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JUST/CLAS/RELG 3022 and PHIL 3729: Searching for God: Week 7: Allēgoria

Ancient Greeks, Jews, and Christians

Topic for the week

Topic: Allēgoria: Heraclitus the Allegorist and Philo of Alexandria

Primary Sources: Heraclitus

Heraclitus: Homeric Problems (esp. problems 1-7 (pp. 3-17), problems 16-31 (pp. 31-59), problems 52-54 (pp. 91-93), problems 76-79 (pp. 123-131), and most esp. problem 69 (p. 111) on Od. 8.266-366.)
Heraclitus, 1st cent. Heraclitus: Homeric Problems. E-book, Atlanta: SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) Press, 2005, https://hdl-handle-net.brooklyn.ezproxy.cuny.edu/2027/heb.07766.
Philo, Treatise on the Unchangeableness of God,( esp. 7, 20-22, 33-34, 49, 51-54, 70-73, 77-81 (cf. Plotinus’s metaphor of the sun))
Kirby, Peter. "Historical Jesus Theories." Early Christian Writings.
Philo, On Mating with the Preliminary Studies, ( esp. 9-38)
Kirby, Peter. "Historical Jesus Theories." Early Christian Writings.

Secondary Sources: Heraclitus

Introduction
Heraclitus, 1st cent. Heraclitus: Homeric Problems. E-book, Atlanta: SBL Press, 2005, https://hdl-handle-net.brooklyn.ezproxy.cuny.edu/2027/heb.07766.
Chapter 5 Philo and the Problem of God’s Emotions
van, der Horst, Pieter W.. Chapter 5 Philo and the Problem of God’s Emotions In Studies in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, BRILL, 2014.

Alexandria Roman Amphitheater.

Daniel Mayer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Optional Readings: Heraclitus

Philo’s Conception of the Divine Nature
Winston, David, “Philo’s Conception of the Divine Nature,” pg. 21-43) In Neoplatonism and jewish thought. Goodman, L. E. (Ed.). (1992). State University of New York Press.