Philo on Jewish Identity and Culture
by Maren Niehoff
Hardback (Out of print)
(May 2001)
ISBN: 9783161476112
Price: $125.00
On back order
This book is the first systematic enquiry into the ways Philo saw himself as a Jew and perceived of Jewish culture in the multi-ethnic environment of first century Alexandria. Applying the theories of ethnicity and culture developed by Frederik Barth and Clifford Geertz, the book gives emphasis to the nature and dynamics of social constructs which shaped Philo’s discourse and religion. Particular attention is in this context paid to his construction of others. Furthermore, Rome is for the first time taken into account as a political, cultural and religious factor which exercised an all-encompassing influence. Philo’s writings are thus interpreted with a view to the question how he negotiated not two, but three main traditions, namely the Jewish, the Roman and the Greek, and how his positions integrated him into the contemporary Roman discourse. Philo”s views on these matters have important implications beyond his own figure and the Jewish community. They are crucial for a better understanding of the Hellenistic world which was in the first century to a large extent characterized by the encounter between the Greek East and the Roman West. Philo’s construction of Jewish identity and culture is moreover indispensable for a proper appreciation of early Christian writers who lived in the same world and confronted very similar issues.
This book is the first systematic enquiry into the ways Philo saw himself as a Jew and perceived of Jewish culture in the multi-ethnic environment of first century Alexandria. Applying the theories of ethnicity and culture developed by Frederik Barth and Clifford Geertz, the book gives emphasis to the nature and dynamics of social constructs which shaped Philo’s discourse and religion. Particular attention is in this context paid to his construction of others. Furthermore, Rome is for the first time taken into account as a political, cultural and religious factor which exercised an all-encompassing influence. Philo’s writings are thus interpreted with a view to the question how he negotiated not two, but three main traditions, namely the Jewish, the Roman and the Greek, and how his positions integrated him into the contemporary Roman discourse. Philo”s views on these matters have important implications beyond his own figure and the Jewish community. They are crucial for a better understanding of the Hellenistic world which was in the first century to a large extent characterized by the encounter between the Greek East and the Roman West. Philo’s construction of Jewish identity and culture is moreover indispensable for a proper appreciation of early Christian writers who lived in the same world and confronted very similar issues.
- By (author) Maren R Niehoff
Other Titles in this Series
Sefer ha-Razim I und II – Das Buch der Geheimnisse I und II
Band 1: Edition + Band 2: Einleitung, Übersetzung und Kommentar (2 Bände)
The Meshalim in the Mekhiltot
An Annotated Edition and Translation of the Parables in Mekhilta de Rabbi Yishmael and Mekhilta de Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
Between Temple and Torah
Essays on Priests, Scribes, and Visionaries in the Second Temple Period and Beyond
Jews and Hellenistic Cities in Eretz-Israel
Relations of the Jews in Eretz-Israel with the Hellenistic Cities during the Second Temple Period (332 BCE-70 CE)
Sages and Commoners in Late Antique ‘Erez Israel
A Philological Inquiry into Local Traditions in Talmud Yerushalmi
Above, Below, Before, and After
Studies in Judaism and Christianity in Conversation with Martha Himmelfarb
Building on the Ruins of the Temple
Apologetics and Polemics in Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism
Die ptolemäische Organisationsform politeuma
Ein Herrschaftsinstrument zugunsten jüdischer und anderer hellenischer Gemeinschaften
Abduktives Denken und talmudische Argumentation
Eine rechtstheoretische Annäherung an eine zentrale Interpretationsfigur im babylonischen Talmud
Similar Books
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Lobbying for Equality
Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Equality during the French Revolution
The Biblical Tale of Judah and Tamar in Fourteenth-Century Iran
A Judeo-Persian Versified Account by Shāhīn with Scholarly Edition, Annotated Translation and Persian Transliteration
Volume 94, 951
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
Tradition, Interpretation, and Change
Developments in the Liturgy of Medieval and Early Modern Ashkenaz
Judaïsme ancien – Ancient Judaism, 13, 2025
Daniel Boyarin et la notion de judaïsme dans l’histoire / Daniel Boyarin and the Notion of Judaism in History (Judaism: The Genealogy of the Modern Notion)
Christlich-jüdische Beziehungen in Aschkenas während des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts
Neue Einsichten in die vielfältige Quellenüberlieferung
Das Weisheitsbuch Ben Sira / Jesus Sirach
Synopse der hebräischen, griechischen, lateinischen und syrischen Texttraditionen mit deutscher Übersetzung
Der anwesende Abwesende
Das Verhältnis Judentum-Christentum in Schulbuch und Unterricht der Fächer Religion und Ethik
Essen
Ethische Perspektiven zum Speisen in Antike und Gegenwart. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik XV
