This study constructs a dialogue between Paul of Tarsus and Philo of Alexandria,
two Jewish men who, despite never meeting one another, both flourished in the
Mediterranean Diaspora during first century of the Common Era. It is remarkable
that the historical and literary record permits us to recreate the “parallel lives”
and theologies of these two figures—so similar and yet so different—from their
ipsissima vox et verba.
Unlike Plutarch’s famous pairs, however, this study sets in relief two contemporaneous rather than two diachronically separated figures. Neither is it about
the lives of Paul and Philo per se, nor about each man to the same degree. Primarily, as the title suggests, this study is about Paul the Apostle, who forms both
its point of departure and ultimate telos. Paul’s remarkable interpretation of Exodus 34 in 2 Corinthians, the account of Moses’ second descent from Mount Sinai,
guides the study throughout.
If Paul frames this work at beginning and end, Philo in many ways forms
its discursive center. He is the figure on whom my thesis about Paul pivots. Beginning this inquiry with an exegetical question, moreover, rather than a theological, philosophical, or rhetorical one, is a debt I owe to the Alexandrian. Of
course, all four of the above-stated emphases will play a role in this study.
But a monograph can only do so much. In sum, then, this whole project
might be summarized as a voyage from Paul’s epistolary interpretation of scripture to Philo’s exegesis in the Allegorical Commentary and back again, with a
few minor and major stops along the way. It is hoped, however, that such a voyage will contribute to a better understanding of Paul’s contingent theology and
exegesis in the Corinthian context, as well as in his other letters.