Philo of Alexandria’s work in synthesizing Jewish and Platonic thought is indispensable to the Christian faith, Marquette University Professor of Theology Michael Cover said at a talk Oct. 2.

His lecture, titled “What Has Alexandria to do with Jerusalem?” was part of the Gershom lecture series, which explores the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Cover began with Tertullian’s question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”

“How are Athens and Jerusalem to be brought together? In answer, I would like to propose the tertium quid and suggest that, from a historical and symbolic perspective, Tertullian may be answered in a single word: Alexandria,” Cover said.

Alexandria was an important city during the early first century, as it provided food for Rome and was the second largest city in the Roman empire, according to Cover. The Hebrew Scriptures were first translated to Greek in Alexandria, and the city was home to a large population of Jews.

Philo was born into a wealthy Jewish family in the city. He founded a school of philosophy and led an embassy to Rome to appeal to the emperor over discrimination against Jews in Alexandria, according to Cover.

“True, Philo did not foreground the hope of a temporal messiah as strongly as his Essene and Pharisee peers did in Palestine,” Cover said. “He did, nevertheless, champion a vision of the victory of the Logos, over every human soul and society, and that, while not properly Christological, begins to approach St. John’s vision of the Word.” 

Cover said Philo mainly wrote about the works of Moses, which included questions and answers on Genesis and Exodus, allegorical commentary, and exposition of the law.

But Philo’s main influence came from Plato, Cover said.

“I think Philo’s primary affinity still remains to Plato throughout his writings. It was the most holy Plato that Moses had the greatest affinities with, arriving as nearly as one might to the truth without the help of prophetic inspiration,” he said. “And it was the images and concepts of middle Platonism that would become Philo’s primary vehicle for translating the theology of Moses into the Hellenistic Roman koine.”

Cover said Philo synthesized Platonic philosophy with Mosaic theology through his “doctrine of God, the Logos and his powers, creation, anthropology, partitioning of souls, ethics, and politics.”

Philo based his work off of the Septuagint, the authoritative translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, made in Alexandria, according to Cover. It is believed that the 72 translators of the Septuagint produced identical translations without consulting one another, which gave Philo the confidence to work directly from Greek instead of using Hebrew.

As Cover closed, he emphasized that Philo did not change Scripture to match Plato, but the opposite. 

“At this point, I run the risk of painting Philo as a mere Platonist and individualist who cared nothing for the body or humanity, and if all that he has accomplished is to scripturalize Plato, this might be seen at best as a superficial achievement,” Cover said. “To the contrary, I’ve tried to show how in Philo’s works, Platonism has been changed as much, or even more than the Torah, and has been treated as a vehicle for the expression of thoughts which truly belong to Moses.”

Freshman Aloysius Coady said he appreciated Cover’s perspective on the topic.

“It was interesting to see how he combined Platonism and Judaism, particularly in terms of his view of the powers of heaven, this kind of multiplicity, but also staying with the fact that the Lord is one,” Coady said.

Jameson Payne, a student at the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship, said he found Cover to be greatly informative. 

“I thought it was an extremely thorough rendition of Philo,” Payne said. “He is obviously extremely impressive and knowledgeable, and he taught me some things that I didn’t know about Plato.”