Editing Philo (section)

== Legacy ==
Although Philo was a Jewish Middle Platonist, his influence on both Platonism and Judaism was limited compared to his adaptation by the early Christian Church fathers. His impact on Platonism was mainly restricted to Christian Middle Platonists such as [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Origen]], and even potential connections to [[Numenius of Apamea]], a 2nd-century CE Middle Platonist who also wrote on Judaism and was influenced by [[Pythagoreanism]], cannot be definitively proven.{{sfn|Dillon|1996|p=144}}

=== Judaism ===
Though never properly attributed, Philo's marriage of [[Jewish exegesis]] with [[Stoicism]] and [[Platonism]] provided a formula later picked up by other [[Midrash]] content from the 3rd and 4th centuries. Philo's ideas were further developed by later Judaism in the doctrines of the [[Voice of God|Divine Word]] creating the world, the divine throne-chariot and its cherub, the divine splendor and its [[Shekhinah]], the name of God, as well as the names of the angels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Marmorstein |first=A. |date=1920 |title=The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God, Two Volumes: I. The Names and Attributes of God and II, Essays in Anthropomorphism  |location=New York |publisher=JQR |pages=41–45 and 295–306}}</ref>

Some claimed this lack of credit or affinity for Philo by the Rabbinic leadership at the time was due to his adoption of [[Allegorical interpretation of the Bible|allegorical]] instead of [[Biblical literalism|literal interpretations]] of the [[Hebrew Bible]]. However, this was more likely due to his criticism of Rabbinic scholars,<ref>{{cite journal |author=N. A. Dahl and Alan F. Segal |date=1978 |title=Philo and the Rabbis on the Names of God |journal=Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=1–28 |doi=10.1163/157006378X00012 |jstor=24656850}}</ref> as Philo argued their works and ideas were "full of Sybaritic profligacy and licentiousness to their everlasting shame",<ref>''De Vita Mosis, I'', I.1</ref> "eager to give a specious appearance to infamous actions, so as to secure notoriety for disgraceful deeds",<ref>''De Vita Mosis, I'', I.3</ref> and ultimately, that he "disregards the envious disposition of such men, and shall proceed to narrate the true events of Moses' life," of which he felt were unjustly hidden.<ref>''De Vita Mosis, I'', I.4</ref>

For a long time, Philo was read and analyzed chiefly by Christian authors. [[Azariah dei Rossi]]'s ''Me'or Enayim: Imre Binah'' (1575), one of the first Jewish commentaries on Philo, describes four "serious defects" of Philo: reading the Torah in Greek, not Hebrew; belief in primordial matter rather than {{lang|la|[[creatio ex nihilo]]}}; unbelief in the Lord as evidenced by excessively allegorical interpretation of scripture; and neglect of the [[Oral Torah|Jewish oral tradition]]. Dei Rossi later gives a possible defense of Philo and writes that he can neither absolve nor convict him.<ref>Naomi G. Cohen, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23263764 Philo Judaeus and the True Torah Library]"; ''Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought'' 41(3), Fall 2008.</ref>