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BOOK REVIEWS 755

thought. Finally, the chapter on the historical situation in Antioch seems to me to be of little
use in analyzing Paul; it relies so much on Acts that it contributes mostly to understanding
Luke's thought, not Paul's.
Nonetheless, this is a thorough and interesting analysis, written in lively, readable
prose, free from the tortured syntax of much academic writing (especially dissertations).
For those doing advanced work on Galatians, this will be a valuable contribution to
understanding Paul's context as well as a novel interpretation of his message.

Kim Paffenroth, Iona College, New Rochelle, NY 10801

PETER EGGER, Verdienste vor Gott? Der Begriff zekhut im rabbinischen Genesis-
kommentar Bereshit Rabba (NTOA 43; Fribourg: Editions universitaires; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 2000). Pp. [viii] + 430. SFr 110,00.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: In the computer-assisted editing of the review of this book by Lieve
M. Teugels earlier in the current volume (CBQ 64 [Jan. 2002] 157-58), inattentive recourse
to the journal's list of rabbinical abbreviations (60 [1998] 844) produced several anoma-
lous references to Egger's subject as "Berakhot Rabbah" instead of Bereshit Rabbah.
Careful readers might have recognized the error, but the editor apologizes for it, nonethe-
less, to one and all: reviewer, author, and readers. ]

PETER FRICK, Divine Providence in Philo of Alexandria (TSAJ 77; Tübingen: Mohr
[Siebeck], 1999). Pp. xiii + 220. DM 148.

This work is based on the author's dissertation presented at McMaster University, to


which he has added additional studies on the notions of providence in Hellenistic Judaism
and of providence and history in Philo's thought. As Frick notes in the introduction,
although there have been many studies that treat some aspect of the subject (H. Wolfson,
J. Drummond, E. R. Goodenough, E. Bréhier, D. Winston, S. Sandmel), there has been no
study until now that offers a comprehensive presentation of Philo's doctrine of divine
providence. The previous studies by Paul Wendland (Philos Schrift über die Vorsehung:
Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der nacharistotelischen Philosophie [Berlin: Gaertner, 1892])
and Mireille Hadas-Lebel ("De Providentia I et II. Introduction, Traduction et Notes," in
Les Oeuvres de Philon d'Alexandrie, vol. 35 [ed. R. Arnaldez, J. Pouilloux, and C. Monde-
sert; Paris: Cerf, 1973]) have been focused on the work De Providentia. F. takes as his
starting point the passage De opificio mundi 170-72, in which Philo emphasizes five state-
ments "that are fairest and best" of Mosaic doctrines, the last of which is that God ever
exercises providence for his creation. He concludes that providence must be considered a
"pivotal assumption and indispensable aspect of Philonic theology" (p. 2).
The study is guided by two principal assumptions: that Philo is not primarily a
philosopher but an exegete of Scripture and that he does not offer his readers a systematic
treatment of divine providence. For Philo, philosophy serves to elucidate the deeper
meaning of Scripture and thus is an indispensable tool in its interpretation. Scripture and
theology set the agenda, and philosophy provides the arguments for Philo's thought. F.
notes that Philo is interested in showing not the superiority of one philosophic tradition
756 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY I 64, 2002

over another but rather that his theology derived from Scripture is essentially in agreement
with Greek thought. Therefore, it is a mistake to read Philo primarily as a philosopher.
Philo's concept of God determines his notion of providence, which depends, in turn, on
the presuppositions of God's absolute transcendence and his immanence in the world.
Frick has organized his study into six chapters, which deal respectively with: Divine
Transcendence and Providence, Divine Immanence and Providence, Providence in Philo's
Theory of Creation, Providence and Astral Fatalism, Theodicy and Providence, and finally,
Providence and History. These are preceded by a summary presentation of providence in
Greek philosophy and in Hellenistic Judaism. While the first five chapters treat the manner
in which Philo conceptualizes the notion of providence, in the final chapter F. shows how
he characterizes providence in the lives of individuals and in the history of his people.
The "overarching conclusion" reached by F. is that the conception of divine provi-
dence is central to Philo's theology as a whole, and that it is shaped by and in turn shapes
many aspects of Philo's thought, including his doctrine of the Logos and the divine powers,
the theory of creation, the issue of physical and moral evil, the notion of the soul, and the
theory of ethics. He states: "It is no exaggeration to declare the doctrine of providence the
structural pillar which gives Philonic theology its coherence." The idea of providence is
"the bridge between his understanding of the utter transcendence of God and the belief that
God immanently cares for his creation and his creatures" (p. 193). According to F., Philo
sought to formulate a theology that paid sufficient attention to the truth of Scripture and
to the tenets of Greek thought without compromising his personal faith. That personal faith
is particularly evident in the introduction to the treatise Legano ad Gaium, where Philo
"applies and makes intelligible the concept of providence he has thought about over a
lifetime as a source of encouragement and hope for his fellow believers in a time of
political uncertainty" (p. 194).
The volume contains an ample bibliography and several indexes. This is a careful
study of a key aspect of Philonic thought that, surprisingly, has not received a comprehen-
sive treatment until now. It is thus a welcome and useful addition to the ever-growing body
of literature dedicated to an author whose influence on early Christian literature is immea-
surable and who even became known in the catena literature as "Philo the bishop."

Mark Sheridan, O.S.B., Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, 00153 Rome, Italy

STEVEN J. FRIESEN, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in
the Ruins (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). Pp. xiii + 285. $49.95.
It is commonplace in the handbooks and commentaries to read that the Apocalypse
of John was written at a time when John and other Christians suffered for refusing to
worship the Roman emperor. Evidence for emperor worship is drawn primarily from
second-century works authored in Rome by writers favoring the senatorial class, such as
Tacitus, Pliny, and Suetonius, and secondarily from a few archaeological remains such as
the imperial temple at Pergamum—identified as the "throne of Satan" (Rev 2:13)—or the
gigantic head and big toe found at Ephesus, which supposedly illustrates Domitian's
arrogant claims even though it is the remains of a statue of brother Titus. The Apocalypse
is then dated in the reign of either Nero or Domitian, who, according to Eusebius, showed
himself the successor of Nero in enmity and hostility to God (Hist Eccl 3.17). Scholarship
^ s
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