Divide into five groups. Each group will be responsible for developing a response to one of the following five questions. The response should be based on the Philo material in Three Jewish Philosophers. Your group is responsible for question number _____.
Delegate a member (or members) of your group to
1) report to the class on your group's response to its question; and
2) prepare and turn in (within one week) a brief typed summary (no longer than 1 page) outlining your group's response, to be distributed to the class. (Group members should be credited in this summary.)
Discuss the following five questions.
1. Using the text to support your view, describe the Therapeutae's views on the status of women and slaves. Do you think their views on the status of women have something to do with their views on the status of slaves? Why or why not?
2. For Philo, what is the authority of personal religious or mystical experience? Make sure to use the text to support your interpretation of Philo. Evaluate Philo's position on this issue.
3. Using the text to support your view, describe Philo's attitude toward the body. What in Plato supports this attitude? What in Hebrew Scripture? Evaluate Philo's synthesis.
4.Consider the following passage from Epictetus the Stoic:
Never say of anything, "I have lost it"; but, "I have returned it." Is your child dead? It is returned. Is your wife dead? She is returned. Is your estate taken away? Well, and is not that likewise returned? "But he who took it away is a bad man." What difference is it to you who the giver assigns to take it back? While he gives it to you to possess, take care of it; but don't view it as your own, just as travelers view a hotel. (From section 11 of Epictetus' "Enchiridion", ed. James Fieser (Internet Release, 1996).)Find a similar passage in Philo. Compare and contrast it. Which of the similarities and differences are most important? Why?
5. Making sure to use the text to support your answer, reply to the following:
What in Philo seems most appropriate for Judaism? Why?
What in Philo seems most appropriate for Christianity? Why?
Does your response to this question suggest an answer to the question of the future of Philo's ideas in Jewish and Christian communities?
M, Kagan, PHL 335/ REL 383
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