Synopses & Reviews
In this book, originally published by Cambridge University Press, Bruce Winter gathers the available evidence on the first-century sophistic movement in Alexandria and Corinth and offers the first comprehensive discussion of this movement as it relates to the writings of Philo and Paul.
Winter shows that while both these contemporary Hellenistic Jews responded to the movement on the basis of the Old Testament, Philo was also indebted to Plato for his assessment while Paul filtered the Old Testament texts through the message of Jesus. This valuable study provides important insights into the problems that the sophistic movement created for Diaspora Jews in Alexandria and for Christians in Corinth, and it also fills a crucial gap in our understanding of the Second Sophistic.
Synopsis
In this highly acclaimed work, Bruce Winter gathers for the first time all the available evidence on the first-century sophistic movement from two major centers of learning in the East. Together with the writings of the contemporary Hellenistic Jews, Philo and Paul, he discusses all the protagonists and antagonists of this movement in Alexandria and Corinth. This study provides important insights into the problems that this elitist movement created for Diaspora Jews in Alexandria and for Christians in Corinth. It also traces the origins of the Second Sophistic in the reign of Nero.
Substantially revised and including a new foreword by G. W. Bowersock, this volume is also supported by a web site -- www.s ophist.info -- featuring additional archaeological evidence and photographs.
Synopsis
In this highly acclaimed book Bruce Winter gathers all the available evidence on first-century sophistry in Alexandria and Corinth and offers the first comprehensive discussion of this movement as it relates to the writings of Philo and Paul.
Plumbing the historical record, Winter shows that while these contemporary Hellenistic Jews both responded to the sophistic movement on the basis of the Old Testament, Philo was also indebted to Plato for his assessment, whereas Paul filtered the Old Testament texts through the message of Jesus. This valuable study provides crucial insights into the nature of Paul's sterling rhetoric as well as the problems that the sophistic movement created for Diaspora Jews in Alexandria and for the early Christians in Corinth.