On the Creation of the Cosmos According to Moses (review)

In this inaugural volume of the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series, Runia skillfully explicates the Philonic text De Opificio Mundi. This volume of combined translation and commentary debuts a new rendering of the Greek text into English along with a careful and thorough analysis of its content. First, Runia offers a helpful introduction that places Opif. in the literary context of the Phil-onic corpus and the intellectual contexts of first-century Alexandrian Judaism and the philosophical schools of Middle-Platonism and Stoicism. Here Runia also intro-duces key concepts that he engages throughout the commentary such as Philonic exegesis, Philo's use of numerical symbolism, and the impact which Opif. had on later, generally Christian, authors. Runia terms the latter the Nachleben of the text.

Next, Runia offers a translation of the text which is based on Cohn's 1896 critical edition but which takes into account existing textual variants. The result is a fine, consistent, and clear translation that incorporates twenty modifications of the Greek critical edition. The author supplies notes to the translation and further discusses relevant issues of translation in the body of the commentary. In many ways Runia's English rendering replaces the widely used LCL edition by Colson and Whitaker.

Runia divides Opif. into twenty-five chapters that he derived by theme or by references to explicit biblical narrative. While the commentary is also arranged according to these chapter divisions, the author retains the Philonic section numbers throughout the translation. This format makes it easy for the reader to reference previous research on any given text in Opif.

In the commentary, Runia offers a careful analysis of the text. Each chapter, mirroring the twenty-five chapter divisions of the text, is structured in a similar way. The author begins with an overview, which he terms "general comments" and then offers more detailed remarks, often consisting of a line by line analysis, on the text itself. Next, Runia examines what he refers to as the paralleled exegesis of cited and alluded biblical texts in Opif., and in this very helpful section he looks at Philo's use of the biblical text in the other treatises of the Philonic Corpus. Runia then gives attention to the Nachleben or the influence of the text on later writings, a section that will be of special interest to scholars in Patristics. After addressing some special topics of interest in a section entitled "Excursus," the author ends each chapter with suggested reading.

The Excursus in particular display Runia's insight and expertise. Examining a range of topics in relatively short and accessible fashion, he frequently uses this section to engage pivotal works from secondary literature and to talk about prior research on Opif. He also utilizes this section to consider relevant contextual background and other topics and issues. For example, we find a discussion of Hellenistic cosmic religion and Philo's understanding of the heavenly bodies in §53-61, the use of numerical sources in Philo's formulation of the Hebdomad in §92-127, and Philo's attitude toward women and sexuality in §152.

Throughout the work Runia offers a careful discussion of secondary literature, and his twenty-page bibliography will be of great value for students and researchers alike. The separation of the translation from the accompanying commentary makes for awkwardness as the reader finds herself flipping back and forth between the two, but the author's analysis and insight outweigh this inconvenience. This translation and commentary will be a necessary and happy addition to institutional libraries and to the bookshelves of the serious Philonic scholar. However, its relatively high cost will limit its use as a required text in the graduate-level classroom.