Plutarch's Parable: Lux Gospel and the Axe of the Apostle

Two thousand years ago, during the time Jesus was teaching and traveling around the Judean countryside, a school of philosophy and religion existed in Alexandria, Egypt. One of the most famous philosophers to teach in this school is now known as Philo of Alexandria or Philo the Jew. According to many biblical scholars, Philo's essays on the allegorical interpretation of scripture may be the most valuable legacy he left behind. It was the allegorical rather than the literal interpretation that Philo considered most important. He taught that it was the meaning behind the story that conveyed the deeper "Truths." Philo left examples of the "allegorical messages" that could be found in the Torah, and he encouraged his students and followers to seek to find these higher meanings in scripture and myth. But the church leaders who ultimately gave birth to today's Christianity were split over this issue of "allegory" versus "literal." When Constantine claimed conversion in the fourth century and joined forces with the church fathers struggling for control over the masses, it was the literal rather than the allegorical interpretation that won out. With Constantine's help, the "Literalists" gained control and the "Allegorists" found themselves thrown into the "Heretic" pile. They were denigrated as Satanists, hunted down, tortured, and murdered - often roasted over open fires and their bodies eventually burned. Their "heretical" manuscripts which attempted to teach the allegorical meaning of scripture were also burned, and the libraries that held them usually went up in the same smoke. But a few copies of Philo's "Rules for the Allegorical Interpretation of Scripture" survived. And a modern biblical investigator has set about using them to interpret Luke-Acts allegorically. Luke, it seems, used a clever technique that virtually assured the intact transmission of his message. All that was needed was someone to apply Philo's rules to the two texts to uncover an amazing story that totally redefines who Jesus was and what happened to him and his message two thousand years ago. In addition to the story unearthed beneath allusions to the classics, the Old Testament, ancient myths, and code-names and words, is Luke's true identity. He was not "Paul's beloved physician," as has been claimed during the past two millennia. His identity is almost as unexpected as the "good news" about Jesus that Luke buried behind references to the prophet Isaiah and the opening lines of Phaenomena by Aratus, a Greek poet of Cilicia. Portions of the introduction to Anna's Angel, a novel based on Plutarch's Parable, explain: Fact: Apollonius of Tyana was born circa 4 BCE to a very wealthy family. He received a Pythagorean education, adopted the Pythagorean lifestyle, and traveled extensively throughout the Roman Empire, teaching and establishing congregations wherever he went. He made several trips to Alexandria, Egypt, where he described the Therapeuts living near Lake Mareotis. He lived and taught his philosophy until circa 96 ACE. Fact: Philo of Alexandria's date of birth is uncertain. Estimates are based on the things about which he wrote and when he ceased writing. His writing began circa 30 and ceased, circa 50 ACE; therefore, his estimated date of birth ranges from 2 to 30 BCE. Little is known about him other than what he, himself, reported. He, too, wrote about the group of Therapeuts that resided at Lake Mareotis, near Alexandria. Fact: Thanks to Josephus, more is known about Philo's brother, Alexander, but what is known about him should also apply to Philo in some ways. According to Josephus Alexander was a wealthy and prominent Roman government official, a customs agent responsible for collecting dues on all goods imported into Egypt from the East. Two of Alexander's sons, Marcus and Tiberius Julius, were involved in Roman affairs. Marcus, Philo's nephew, married Bernice, the daughter of Herod Agrippa I. This same Bernice is mentione