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Philo's Allegorical Interpretation describes the mind higher than body's other functions. The Apocalypse of Abraham echoes this order of body, soul, and spirit in a rebuke to Terah for letting foolishness govern his devotion to idols.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Philo, Allegorical Interpretation 1:13
Classical
As the face is the dominant element in the body, so is the mind the dominant element of the soul: into this only does God breathe, whereas He does not see fit to do so with the other parts, whether senses or organs of utterance and of reproduction ; for these are secondary in capacity. By what, then, were these also inspired ? By the mind, evidently. For the mind imparts to the portion of the soul that is devoid of reason a share of that which it has received from God, so that the mind was be-souled by God, but the unreasoning part by the mind.
Date: 20-50 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Apocalypse of Abraham 6:3
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 When I, Abraham, however, heard such words from my father, I laughed in my mind and sighed in the grief and in the anger of my soul, 2 and said: "How then can that which is made by him — manufactured statues — be a helper of my father? 3 Or shall the body then be subject to its soul, and the soul to the spirit, and the spirit to folly and ignorance!" 4 And I said: "It is fitting once to endure evil. So I will direct my mind to what is pure and lay my thoughts open before him." 5 [And] I answered and said: "O father Terah, whichever of these you praise as a god, you are foolish in your mind.
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Notes and References
“... This description is reminiscent of Philo’s (originally Platonic) views on the tri-
partite hierarchical nature of the soul, which consists of the highest, rational part nous (intellect)
and two spiritual parts of different grades; ...”
Kulik, Alexander
"Apocalypse of Abraham" in Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman (eds.) Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture
(p. 1459) The Jewish Publication Society, 2013
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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