Did God Care? Providence, Dualism, and Will in Later Greek and Early Christian Philosophy, written by Dylan M. Burns

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-237
Author(s):  
Giannis Stamatellos
Keyword(s):  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian

Scriptural Exegesis or Speculative Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-298
Author(s):  
Pablo Irizar
Keyword(s):  
Formal System ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Speculative Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Sacred And Profane ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Scriptural Exegesis

Summary Dogmatic debates in early Christianity shaped philosophical discourse just as Greek philosophy offered the conceptual tools to engage and, accordingly to crystalize early Christian practice, into a formal system of belief. Thus, in the recently-published The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics, Johannes Zachhuber notes that “Patristic thought as a whole can be identified as a Christian philosophy.” Following suit – though not without nuance – this paper suggests treating Patristic scriptural exegesis as an exercise of speculative philosophy, as evidenced in Augustine’s interpretation of the figure of the cross at Eph 3.18, where the cross progressively becomes a simple yet compelling paradigm of divine manifestation. This paradigm can be framed according to Augustine’s mature articulation of the ‘ontological principle’ of manifestation in s. 165: “From the depth which you cannot see rises everything that you can see.” By engaging in scriptural exegesis, within a gestalt where Wisdom, sacred and profane alike, merge in the incarnate God manifest in Christ, Augustine articulates unprecedented philosophical principles.

scholarly journals Integration of Divine Impassibility with the Theopaschite Formulas in Early Christianity

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 216-224
Author(s):  
A. M. Streltsov
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Flexible Approach ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Christian Thought

This article deals with a variety of opinions concerning impassibility of God in the early Christian thought of the first three centuries. Along with obvious similarities of this concept with the stance of the ancient philosophical theology certain differences also present themselves, the most obvious of which marks the presence of theopaschite formulas due to the doctrine of Incarnation. The viewpoints stretch from the rigid insistence on impassibility (Apologists, Clement of Alexandria) to a more flexible approach of Origen and, finally, to the statement that it is possible to speak of the divine suffering in some sense (Gregory Thaumaturgus). With no unified terminology worked out, Patristics of this period, nevertheless, managed to lay an appropriate framework enabling the development of metaphysics of «impassible suffering» of God in subsequent Christian philosophy.

scholarly journals Epistemic restraint and the vice of curiosity

Philosophy ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil C. Manson
Keyword(s):  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Epistemic Virtues ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Realm ◽  
The Way

AbstractIn recent years there has been wide-ranging discussion of epistemic virtues. Given the value and importance of acquiring knowledge this discussion has tended to focus upon those traits that are relevant to the acquisition of knowledge. This acquisitionist focus ignores or downplays the importance of epistemic restraint: refraining from seeking knowledge. In contrast, in many periods of history, curiosity was viewed as a vice. By drawing upon critiques of curiositas in Middle Platonism and Early Christian philosophy, we gain useful insights into the value and importance of epistemic restraint. The historical discussion paves the way for a clarification of epistemic restraint, one that distinguishes the morally relevant features of epistemic process, content, purpose, and context. Epistemic restraint is identified as an important virtue where our epistemic pursuits pose risks and burdens, where such pursuits have opportunity costs, where they are pursued for vicious purposes. But it is in the social realm where epistemic restraint has most purchase: epistemic restraint is important both because privacy is important and because being trusted are important. Finally, some suggestions are offered as to why epistemic restraint has not received the contemporary attention that it deserves.

scholarly journals “Nous alone enters from outside” - Aristotelian embryology and early Christian philosophy

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-138
Author(s):  
Sophia Connell
Keyword(s):  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relevant Context

In a work entitled On the Generation of Animals, Aristotle remarks that “intellect (nous) alone enters from outside (thurathen)”. Interpretations of this passage as dualistic dominate the history of ideas and allow for a joining together of Platonic and Aristotelian doctrine on the soul. This, however, pulls against the well-known Aristotelian position that soul and body are intertwined and interdependent. The most influential interpretations thereby misrepresent Aristotle’s view on soul and lack any real engagement with his embryology. This paper seeks to extract the account of intellect (nous) in Aristotelian embryology from this interpretative background and place it within the context of his mature biological thought. A clear account of the actual import of this statement in its relevant context is given before explaining how it has been misunderstood by various interpretative traditions. The paper finishes by touching on how early commentary by Christian writers, freed as it was from the imperative to synthesise Greek philosophy, differed from those that came after. While realising that Aristotle’s position would not aid them in their explanations of the soul’s survival after death, their engagement with Aristotle’s science allowed for other aspects of theology concerning the fittingness of soul to body.

Commentaries

2019 ◽  
pp. 169-186
Author(s):  
Josef Lössl
Keyword(s):  
Late Antique ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Biblical Commentary ◽  
Origen Of Alexandria ◽  
History Of ◽  
Commentary Tradition

This chapter offers an introduction to the origins, main characteristics, and some main representatives of the early Christian biblical commentary. It outlines the emergence of the biblical and Late Antique philosophical commentary from the context of the late Hellenistic and early post-Hellenistic study of grammar and rhetoric (e.g. in Homeric scholarship), and discusses the role of Origen of Alexandria as the main theorist and practitioner of the early Christian biblical commentary, including Origen’s treatment of commentary topics (topoi) and his conceptualization of his commentarial activity as a form of Christian philosophy, or science. It then continues with an overview of the history of the early Christian biblical commentary after Origen, touching upon the history of the Antiochene school of exegesis and upon the Latin commentary tradition culminating in Jerome of Stridon and Augustine of Hippo.

The Perennial Philosophy

Philosophy ◽  
1947 ◽  
Vol 22 (81) ◽  
pp. 66-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. R. Inge
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
The West ◽  
Great Ability ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Perennial Philosophy ◽  
Parallel Movement

The phrase philosophia perennis is said to have been first used by Leibniz. It has been adopted and freely employed by the Catholic Neo-Thomists, for whom it means a development of the Aristotelianism, modified by strong Neoplatonic elements, which Arabian scholars transmitted to the first Renaissance in the West. It claims also to be a return to the early Christian philosophy of religion, a fusion of Hellenistic and Jewish thought, the latter itself a syncretistic religion with many Persian and other borrowings. The controversy, directed against various modern philosophies, has been conducted with great ability by such writers as Gilson, Maritain, Sheen, Watkin, Dawson and D'Arcy, whose books would perhaps have received more attention from independent thinkers, but for the suspicion which surrounds apparent attempts to revive the methods and inhibitions of the medieval schoolmen.There has been a parallel movement in the Orthodox Eastern Church, represented in Russian by Frank, Bardyaeff, Solovioff and Lossky. These writers are more Platonic and more fearlessly mystical than the Thomists. Origen in the East has more weight than Augustine.

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