.J. KLijN
G. QUISPEL -j.C.M. VAN WINDEN
VOLUME XXXII
PHILO AND THE CHURCH FATHERS
A COLLECTION OF PAPERS
BY
DAVID T. RUNIA
E.J. BRILL
LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KOLN
1995
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Runia, David T.
Philo and the church fathers : a collection of papers I by David
T. Runia
p. em. - (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, ISSN
0920-623X ; v. 32)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 9004103554 (cloth : alk. paper)
I. Philo, of Alexandria. 2. Philo, of Alexandria-Influence.
3. Christian literature, Early. 4. Theology-History-Early church,
ca. 30-600. 5. Theology-History-Middle ages, 600-1500.
I. Title. II. Series.
B689Z7R8645 1995
181'.06-dc20 95-15212
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
[Vigiliae Christianae I Supplements]
Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae : formerly Philosophia
Patrum ; texts and studies of early Christian life and language.
- Leiden ; New York ; Koln : Brill.
Friiher Schriftenreihe
ISSN 0920-623X
NE: HST
Vol. 32. Runia, David T.: Philo and the church fathers.- 1995
Runia, David T.:
Philo and the church fathers : a collection of papers I by David
T. Runia.- Leiden; New York; Koln: Brill, 1995
(Vigiliae Christianae : Supplements ; Vol. 32)
ISBN 90-04-l 0355-4
ISSN 0920-623X
ISBN 90 04 I 0355 4
© Copyright 1995 by E.]. Brill, Leiden, 7he Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part qf this publication mqy be reproduced, translated, stored in
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
to
Eric and Lorna Osborn

CONTENTS
Preface ................................................................................. 1x
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x1
1. Platonism, Philonism, and the Beginnings of Christian
thought................................................................................. 1
2. Philonic Nomenclature........................................................ 25
3. Why does Clement of Alexandria call Philo 'the Pytha-
gorean'?................................................................................ 54
4. Underneath Cohn and Colson: The Text of Philo's De
Virtutibus............................................................................. 77
5. Verba Philonica, 'Aya.AI-HX'to<popEtV, and the Authenticity of
the De Resurrectione attributed to Athenagoras ... . ... ..... ....... 102
6. Philo and Origen: a Preliminary Survey . ............. .... .... ....... 117
7. 'Where, tell me, is the jew. .. ?': Basil, Philo and Isidore of
Pelusium ............................................................................... 126
8. A Note on Philo and Christian Heresy............................... 144
9. Philo of Alexandria in Five Letters of Isidore of
Pelusium ............................................................................... 155
10. Witness or Participant? Philo and the Neoplatonist
Tradition............................................................................... 182
11. God of the Philosophers, God of the Patriarchs:
Exegetical Backgrounds in Philo of Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 206
12. Confronting the Augean Stables: Royse's Fragmenta Spuria
Philonica .. ... ... ... . .... ....... .. ..... .. ....... ....... ....... .......... ....... ..... ..... 219
13. References to Philo from josephus up to 1000 AD............ 228
14. An Index to Cohn-Wendland's Apparatus Testimoniorum.. 240
Addenda et corrigenda........................................................ 250
Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 262

PREFACE
When scholars in various disciplines belonging to the humanities
make use of the extensive corpus of Philonic writings, they seldom
stop to think about how it came to happen that these precious
documents were preserved for posterity. Philo was an Alexandrian
Jew, but his writings and thought fell out of favour in his own Jewish
tradition. They were preserved through the efforts of early Christ
ians, who decided that these works could assist them in developing
their own distinctive kind of thought. This process of reception and
selective appropriation was the focus of my research in the period
from 1987 to 1993, resulting in the publication of the monograph
Philo in Early Christian Literature: a Survey, published in 1993 by Van
Gorcum (Assen) in their series Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad
Novum Testamentum (III 3) in co~unction with Fortress Press
(Minneapolis).
In this book I attempted to give a fairly comprehensive coverage
for the period up to 400 AD. As was observed in the preface, the
theme was very broad, and hitherto largely unresearched in a
systematic fashion. Many a time I had to resist the temptation to
delve more deeply into particular aspects of my theme. But I did not
always resist. As a result a number of essays were published in jour
nals and other collective works which complement various aspects of
that book. In particular mention should be made of the inaugural
lecture given in Utrecht in 1992, in which I attempted to place the
results of my research in a broader philosophical and theological
perspective. It now appears for the first time in an English trans
lation. In consultation with the editors of this series Professors J. C.
M. van Winden (Leiden) and]. den Boeft (Amsterdam-Utrecht) and
with Drs. H. van der Meij (Brill) it was decided that it would be a
worthwhile idea to collect these scattered essays together and put to
gether a companion volume to the monograph mentioned above.
The papers in this volume have been reset. The original pagi
nation has been inserted in square brackets in the text (except in
the case of the first chapter). The original place of publication and
various comments on the text of the papers are given in a section of
Addenda et corrigenda at the end of the volume (p. 250-261).
PREFACE X
Asterisks in the margin of the text refer to comments in this section.
Before reading each chapter, the reader is advised to consult the
opening remarks in that section, where I say a little more about what
led me to write the paper in the first place.
I would like to thank the following editors and publishers for give
me permission to reprint the papers contained in this book: Prof. S.
Cohen (Brown University) for chapters 2, 8, 9, 12, 14; Dr. E. Lover
ing jr. (Society of Biblical Literature) and Mr. D. Ford, Scholars
Press, Atlanta, for chapter 4; Mr. P. Peeters of Peeters Publishing
House, Leuven, for chapter 6; Dr.]. Dinter, Koln, for chapter 10;
Drs. C.J. Visser ofKok Publishing House, Kampen, for chapter 11.
This volume is dedicated to my mentor and friend, Eric Osborn
(Queens College, Melbourne) and his wife Lorna, in celebration of
more than a quarter of a century of shared interest and collabor
ation in the field of ancient and patristic philosophy.
Leiden, Easter 1995