$95.00

Now in Paperback from SBL Press 

In this sixth volume of the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, originally published by Brill in hardcover, Ellen Birnbaum and John Dillon translate and comment on Philo's On the Life of Abraham. By interweaving literal, ethical, and allegorical interpretations, Philo presents the life and achievements of Abraham, founder of the Jewish nation, in the form of a Greco-Roman biography. Birnbaum, a scholar of Second Temple Judaism, and Dillon, a specialist in Platonic philosophy, explain how and why this treatise is important within the context of Philo's own work, early Jewish and Christian exegesis, and ancient philosophy. Their detailed analysis illuminates Philo's philosophical, exegetical, and literary genius for scholars and students of religion, philosophy, and antiquity.

Ellen Birnbaum is an independent scholar who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the author of The Place of Judaism in Philo's Thought: Israel, Jews, and Proselytes and of several other studies on Philo and the ancient Alexandrian Jewish community.

John Dillon is Regius Professor of Greek (Emeritus) at Trinity College Dublin. He has published extensively on the Platonic tradition, Philo, and in the field of patristics.