Freethought & Rationalism Archive

mountainman · 07-31-2006, 08:17 PM

From De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men) ---Jerome

Quote:

Chapter 11. Philo the Jew

Philo the Jew, an Alexandrian of the priestly class, is placed by us among the ecclesiastical writers on the ground that, writing a book concerning the first church of Mark the evangelist at Alexandria, he writes to our praise, declaring not only that they were there, but also that they were in many provinces and calling their habitations monasteries. From thisit appears that the church of those that believed in Christ at first, was such as now the monks desire to imitate, that is, such that nothing is the peculiar property of any one of them, none of them rich, none poor, that patrimonies are divided among the needy, that they have leisure for prayer and psalms, for doctrine also and ascetic practice, that they were in fact as Lake declares believers were at first at Jerusalem. They say that under Caius(10) Caligula he ventured to Rome, whither he had been sent as legate of his nation, and that when a second time he had come to Claudius, he spoke in the same city with the apostle Peter and enjoyed his friendship, and for this reason also adorned the adherents of Mark, Peter's disciple at Alexandria, with his praises. There are distinguished and innumerable works by this man: On the five books of Moses, one book Concerning the confusion of tongues, one book On nature and invention, one book On the things which our senses desire and we detest, one book On learning, one book On the heir of divine things, one book On the division of equals and contraries, one book On the three virtues, one book On why in Scripture the names of many persons are changed, two books On covenants, one book On the life of a wiseman, one book Concerning giants, five books That dreams are sent by God, five books of Questions and answers on Exodus, four books On the tabernacle and the Decalogue, as well as books On victims and promises or curses, On Providence, On the Jews, On the manner of one's life, On Alexander, and That dumb beasts have right reason, and That every fool should be a slave, and On the lives of the Christians, of which we spoke above, that is, lives of apostolic men, which also he entitled, On those who practice the divine life, because in truth they contemplate divine things and ever pray to God, also trader other categories, two On agriculture, two On drunkenness. There are other monuments of his genius which have not come to our hands. Concerning him there is a proverb among the Greeks "Either Plato philonized, or Philo platonized, " that is, either Plato followed Philo, or Philo, Plato, so great is the similarity of ideas and language.

Can someone correct me if I am wrong but it appears as if
Jerome is saying that Philo wrote a work about christians.

Is this the same Philo (c.15BCE - c50n CE), an
Alexandrean Greek speaking Jewish writer-philosopher
whom I thought never once mentioned christians.

What's the story?

Pete

Toto · 07-31-2006, 08:51 PM

I think it is generally agreed that Philo does not mention Christians per se, but he does describe a sect called Theraputae, who were often confused with Christians, but are not considered to be Christians by modern scholars. Eusebius was among those who assumed that the Theraputae were early Christians, and Jerome probably took this from Eusebius. The Theraputae are often identified with the Essenes.

mountainman · 08-01-2006, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I think it is generally agreed that Philo does not mention Christians per se, but he does describe a sect called Theraputae, who were often confused with Christians, but are not considered to be Christians by modern scholars. Eusebius was among those who assumed that the Theraputae were early Christians, and Jerome probably took this from Eusebius. The Theraputae are often identified with the Essenes.

Thanks for the summary Toto.

As I see it, Jerome takes Eusebius to another level and actually would
have us believe that Philo wrote a book called
"On the Lives of the Christians",
and not
"On the Lives of the Theraputae".

Philo of Alexandria, whom Jerome lists in a distinctly anti-semetic
fashion (following Eusebius and Constantine) as Philo "the Jew"
was in no way christian, but in many ways encompassing of the
generalised tradition of the Hellenic/Pythagorean/Platonic ways,
but with the additional treatment of the Judaic philosophy as
expressed in the OT.

This "religion" was calumnified by Eusebius in the literature by
means of fraudulently perverting the chronology with citations
of a new and stange tribe of christians, which did not exist
until his supreme imperial literature sponsorship deal was put
in place by Constantine, very early in the fourth century.

I am confident that new scholarship over the next few decades
will vindicate this assessment which may seem new and strange to
(and outside the square of) the mainstream BC&H theories of today.

Pete Brown
www.mountainman.com.au

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07-31-2006, 08:51 PM	#2
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	I think it is generally agreed that Philo does not mention Christians per se, but he does describe a sect called Theraputae, who were often confused with Christians, but are not considered to be Christians by modern scholars. Eusebius was among those who assumed that the Theraputae were early Christians, and Jerome probably took this from Eusebius. The Theraputae are often identified with the Essenes.

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