Elsewhere than in Judaea, it has been well said, religious development
reaches unity only by sacrificing personality. But the prophets, whose
conception of God was imaginative rather than rational, preserved His
nearness while expanding His sway. Israel, to use Philo's etymology,
is the man who sees God,[173] and his religious genius gave to the
world a personal incorporeal Deity, who is both transcendent and
immanent, personal and yet above human conception. It is unnecessary
to quote evidence of this view of the Godhead in the Bible, and it
would be superfluous to adduce passages from the rabbis, did they not
bear a striking similarity to the words of Philo. God to them is not
only the Creator of the world, but also the Father of the world, the
Governor of the world, the Only One of the world, the Space of the
world, filling it as the soul fills the body.[174] Now, this Jewish
conception of God is dominant in Philo. To him also God is not only
the Creator but the Father of the universe.[175] He is the One and the
All.[176] He is ever at rest, yet he outstrippeth everything, nearest
to everyone, yet far removed, everywhere and nowhere, above and
outside the universe, yet filling creation with Himself.[177] Philo
loves to attach to the Deity these opposite predicates, for in this
way alone can we form for ourselves some conception, however
inadequate, of His Being.
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