Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria: Philo's 'Therapeutae' Reconsidered
Joan E. Taylor
Abstract
The 1st-century ascetic Jewish philosophers known as the ‘Therapeutae’, described in Philo's treatise De Vita Contemplativa, have often been considered in comparison with early Christians, the Essenes, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. This study, which includes a new translation of De Vita Contemplativa, focuses particularly on issues of historical method, rhetoric, women, and gender, and comes to new conclusions about the nature of the group and its relationship with the allegorical school of exegesis in Alexandria. The book argues that the group represents the tip of an iceberg in terms of ascetic ... More
The 1st-century ascetic Jewish philosophers known as the ‘Therapeutae’, described in Philo's treatise De Vita Contemplativa, have often been considered in comparison with early Christians, the Essenes, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. This study, which includes a new translation of De Vita Contemplativa, focuses particularly on issues of historical method, rhetoric, women, and gender, and comes to new conclusions about the nature of the group and its relationship with the allegorical school of exegesis in Alexandria. The book argues that the group represents the tip of an iceberg in terms of ascetic practices and allegorical exegesis, and that the women described point to the presence of other Jewish women philosophers in Alexandria in the first century CE. Members of the group were ‘extreme allegorizers’ in following a distinctive calendar, not maintaining usual Jewish praxis, and concentrating their focus on attaining a trance-like state in which a vision of God's light was experienced. Their special ‘feast’ was configured in terms of a service at a Temple, in which both men and women were priestly attendants of God.
Keywords:
Therapeutae,
Philo,
De Vita Contemplativa,
Christians,
Essenes,
Dead Sea Scrolls,
Alexandria,
women,
Jewish praxis
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199291410 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199291410.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Joan E. Taylor, author
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand and Honorary Research Fellow, Departments of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and in History, University College London
Author Webpage
More
Less
