Philo of Alexandria

The foremost Jewish philosopher of the Hellenistic period; used systematic allegorical interpretation to synthesize the Hebrew Bible with Platonic and Stoic philosophy; developed the concept of the divine Logos as intermediary between the transcendent God and creation; his corpus represents the first major synthesis of biblical monotheism and Greek philosophical reason.

His allegorical method became foundational for both Christian and rabbinic exegesis; his concept of the Logos as the image of God and instrument of creation directly influenced the prologue of the Gospel of John and subsequent Christian Logos theology; his synthesis of Athens and Jerusalem set the template for all subsequent philosophical theology.