On Philo Moral Theology And Its Core Concept Of Natural Law To Resolve

The ethical theology occupies an important situation in the religious theory that based on the Hebrew Bible. The "ethical theology" that we talk about is defined according to the origin of the word, while not the definition of the word in Christianity. "Theology" is composed of "theos" and "logos" which means the theory or the principles of the gods. Philo's ethical theology is the basement of his whole theory, and it starts off the faith of the God of the Judaism and the human reason in order to find the principles of how to practice the faith. These principles attain the assurance and the legitimacy from the God that follows the traditions of the natural law in the Judaism. At the time of Philo, because of the strong influence of Greek culture, the Hebrew Bible must be explained under the new historical background or it couldn't be understood for the Jew of Alexandria.In order to finish the historical task, Philo constructed his own ethical theology that based on the Judaism, the Greek philosophy, allegorical method and his scriptural presuppositions. In his whole ethical theology Philo insisted the Hebraic moral commandments.The natural law is the core of Philo's theory. By studying the theory of Stoic and Platonism, he assimilated the concepts of Creator and transcend legislator into his own theory, and found the transcend background of the natural law. He changed the traditional understanding of the concept of God much abstract and logical, and he separated the existing of God and the function of God. Then he defined the natural law as the appearance of logos that exists before the creation of the world, which harmonized the natural law, the faith of logos and the commandments in the Hebrew Bible.This step is only the basement of Philo's ethical theology. He has to carry out his theory to the ethical practice, and he must use his theory to protect the essence of Judaism.The Jew believes that: the redemption doesn't mean the chasing of the knowledge of God, but means the practice of the God's commandments in everyday life. Through his moral life, every believer can create his own existing in the religion. Each one has the right to love God. In the prophetic words, the knowing and the behavior became one thing. What the God said is commandment. The way of thinking combined the religion and life together. The Jew uses a practical way to resolve the transcend problem, and assure the dignity on the face of the omnipotent God.Philo's ethical is concerned of a lot of questions, and here we only talk about several much important. For example, the Greek context contained in Philo's ethical theology, the divine rights and the human responsibility, the method of mysticism, the experience of mysticism, the relationship of the body and the mind.Through the argument of Philo, the theory of natural law got the color of Hellenism and Judaism. The works of Philo of Alexandria constitute the earliest extensive body of writings in which appears a conscious effort to harmonize and to merge the traditions of Greek philosophy and of Biblical religion.