Philo, Abraham, Sarah

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I read the Josephus claimed that Sarah was philosophy.
t
Hagar: math and the physical sciences.

If he does that–how did he get there?

THANKS!
 
Jim_Baur said:
I read the Josephus claimed that Sarah was philosophy.
t
Hagar: math and the physical sciences.

If he does that–how did he get there?

THANKS!
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Philo reads much of the Bible allegorically, particularly the parts that are problematic—for example, any place where God is anthropomorphized (given human characteristics).

Allegorical readings are either invented or passed on. He probably made them up and they made sense to him.

The title of the thread is Philo but here you’re asking about Josephus, so it’s a little unclear what you’re wondering about.
 
Any more help?

Might someone know the steps that brought Philo to that style of interpretation?
 
Jim_Baur said:
Any more help?

Might someone know the steps that brought Philo to that style of interpretation?
Click to expand...
Philo’s allegorical interpretations are in keeping with the Platonic thought of his day/location. Plato believed that things in the material world are only shadows or imperfect imitations of forms in the ideal world.

Reading the Bible allegorically follows the same logic. If one reads about the four rivers in Genesis 2, for example, the rivers mentioned in the text are not actual rivers at all (real or mythological)–since they are part of the material, fallen world–but are instead referring allegorically to the four virtues.

Although Philo was Jewish, his method constituted the predominant way the Bible was interpreted in Western Christianity up until around the time of the Reformation. Ironically, his method was not taken up within Judaism for the most part since it probably seemed far too “Greek.”
 
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