De Vita Contemplativa is known for its depiction of a philosophical group of Jewish men and women known as the ‘Therapeutae’. This commentary sets the treatise in its historical context and explores Philo’s aims in depicting them as he did.

Reproduction of the original.

Written around the end of the fifth century or the beginning of the sixth, this work, composed at the urgent request of a bishop, is an expression of the ideals of the contemplative and the active life, supplemented by a discussion of the vices and the virtues. +

Throughout the spiritual journey, God’s love engenders within every Christian active, contemplative, and solitary inclinations. Consequently, each person wants to do some good, to have a basic receptivity to God, and at times to be alone with God. As life unfolds, God’s love also calls forth within a person an overriding attraction toward one of those three orientations, which in due course impels the individual toward a corresponding vocational lifestyle: an apostolic life, a contemplative life, or an eremitic life. In this book, the authors identify the core features of those three vocational lifestyles. In light of each vocational core, they then discuss an ensemble of signs and patterns that point to an authentic calling from God. This study offers wisdom and insight to those pondering the mystery of their personal vocations, to those discerning their vocational direction, and to spiritual directors, formation personnel, ecclesial leadership, and Christian educators who accompany them in their quest.

This volume deals with the appropriations, criticism and transformation of Plato’s and Aristotle’s positions about theory, practice and the contemplative life, including their epistemological and metaphysical foundations, from Theophrastus to the end of Antiquity (including Jewish and Christian authors).