Who Was Philo Judaeus of Alexandria? Dr. Henry Abramson
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- Опубликовано: 9 окт 2013
- Virtually ignored by Jewish philosophers, Philo of Alexandria represented the high point of synthesis between Greek and Jewish thought in the ancient world, and had a huge influence on early Christian thinkers. A prominent representative of the Egyptian Jewish community to the Roman Emperor, and well-respected in his day by his coreligionists, he nevertheless had little impact on the development of Jewish thought. Why was Philo removed from the currents of the Jewish intellectual tradition, yet so well-regarded in other faiths? This lecture was delivered on Wednesday, October 9 at 8:30 pm at the Young Israel of Bal Harbour.
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A pure delight. He could read the telephone book and fascinate with his frequent humor.
Your lectures are always great. Glad I'm not the only person nerding out on the history of our people.
Thanks for the compliment!
I am not Jewish, but I love your content.
Thanks!
Oops :)
Alexander was the son of Philip II of Macedon and Aristotle was Alexander's teacher for a time.
I love your lectures, Dr. Abramson. I've been binge-watching them all through my winter break.
Funny story: Just now, I sat through the ad at the midway point. It was for the new bacon gouda cheeseburger from Wendy's. I don't know what to think of RUclips's targeted advertising.
That's a Hellenistic ad - makes sense.
Love your lectures. All of them are done very well. Great humor. I am a Christian who has learned I am Jewish on my mother's side via genetic testing, which I was thrilled to learn.
Thank you!
Philo of Alexandria is to Judaism as what St. Thomas Aquinas is to Christianity: applying Greek thought/translation to their respective faiths ( in my opinion). I detected an air of scorn from the audience towards Philo. I find this to be unmerited. Philo's work (again, in my opinion) promoted a greater, world view of Judaism and improved understanding of Jewish culture. I enjoy these lectures. I enjoy viewing various lectures from teachers of different faiths concerning the same subject (e.g. a Christian, Jew, or Muslim lecture on Noah) and noting the cultural perspectives. Good job!
@@HenryAbramsonPhD Thomas Aquinas is a Catholic theologian, not a Christian theologian.
@@somedude5951 I think that Christianity is an umbrella term for all those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Catholics are Christian, but they are not Protestant.
I am really enjoying your lectures. Thank you
That is so great! Thank you for sharing! And thank you for being a public subscriber!
Really just came upon your lectures. Wonderful. I appreciate your reference to other texts. Thank you.
Glad you like them!
Thank you for being a Public Subscriber!
Hello Rabbi. You are correct, the correct pronunciation of Philo is "Pheelon" and not "Faylo" as the English speakers pronounce it. You actually have got a pretty good accent when you pronounce Greek names or Greek words, and this is common with most native Hebrew speakers as Hebrew is pretty similar to Greek with respect to phonetics and pronunciation. As a speaker of both Hebrew and Greek I can appreciate that. Really enjoy your lectures, good job and my respect.
Came to this site as I was looking for anything on Paul. Was fascinated by Dr Abramson's presentation of Saul of Tarsus.
Am in Recovery in a Christian Program.
Have come a long ways with some success.
Dr. Abramson's presentation totally gave me a view which made a powerful case which I understood. It made me nervous because I have never heard it from the Jewish point of view.
My issue now is how do I manage the questions in my mind as a result of this presentation.
On one hand do I continue in my present direction of Recovery which is predicated essentially on a Belief system rooted in what is presented in Paul's letters or do I seek more infomation based on what the presentation directed & possibly weaken my Belief system which is so crucial to my Recovery. In fact , without it there can be no Recovery.
So I am in that place where I could hurt or do worse damage to myself & my Recovery which is so vital to my continuance with success as a human being who is trying to move on with my life when I have been in my "disease" almost my entire life.
I will Pray about it & ask GOD to help me. Can not think what I will do. But I know that HE will help as HE has been doing for me.
But point is I loved Dr. Abramson's presentation very much. Understood it.
I am now a Subscriber. Looking forward to following up with more of his fascinating presentations .
GOD BLESS YOU.
tom o'brien
Mr O’Brien, thank you for the kind words. I obviously cannot say anything authoritative about your recovery, but I urge you to make your health your first priority. Everything else can be worked out later.
Hello Dr. Abramson, really nicely done lectures. I am greatly expanding my knowledge of Jewish history and culture by watching your videos.
Glad you find them useful
and India deserves praise because in at least 2000 years of jewish-indian relations there has been peace and no significant antisemitism. So astonishing, so beautiful and so unique; I think you would be hard pressed to find another example so dramatic.
I agree with your lecture 100%. I have researched Philo for five years and have uncovered massive amounts of historical evidence that his version of the "Logos" and his mythical experience of hearing that God was at the same time, "One, and also three," was taken up by so-called Christian Greek philosophers known as the Apostolic and Ante-Nicene fathers.
I am the author of "Philo's Trinity."
Dr. Abramson, This is my first lecture on Philo in my research on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Your presentation is great and I look forward to listening to you more, thank you very much.
Your readings are GREAT AND so useful for me, a French follower of yours! YOU really help me fill some educational gaps on those topics as well as help me improve and polish up my understanding. I get your accent which does sound pretty clear to a Frenchy. Thanks Rabbi!
Love these lectures. So learned and funny. Also I really like the way the rabbi easily acknowledges he is mistaken about small points while all along his erudition shines. Wonderful.
It is certainly correct that Φίλων is pronounced "Pheelon" in modern Greek. But Philo entered the English lexicon indirectly, through Latin, in which language he is "Philo" (with short -i, pronounced Phĭlo never Phīlo according to Cassel's and Oxford dictionaries). Additionally, contrary to Modern Greek phonology, all evidence points to iota still retaining a distinct close frontal pronunciation in the Hellenistic period (as in the word "limit"). On this point see, for example, Robert Browning, Medieval and Modern Greek, p.25ff. It therefore seems likely that during his own lifetime he would have been "Phĭlon" (rhymes with "Dillon"). So how did people come to say "Phīlo" (rhymes with "Milo") in the first place? Well I'm not sure, but the next time you are accused of being "horribly pedantic," I say respond by disagreeing with all sides of the argument and resorting to the most frustratingly medakdek pronunciation possible.
Thank you, Ari. This may answer the question whether he donned TePhĭlon.
Loved the lecture ... will now look for your others. Such an engaging speaker ... love the humor !! For me it is astounding how Philo pre-dates the Christian Gnostic writings, practically word-for-word ... reading Philo is like reading the Gospel of John. Eusebius actually called Philo a Christian, (which of course he wasn't). Bless you.
Shalom Dr. Abramson. I am a Mdiv student. We are currently studying Medival Thought, and your lecture on Philo was intriguing and eye-opening. Thank You!
I look forward to learning more from your lectures.
I am a Christian (which obviously means I'm perfect... 😉) and I greatly appreciate your scholarship. I came to your channel, trying to learn as much about Philo as I can (I'm currently studying the letter to the Hebrews in the NT). Very helpful! I love your humor and pedantry!
Wait christians arent bad people yes their flawed but that doesn't mean that they are bad
and I'm saying that as a Muslim
Man, this is entertaining stuff! Great job.
It's nice to hear a Jew talking about Philo for once.
I watched two of your videos so far, and enjoyed it very much. Thank you!
Thank you sir!
I love your classes......and your humor.
I love these videos. Pieces of history I never knew before.
I'm so gad that you enjoy the history lectures!
I like your speaches. They are very profountd. Thank you dear Mr. Abramson. Werner form Switzerland.
Glad you found the lecture useful!
Very interesting lecture!:)
I am learning about Jewish history from the 3rd to 13th century at the moment.
Also, I have just discovered the influence of Plutinus and the Neoplatonic School as well as Philo on the early Christian church.
Really interesting stuff.
Will watch more of your lectures - also very entertaining:)
Philo predates the Neoplatonics. Plotinos and Proclos are depending on his ideas!
@chaimyosefmariategui-levi9407 Really neither. Plotinus was really speaking out of the broader Greek philosophical environment of the past multiple centuries, of which Philo was still at best a minor player (at worst an outsider begging to be taken seriously). Plotinus was openly contemptuous of anyone trying to extract truth from scriptures and famously criticized the Gnostics for trying to use Biblical writings to justify their ideas. Philo was struggling to get Judaic culture (scripture and all) to be taken seriously in the Hellenic world, and he would reexplain everything to make it appear more cogent in that context. Christians would later use and abuse him whilst trying to reconcile a bad take on Judaism with a bad take on Hellenic philosophy, and the result of their efforts was a crudely stitched together Frankenstein's monster. (The "Trinity" is partially explained by this nonsense.)
Dr Ambramson. I consider Philosophy one of your highest quality disciplines. Your humour I'd classify as "Gallows Humour" or "Danse Macabre". Either way very apt and effective. At the 30 min mark with reference to Philo and Allegory: Your explanation of allegorical application through history is 1st class. It shall be yet another "Ambramson teaching point" for my students. Thank You.
Thank you for teaching. Enjoy it as always.
Not that you asked, but if you were looking for one, your lecture made me think of a comparison:
There are probably many, but a good modern example of some of what you mention would be musician and writer Josh Ritter. He grew up in a christian family so he uses/draws from the imagery, characters, events of the Bible and first century writings but uses it for his own writing purposes....with a more Greek post modern mindset...
Interesting observation!
Great and helpful lecture, Dr. Abramson
Glad you think so!
I'm at the 19:30 mark and I'm smiling out loud. I assume within the past ten years you've come to notice this mistake. But you handled out so magnificently boi bizmanoi!
If there were somehow an inverse to toivel v'sheretz b'yadoi you pulled it off.
On the one hand you underlined that your error wasn't just a misspeak while aknowledging that you knew somehow that it was and that you knew how you would pay for it...
We've all done a lot worse 😂
I'm enjoying your talk. I'm familiar with Philo but this is a good quick chazarah. Thank you.
I like your lectures so much that I watch them for entertainment.
Thank you for the great lactures; it is a joy to watch them.
I was wondering if you can do a lacture on Onkelos.
Thank you
I’m an atheist enjoying many of your excellent videos. Learning a lot. I’m subscribed to the channel. Unfortunately I cannot view many of your videos. There isn’t a reason given and there isn’t a method explained how to I might access the videos. I would be willing to pay to view these videos. Comments are turned off. Thank you for the very fine videos that I can access.
My teaching philosophy favors extending this information as freely as possible. The more difficult topics, however, tend to attract a lot of attention that is a drag on my time--and I do not believe in making my time as free as possible. More serious students are invited to see those videos by clicking on the "Join" button on the channel home page (not available in all countries).
Thank you, sir. I have subscribed. I apologize but I cannot find a “join” button. I am in the US.
Was this lecture sponsored? I continue to benefit from watching. Thank you.
With all due respect, I believe Dr. Abramson failed to specify that King Ptolmy had the 72 sages translate THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES (not the entire TeNaCh)
Please!!! Keep these jokes!!!! Your are so funny!!! Thanks for all your amazing work!!!....
Oy. I ran out.
misoginy comes from two greek words miso (hatred) and guno (woman). the lady that comented on this topic said that misogeny was named after somebody named misogeny. i find no basis for that, i think she may be confusing mosoginy with masochism. Great lessons dr. abrahamson always very enriching. greatings from mexico
I love your jokes :-) "The Jews get all the breaks" Too funny.
Yeah, one of my favorites, too.
I really like your lectures.
Very informative video, thanks)
If it’s any consolation, I love your jokes. Keep telling them
Wonderful, thank you
I'm glad that you enjoyed the lecture!
Hello Henry, i am from Israel and i really love the lectures. Can you possibly talk about Lady Solika from Morocco?
Thanks. Please stay on top of the Jewish History Lab series, some discussion may occur there.
Thanks for the video.
a little coment on alexander and aristotles relationship: aristotles father was the personal physician of philip of macedonia, alexanders father. Aristotle was alexanders own tutor, brought from athens by philp specially for this purpose. one little curious fact is that alexander would send back, from his campaign in the east, all kinds of animals and plants to aristotle for his taxonomic collection. greatings
thanks for an iformative introduction on Philo...
Glad you found it useful!
It's incredible how us Jews survived and superseded the Greeks and Romans and even exist today. Proof that it's God's will. 😊💜✡
Definitely an amazing thing.
Love your content!
I appreciate that!
At about 6:55, Abramson says that the rabbis ignored Philo until the 19th cent. The first rabbi to offer a detailed commentary on Philo' was Azariah dei Rossi (1511-1578)
So good.
I'm glad that you enjoyed the class!
Thank you for being a Public Subscriber!
Dr. Abramson points out that Philo's thought is ignored by the rabbinical schools of the time. But does that mean that Philo was a "lone wolf?" Is there any evidence that there was a distinct division of Judaism (just as there were Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes) of which Philo was a part?
Like all your lectures, I'm so much enjoying this one as well, thanks so much for posting them. I have a question though: to what extent does Philo's interpretation of scripture differ from rabbinic interpretation? Will it be so uncommon to find in rabbinic interpretation the use of allegories like Biblical figures as you mentioned Hagar and Sara standing for instrumental wisdom and ideal wisdom? Sounds even a little kabbalistic to me or am I wrong? Thanks again Dr. Abramson!
These "shurim" are very interesting. Will you make/ do you have a video concerning Baruch de Spinoza? I would love to hear how you interpret/analyze his interpretation of Biblical texts.
Just found the video on Spinoza in the recomend list!
What's the name of the rabbi who said about the Septuagint : "take 70 rabbis, put them in one room and see if they'll come out with the same translation"
Aristeas? Not a rabbi but that's the famous letter.
Legend says that they did? Is it true? And then, that septuagint was burnt in the library of Alexandria.
@@margasa7 yes. But it was only the 5 books of moses. The letter says nomos a ton of times. It also notes that it was indeed king ptolemy 2. However the part about a perfect translation is false. The rabbis purposely edited like 20 verses as inaccurate
@@motorola1543 aah. Thanks
@@margasa7 np. if you wanna look into the purposeful corruption, it's noted in the following Jewish sources:
Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:40 (135 CE)
Tractate Megillah 9a-b (450-550 CE)
Tractate Soferim 1 (600s-700s [750ish according to Sefaria] CE)
Tractate Sefer Torah 1 (Before 1000 CE)
This is the second lecture I have been watching. I'm a Progressive Christian and love to follow more. Thank you Rabbi Abramson.
Can you do a lecture on Rabbi Gamaliel ben Hillel please?
Good job!
Brilliant! Thank you.
Thanks, well explained.
Glad you found it useful! Thanks for supporting the research.
Thank you Rabbi, because your Lecture bring to my mind in relation to Filo how his teachings somehow influenced christians theologians like Karl Barth, E.Schillebeckx and so many others. Is amazing the impact Jews people have influended the way of thinking in the West Wurope World and the capacity to go through the Greek Philosophers and how the so called church fathers drunk from the fountains to give shape to the new stream coming from the Jewish World, that is christianity.
Nice work! And I think the jokes are excellent, esp. the one about the zoo. Looking forward to the Paul of Tarsus lecture.
Re 19:30, Aristotle was a teacher of Alexander himself, Philip was Alex's dad.
excellent lecture.
I love your jokes!!! A little dry at times but that is Jewish humour sometimes. I love your videos. keep them coming.
The historical novel "Captivity" by Gyorgy Spiro has Philo as a main character and Alexandria as a key location. Some historians claim Philo was instrumental in the development of Gnosticism.
Jokes are ok... when I see the shine in someone I am see the person. I enjoy your presentations and give thanks for you sharing your knowledge. Blessings....
WE LOVE THE JOKES!
Dr Abramson, I have seen a few of your videos, very interesting from a historical point of view, I'm not a religious person but your historic conferences are very interesting. One question, why do you say that Henri is your " slave" name? Regards and congrats on your channel.
Religious Jews often have a Hebrew name that they use for religious purposes, such as on their marriage document (ketuba) or when they are called up to the Torah in the synagogue. So the joke goes that just as freed African-American slaves often replaced the name given to them by their masters with African names, Jews may use a common name in the workplace, etc, but use their Jewish name for Jewish purposes.
I love these lectures,I’ve learnt so much.Alway a explained in a learned and friendly way.Could listen all day to Dr Henry Abramson..Just one thing...please keep the jokes in.!..In fact Doctor,,,ever thought of doing stand up.?
Philo reveals the Jewish way of understanding the scriptures at that time and how they changed over the centuries.
Hi again, does Philo use the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible?
Wonderful lecture. Love the jokes.
Thank you.
Hi there, I have a question: Can we consider Philo as early neo-platonist?
on Alexander the great in India, my favorite part in Oriental Mythology by Joseph Campbell which I read and color coded highlighted profusely in high school was when the Greek philosophers verbally sparred with the gymnosophists or naked (Sanskrit digambara--sky clad) ascetic philosopher brahmins sitting on scalding rocks blissfully matching up Vedic equivalents to Greek gods as Julius Caesar did to Celtic gods with Greek. Just such a beautiful vision of East meeting West in symphonic dialogue.
You must remember Josephus a traitor, wrote whilst at the point of the roman sword...much of his writings were also edited and modified by Vatican later. Also the original septuaginta was only the first five books of the Torah..Origin rewrote a Christian version and added Macabees and Tobit as well as changing past tense to future tense in order to for tell JC coming in the Christian "Old Testament" which differs greatly from original Hebrew Tanakh.שלום
+motorhead - Josephus was a willing servant of the enemy and was even adopted by the Flavian emperors as a member of his family.
Thanks for the lecture. I enjoy your jokes.
Glad to hear it!
Wasn't Philo associated with the Flavians? I wonder if Shaul of Tarsus, Josephus, and Philo were in contact with each other at all? They lived at the same time.
Alexander, Philo's brother was a (Roman) tax man. To me all three Paul, Philo, and Josephus were very Hellenistic/Roman in doctrine. Good Lectures. I enjoy them. Even your jokes. lol
Uhmm, Philo's idea of "Religious Text" having a law of nature for humans is so AWESOME :)
TODA RABA,thanks for good information, GOD bless the jews
Happy hannukah from a greek
12: 34 "misogyny is named after a particular person"? Where did the lady get this (wrong) idea? it is simply a Greek compound word of "mis" (hate) and "gyne" (woman).
As someone who's always checking etymologies I immediately thought ...HUH ?!?
And...His jokes are often very funny, and always profound.
Ooooow Alexandria must have been culturally highly advanced place. If only it could have survived all its knowledge.
Perhaps he was born and raised in Egypt, trained in Greek philosophical forms which he applied to his study of Hebrew texts and culture? Maybe he was writing for the Romans...his writings might have been used to pacify a very rebellious population?
Cherries Jubilee. Their was not only Jews their was ISRAELIS many tribes in that place was ''gentiles to'' but this Jews are trying to steal every thing they writ all the old stories and they trie to sell it as if Jesus and meny writers was jews they lie i am shure for this
Palestin means philestin or beginner-begining is not ''faling engle'' that is lie
FILLO in Albanian means ''START-FILLO'' ''ne fillim-nephillim'' is Alb...word means in the begining'' NE-IN FILLIM-BEGINING translate Alb vs eng ''ne fillim''
in the KURAN it says that their was JUDAs and NASARA-gentiles judas betray jesus they lie very much
word fillosofi is Alb.. means alb..vs eng
fillo-start or begin
so or za-katch
fi or fije-thread word FILOSOFI-BEGIN,CATCH,THREAD greeks have adobt Alb...lang...but they dont know the meaning of the words and words dont fall from heavens i e languages must have origin somwhere imo
Loved the Chinese food story. Thanks!❤
Is Paul talking about his teaching when he says dont strive in endless genealogies?
I stumbled across this lecture while doing research for a book I'm writing. I needed to know more about Philo in a hurry. Your lecture fit the bill exactly. It was so well done that I have listened to four or five more dealing with the same period. If you ever get a chance to do Saul/Paul's tutor Gamaliel (sp?), I would be very keen on listening.
I hope you don't mind, but I will be using a quote or two from this lecture in my book (if I ever finish it). And yes, I'll make sure I give the proper attribution (I remember in one of your lectures where you chastened an ancient writer for not attributing..funny).
In koine Greek ego philo means I love in the affectionate sense because philos means loving affection in koine Greek. Fillo dough with the double lambda is the very thin flaky Greek dough that baklava and spanakopita and kotapita is made from. I love the humor! Cast asparagus! Dr. Abramson you’re not only a Ben Adam and a Baal Mitzer and a great family man and a great Jewish historian and a gifted communicator but you’re also the most funny family friendly Jewish comedian ever! You should tell jokes at bar mitzvah parties
Hi, I'm surprised that the comments section is open. On another of your videos, I think it was Saul/Paul, you mentioned that one of the appeals of Judaism was the Jewish idea of the hereafter. Dr. Ehrman said that if such a person as Jesus (Joshua) existed he would have believed that his soul and body didn't separate, and that death was the end. I am curious of the Jewish belief in the hereafter.
Thank you for your lecture on Philo. Very interesting. I will definitely listen to more of your lectures. You have a nice style about your lectures that does not put other people down. You mentioned the Septuagint towards the end of the lecture. It is interesting that when the Gospels quote the Jewish Bible some of the quotations come from the Septuagint version and some from the Massoretic text. Greek must have been spoken fairly extensively in Judea. I have often wondered what language Jesus spoke. My guess is Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew. In that order. I don't think too many people understood Hebrew anymore during those times. Maybe just the rabbis. Am I correct in this?
***** I believe Jesus studied the Tanach extensively as a child, was and expert in available Jewish literature, including "Jesus Sirach". In the gospels (naturally just "hearsay" written down long after the fact) he says "go and learn" or go and read" (Matthew 9:13, Hosea 6:6, 51:16), indicating he himself had superior scriptural knowledge that most, who were illiterate in that day. I'm convinced he chose his friends from Galillee because of their muscles (good body guard), the result of pulling up nets of fish and seaweed ALL DAY LONG. And they had boats--to escape Roman soldiers if they came...
I Hate the Party nice observation. yes Jesus had superior scriptural knowledge. at the age of 12 he fascinated the religious authorities in Jerusalem with his understanding of Scripture (Luke2:47). not only did he have greater scriptural knowledge than the illiterate, but also greater than the most knowledgeable people of his time. but i don't think Jesus needed bodyguards. he cleared merchants and money changers from the temple by himself using a whip. he physically kicked people of prominence out of the temple. they were afraid of him then (John 2:15). A carpenter, Jesus was most likely an extremely muscular man himself. and not once did he run from Roman soldiers. he did however use the boats to avoid being thronged by huge multitudes that were coming to him for healing and to see his works (mark 3:9). in John 8:58-59 after Jesus claimed to be the God who gave moses the law, a multitude tried to stone him. he hid himself and went right through the middle of the mob to escape(John 8:58-59). no bodyguards needed, and when his disciples did try to physically fight for him, he prevented them from doing so (John 18:11). so yes Jesus was a master of the Scriptures. the Pharisees called him "master." he never ran from the Romans or needed protection from them. he obeyed the law of the land (also read Matt 17:24-27). his first 5 disciples were strongmen yes, but Jesus did not rely on their strength. he cleared the temple himself, proving he was more than capable of handling physical situations. and yes he utilized his disciples boats, but only to keep from being thronged by crowds who might hinder his work.
Mr. Abraham is the terminology of rabbinic judaism already existed in philo time frame?.. is there any historical artefactss for any essener community flourishing in alexandrian time?
My view is Philo was saying you Greeks have Plato while we have Moses, so leave us alone.
I have seen Rabbis say the same thing that he said about Brit Milah, hes not the only one
Hmm, Philo worked in the city named for a student of Aristotle, but he studies Plato?
Many streets around Greece are named after him. Φίλωνος(meaning Philo's)
Aristotle was the tutor of Alexander,not of his son !
Did not learn one thing about Philo's work. Just told that it was not "Jewish" enough.
"He's a writer not a lover."😂