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In this eighth volume of the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, originally published by Brill in hardcover, Michael B. Cover translates and provides commentary on Philo of Alexandria’s treatise On the Change of Names. Taking a cue from Platonist interpreters of Homer’s Odyssey, Philo reads the story of Abraham as an account of the soul’s progress and perfection. Responding to contemporary critics who mocked Genesis 17 as uninspired, Philo finds instead a hidden philosophical reflection on the ineffability of the transcendent God, the transformation of souls that recognize their mortal nothingness, the possibility of human faith enabled by the peerless faithfulness of God, and the fruit of moral perfection: the joy divine, prefigured in the birth of Isaac.

Michael B. Cover is Professor of New Testament, coordinator of the Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity area, and Henri de Lubac Chair of Theology (2022–2025) at Marquette University. He is the author of Lifting the Veil: 2 Corinthians 3:7–18 in Light of Jewish Homiletic and Commentary Traditions (De Gruyter) and coeditor of Philo of Alexandria and Philosophical Discourse (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht).