Complete Works of Philo Judaeus, Vol. 1

...the more we are convinced that a Greek index will not be unwelcome even to those outside of Greece who desire to know Philo.

As for the rest, we earnestly urge students of theology—for whose use we intend to publish the Greek books of Josephus, Philo, and the Church Fathers—to study Philo with the utmost diligence above all others. For in the books of this Jewish philosopher are contained not a few things that contribute greatly to the stirring and nourishing of a sense of piety, a love of virtue, and the study of rational philosophy. From these, any truly studious theologian, if he compares them accurately with the books of the New Testament and the writings of the Fathers, will learn what is the truer source of our dogmatic theology, and for what reason it differs in many points from that most simple religion which we owe to Jesus and his disciples. Finally, through reading these, if anyone has fallen into the errors of the most shameful mystics or Pietists, as they are called, and others of that kind who, in our time, attempt to reheat the dark opinions of the past age regarding sacred things, he will be healed by a certain homoeopathic a method of curing by like substances manner, if I may use this term.

So that these benefits might also reach those who are ignorant of the Greek language, we have conceived a plan to translate the books of Philo into the vernacular, and we have begun this endeavor some time ago, so that in the first months of the next year, the first part of the German Philo, with brief notes illustrating the author himself, the writers of the New Testament, and the principal chapters of dogmatic theology, may be published.