The ‘Strange Woman’ of Proverbs

The ‘Strange Woman’ of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs refers to the strange woman. For example, Chapter 5 says:
[1] My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
[2] That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
[3] For the lips of a strange woman drop as an [...]

Philo on the temptation of Adam and Eve

ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION, II{*}
II. (4) …”For I will make him,” says God, “a help-meet for him.” And, in the second place, is younger than the object to be helped; for, first of all, God created the mind [i.e., Adam], and subsequently he prepares to make its helper [Eve, as we shall see]. But all this [...]

Commentary on Psalm 71 (72)

Psalm 71 (72)
This is a magnificent psalm. Here an interpretation is offered following depth-psychological framework developed in several of these posts.
To begin, we recall a primary principle of depth-psychological exegesis: that every element in the scripture corresponds to some element of the  self, psyche, or personality.
The Messiah’s royal power
Give the king your [...]

Daily Scripture Readings

Isaiah 25: 6 – 10
6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over [...]

On Philo’s Allegorical Exigesis of Genesis

On Philo’s Allegorical Exigesis of Genesis
While this shorter explanation in a catechetical form [Questions and Answers on Genesis] was intended for more extensive circles, Philo’s special and chief scientific work is his large allegorical commentary on Genesis [Allegorical Interpretation I-III]…
These two works frequently approximate each other as to their contents. For in the Quaestiones et [...]

Philo – Waters of Life (1)

Philo – Waters of Life (1)
Philo of Alexandria (Philo Judaeus; c. 20 BC – c. 50 AD)
Allegorical Interpretation 1.11.28
XI. (28) But a fountain went up upon the earth, and watered all the face of the earth.  [Genesis 2:6; LXX]
He here calls the mind the fountain of the earth, and the sensations he calls the face [...]

Philo – Tree of Life (3)

Philo – Tree of Life (3)
Philo of Alexandria (Philo Judaeus; c. 20 BC – c. 50 AD)
Allegorical Interpretation 1.17.56-1.18.62
XVII. (56) And God caused to rise out of the earth every tree which is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life he raised in the middle of the Paradise, and [...]

Philo – Tree of Life (2)

Philo – Tree of Life (2)

Philo of Alexandria (Philo Judaeus; c. 20 BC – c. 50 AD)

On The Migration Of Abraham 8.36-42
VIII. (36) That then which is shown is that thing so worthy of being beheld, so worthy of being contemplated, so worthy of being beloved, the perfect good, the nature of which is to [...]

Philo – Tree of Life (1)

Philo – Tree of Life (1)

Philo of Alexandria (Philo Judaeus; c. 20 BC – c. 50 AD)
Questions and Answers on Genesis 1.10
Question: What is meant by the tree of life, and why it was placed in the middle of the Paradise? (Genesis 2:9).
Some people have believed that, if there were really plants of a corporeal [...]

Evagrius Ponticus and the ‘Wanderer’ Demon

The Wanderer Demon
Evagrius Ponticus is an important but (in Latin Catholicism) under-appreciated Church Father. An astute psychologist, Evagrius analyzed in exacting detail the cognitive psychology of religious life. One major legacy is his formalization of the idea of the seven deadly sins. This is a more sophisticated concept than people often realize; his purpose was [...]