The contribution which Philo of Alexandria made to spiritual religion has been largely overlooked, because attention has been focused on the philosophical significance of his thought. This was the aspect of his writings which won for him the interest of the Christian Fathers. At a time when they were eagerly seeking to bridge the gulf between the new religion and the old philosophy, which for many of them formed the chief content of their intellectual life, they found in Philo, the Jew, a thinker who had already attempted to reconcile the claims of reason and revelation. His attitude to the psychology, metaphysics and ethics of his Hellenistic environment corresponded in many respects to their own.
– From the Introduction