Philo of Alexandria

Philo of Alexandria was a first-century Jewish philosopher who interpreted the Torah through Greek philosophy, especially Platonism, and developed influential allegorical readings of scripture.

Hebrew Bible: The collection of ancient Israelite scriptures that forms the Jewish canon and much of the Christian Old Testament. Philo treated its Greek translation as scripture while explaining its laws and narratives.
Allegory in Philo: Philo’s practice of reading scriptural figures and events as symbols of spiritual or ethical realities. It was his central technique for reconciling scripture with Greek philosophy.
Alexandria: An ancient Egyptian city founded by Alexander the Great that became a major center of Hellenistic culture and learning. Its Greek-speaking Jewish community shaped the audience and setting of Philo’s work.
Philo and early Christianity: The reception of Philo’s writings and ideas among early Christian writers and theologians. Early Christians preserved his works and adapted aspects of his Logos theology and allegory.
Septuagint: The ancient Greek translation of Jewish scriptures, produced in stages from the third century BCE onward. Its wording supplied the scriptural text Philo interpreted for Greek-speaking audiences.
Divine transcendence: The idea that God or ultimate reality exceeds the limits of the created world and human comprehension. Philo’s insistence on God’s transcendence motivates his use of intermediaries such as the Logos.
Moses: The biblical leader credited with leading the Israelites from Egypt and receiving the Torah. Philo presents Moses as the supreme lawgiver and an exemplary philosopher-king.
Christian allegorical exegesis: Christian interpretation that reads scriptural language as carrying symbolic or spiritual meanings beyond its literal sense. Philo’s methods provided an influential precedent for Christian allegorical reading.
Middle Platonism: A phase of Platonist philosophy that developed between the Old Academy and Neoplatonism. Its account of transcendent reality helps explain Philo’s philosophical framework.
Divine providence: The belief that a deity orders or cares for the world and its events. Philo used providence to explain the world’s order and God’s governance.

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