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Philo’s Therapeutai: Philosopher’s Dream or Utopian Construction?

Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology, St Thomas More College, 1437 College Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W6, Canada

This article takes issue, on rhetorical and geographical grounds, with Engberg-Pedersen’s (1999) argument that Philo’s De Vita Contemplativa is a ‘philosopher’s dream’. Further, it is argued that while Philo’s description of the Therapeutai/Therapeutrides is shaped by Hellenistic utopian conventions, particularly Iambulus’ account of the Islands of the Sun (Diodorus Siculus 2.55-60), Philo’s account is sober and realistic enough to suggest that he was describing a real community of Jewish contemplatives of which he had direct knowledge.

Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, Vol. 14, No. 1, 30-42 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/095182070401400102


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