Book Description

Philo's specific agenda is seen to be the presentation of a brief for a commitment to Judaism, including the obligation both to the study and to the practice of the Torah commandments and the 'ancient unwritten traditions'. This he argues from the vantage point of a thoroughly hellenized Jew to a thoroughly hellenized audience. Among the subjects treated in the book: Philo as part of an ongoing Palestinian - Diaspora midrashic tradition; Judaism considered as a philosophy: The Greek Virtues and the Mosaic Laws; Philo's Shema (includes a discussion of Philo's conception of the Phylacteries, the Mezuzah, and the absence in Philo of Parashath Tsitsith); the use of many Greek words and Greek word combinations in an idiosyncratic Jewish connotation in Jewish contexts; Philo's curriculum of study; The Oral Law and Philo.