Philo Judaeus of AlexandriaA previous century of seminal research by great Philonic scholars include Leopold Cohn, Belkin, Goodenough, Wolfson, Sandmel, Tcherikover, Neusner, and Feldman. Recently the work of Winston, VanderKam, Carlos Levy, Chilton, Schiffman, and others is shedding further light on Philo’s oeuvre, his thought, scriptural exegesis, politics, social history, influence on Christianity, and genuine non-apolegetic interest in and influence from Zeno, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, Plato, Pythagoreans, Peripatetics, and Stoicism. St. Jerome wrote that Philo was a “Jewish Plato” and Numenius’ remarked that with Philo;s allegorical philosophical writings, “Plato is Moses speaking in Attic (Greek). Today Philo in the computer age of digitization, internet resources, and databases includes the great database Perseus, offering access to the Loeb Greek and English edition of Philo plus work on the historical context.
A few of the many questions surrounding Philo include: (1) What kind of Jew is Philo?, (2) What is Philo’s view of G-d, the Bible, the law, marriage, temple service, predestination, the Therapeutae, (3) How does Philo differ from the Pharisees and Sadducees, (4) How did Philo’s praxis navigate political life as a Homo politicus governed by elders (gerousia) by writing cryptically in critizicing Roman decadence? (5) What is Philo’s view on the role of Israel and the diaspora, (6) What is the nature of Philo’s allegorical method that foreinstance casts each person in the Tanakh to represent a particular view such as Iyov is allied with patience (Savlanut), Sara and Dovid HaMelekh (with Malchut), Avraham with emunah, Yitzak with Yirat Shamayim, Yakov with emet, Yosef with Tiferet etc? (7) What was Philo’s classical education like?, (8) What can we learn of the Jews of Alexandria and the pograms the Jews suffered there from Philo’s writings? (9) What is the place of Philonic studies using computer programs, ( 10) Semantic aspects of the nature of Philo’s use of Greek language, (11) The importance of Philo for New Testament studies and Church Fathers up to 1000 C.E. ?, (12) Philo’s relevance for the study of Jews and Judaism in antiquity?, (13) Why did Philo interpret Moses through the lens of Hellenistic philosophy, (14) Philo’s understanding of heavenly reward in payment of virtues (arête) of courage (andrea), sophrasune (temperance), great-souledness (Megalopsychuia ), magnanimity (Megalopreia), patience (Praotes), truthfulness (Aletheia), friendliness (Friendliness), modesty (aidos), etc. in the eternal realm of wisdom, forms (eidos), the beautiful (kalos), and ultimate happiness (eudaimonia) versus the lower world of logos?, (15) why do subsequent Jewish philosophers not often cite Philo but interest in Philo was preserved by the Christian Church to a large extent, (16) Is this because allegorical interpretation was downplaid as authoritative in Jewish law versus halakic or legal commentary extracting a praxis rather than theoria? (17) Why for example does Rambam with reluctance confess that the Great Eagle is going to resort to revealing a “parable” or allegory (mushal) to describe those with proximity to Hashem in the 7 heavens, essentially adopting a Philo way of revealing truth in Chapter 51 part III of the Moreh Nevukhim, see
http://press.tau.ac.il/perplexed/chapters/chap_3_51.htm
(18) although Rabbinic exegesis views halakhah as trumpting aggadata what can we continue to learn from Philo’s allegorical interpretations to today for illuminating biblical exegesis?
Philo's Portrayal of Moses in the Context of Ancient Judaism by 
The New Complete Works of Josephus by 
Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B. C. E to 640 C. E. by 
