عنوان

Divine Embodiment in Philo of Alexandria

Number

LA119060

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Divine Embodiment in Philo of Alexandria

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Deborah Forger

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

Because later polemics established Jews and Christians as binary opposites, distinguished largely by their views on God's body, scholars have not sufficiently explored how other Jews in the early Roman period, who stood outside the Jesus movement, conceived of how the divine could become embodied on earth. The first-century Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria often operates as the quintessential representative of a Jew who stressed God's absolute incorporeality. Here I demonstrate how Philo also presents a means by which a part of Israel's God could become united with human materiality, showing how the patriarchs and Moses function as his paradigms. This evidence suggests that scholarship on divine embodiment has been limited by knowledge of later developments in Christian theology. Incarnational formulas, like that found in John 1:14 were not the only way that Jews in the first and second century CE understood that God could become united with human form. Because later polemics established Jews and Christians as binary opposites, distinguished largely by their views on God's body, scholars have not sufficiently explored how other Jews in the early Roman period, who stood outside the Jesus movement, conceived of how the divine could become embodied on earth. The first-century Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria often operates as the quintessential representative of a Jew who stressed God's absolute incorporeality. Here I demonstrate how Philo also presents a means by which a part of Israel's God could become united with human materiality, showing how the patriarchs and Moses function as his paradigms. This evidence suggests that scholarship on divine embodiment has been limited by knowledge of later developments in Christian theology. Incarnational formulas, like that found in John 1:14 were not the only way that Jews in the first and second century CE understood that God could become united with human form.

Date of Publication

2018

Physical description

223-262

Title

Journal for the Study of Judaism

Volume Number

49/2

International Standard Serial Number

1570-0631

Subject Term

divine embodiment

Subject Term

God Incarnate

Subject Term

human materiality

Subject Term

Moses

Subject Term

Philo of Alexandria

Deborah Forger

Call Number

10.1163/15700631-12491160

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y