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Cited by 59Biblical Studies and InterpretationClassical Antiquity StudiesReligion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity

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The So-Called Therapeutae of De Vita Contemplativa: Identity and Character

Taylor, Joan E., Davies, Philip R.·1998·Harvard Theological Review
DOI 10.1017/s0017816000006416
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Abstract

It has become quite common in scholarship to consider the community described by Philo inDe vita contemplativaas a specific Jewish group comprising contemplative Essenes or people somehow related to the Essenes. In this study, we shall explore the meaning of Philo's masculine and feminine designations, θεραπευταί and θεραπευτρίδες, and consider the possibility that these words referred not to the male and female members of one group that was part of a Therapeutae sect, but to individuals whom Philo understood as exemplary devotees of God. We shall also consider a few matters concerning the character of the group. Overall, this study seeks to call into question the assumption that, in hisDe vita contemplativa, Philo is describing an Essene community in Egypt.

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Research works printed but not linked: 32

  1. Taylor, 1993, Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins, 198, 10.1093/oso/9780198147855.001.0001 · DOI
  2. Baer, 1979, Philo's Use of the Categories Male and Female
  3. Simon, 1960, Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus, 120
  4. Wegner, 1991, Women Like This: New Perspectives on Women in the Greco-Roman World, 41
  5. Vermes, 1983, Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels, 59
  6. Roussel, 1916, Les cultes égyptiens à Délos du Hie au ler siècle avant J- C., 175
  7. 10.1515/9783110860849 · DOI
  8. Taylor, 1941, Cont., 10, 105
  9. McLean, 1993, Origins and Method: Toward a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity, 334
  10. Wilcken, 1922, Urkunden der Ptolemäerzeit, 19
  11. Scholer's, 1993, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, xv
  12. Harris, 1989, Ancient Literacy, 142, 10.4159/9780674038370 · DOI
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  14. Daumas, 1963, De vita contemplativa
  15. Sly, 1990, Philo's Perception of Women
  16. Riaud, 1987, Les Thérapeutes d'Alexandrie dans la tradition et dans la recherche critique jusqu'aux découvertes de Qumran, ANRW, 2, 1189
  17. Pliny, Nat. Hist., 5.17.4, 73
  18. Kock, 1980, Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta, 3, 541
  19. Hay, 1992, SBL 1992 Seminar Papers, 673
  20. 10.1017/S0017816000006180 · DOI
  21. Cosson, 1935, Mareotis: Being a Short Account of the History and Ancient Monuments of the North-Western Desert of Egypt and of Lake Mareotis, 106
  22. Smith, 1875, An Atlas of Ancient Geography, Biblical and Classical
  23. Forster, 1968, Alexandria: A History and a Guide, 5
  24. Barrow, 1976, Greek and Roman Education, 76
  25. Sly, 1996, Philo's Alexandria, 37
  26. Kraemer, 1992, Her Share of the Bessings: Women's Religions Among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World, 114, 10.1093/oso/9780195066869.001.0001 · DOI
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  28. Pomeroy, 1977, Technikai kai Mousikai: The Education of Women in the Fourth Century and in the Hellenistic Period, American Journal of Ancient History, 2, 51
  29. Marrou, 1956, A History of Education in Antiquity, 134
  30. 10.1086/494513 · DOI
  31. Vermes, 1989, The Essenes according to the Classical Sources, 76
  32. Bergmeier, 1993, Die Essener-Berichte des Flavius Josephus: Quellenstudien zu den Essenertexten im Werk desjiidischen Historiographen, 41

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Metadata

Authors
Taylor, J. E., & Davies, P. R.
Affiliations
  • University of Waikato (NZ)
  • University of Sheffield (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Harvard Theological Review
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
1998-01
Volume
91
Issue
1
Pages
3-24
ISSN
  • 0017-8160 (ISSN-L)
  • 1475-4517
DOI
10.1017/s0017816000006416
OpenAlex
W2009658573
Cited by
59
References
0
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2014: 3
FWCI
5.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 4908 d)
Locations
Harvard Theological Review (publishedVersion)
Funders
Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Classics › Classical Antiquity Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity
Keywords
Philo of Alexandria, De vita contemplativa, Therapeutae, Essenes, Jewish sects, identity, Hellenistic Judaism, Egypt

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The So-Called Therapeutae of De Vita Contemplativa: Identity and Character. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1017/s0017816000006416
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Taylor, J. E., & Davies, P. R. (1998). The So-Called Therapeutae of De Vita Contemplativa: Identity and Character. Harvard Theological Review. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0017816000006416