The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Philosophy

671 Pages·2020·4.5 MB·English

by  Mark Edwards

The Routledge Handbook of
Early Christian Philosophy
This volume offers the most comprehensive survey available of the philosophical background to
the works of early Christian writers and the development of early Christian doctrine.
It examines how the same philosophical questions were approached by Christian and
pagan thinkers; the philosophical element in Christian doctrines; the interaction of particular
philosophies with Christian thought; and the constructive use of existing philosophies by all
Christian thinkers of late antiquity. While most studies of ancient Christian writers and the
development of early Christian doctrine make some reference to the philosophic background,
this is often of an anecdotal character, and does not enable the reader to determine whether
the likenesses are deep or superficial, or how pervasively one particular philosopher may have
influenced Christian thought. This volume is designed to provide not only a body of facts more
compendious than can be found elsewhere, but the contextual information which will enable
readers to judge or clarify the statements that they encounter in works of more limited scope.
With contributions by an international group of experts in both philosophy and Christian
thought, this is an invaluable resource for scholars of early Christianity, Late Antiquity and
ancient philosophy alike.
Mark Edwards has been Tutor in Theology at Christ Church, Oxford, and University Lecturer/
Associate Professor in Patristics in the Faculty of Theology and Religion in the University of
Oxford since 1993. Since 2014, he has held the title of Professor of Early Christian Studies.
His books include Origen against Plato (2002), Catholicity and Heresy in the Early Church (2009),
Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries (2012), Religions of the Constantinian Empire
(2015), and Aristotle and Early Christian Thought (2019).
‘For a modern intellectual culture that distrusts trust and prefers analysis to exegesis, the
very notion of early Christian philosophy is apt to be an uncomfortable stretch. But Mark
Edwards and company do not retreat to the safe, if vacuous, conjunction: early Christianity
and philosophy, as if one were a prosthesis for the other. This volume’s concise forays into a still
surprisingly unfamiliar intellectual landscape bring ancient philosophy into the heart of early
Christian exegesis. The introduction by Edwards brilliantly articulates the stakes of following
along.’
– James Wetzel, Villanova University, USA
‘This well-conceived collection of studies makes a powerful case that ancient Christians took
philosophy seriously and historians of ancient philosophy need to take Christians seriously.’
– George Boys-Stones, University of Toronto, Canada
‘The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Philosophy is a much welcome tool for students
and researchers alike. Thanks to the excellent work of an international scholarly team of the
highest calibre, the volume rightly moves away from the simplistic dualism of “reason versus
faith” that still hinders a sophisticated understanding of Early Christianity’s complex ties to
pagan philosophy, and it showcases, in a truly comprehensive fashion, their substantial areas of
intersection in the first centuries of our era. The contributors demonstrate that the Christians’
engagement with the tools, tropes, and themes of pagan philosophy was not just considerably
more constructive and dynamic than is often recognized, but that this very engagement was also
a necessary enterprise for Christians.’
– Alberto Rigolio, University of Durham, UK
The Routledge Handbook of
Early Christian Philosophy
Edited by Mark Edwards
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Mark Edwards; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Mark Edwards to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and
of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted by them in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-68504-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-54351-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
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Contents
List of contributors ix
1 Introduction 1
Mark Edwards
SECTION 1
Themes 13
2 Sources of religious knowledge 15
Peter Van Nuffelen
3 Nature 27
Johannes Zachhuber
4 Time and eternity 41
Ilaria L.E. Ramelli
5 Creation in Early Christianity 55
George Karamanolis
6 Providence and evil 68
Dylan M. Burns
7 Ethics 81
Teresa Morgan
8 Logic and religious language 94
Anna Zhyrkova
9 The mystical element 110
Andrew Louth
v
Contents
SECTION 2
Doctrines 123
10 The Trinity 125
Giulio Maspero
11 The philosophy of the incarnation 139
Dirk Krausmüller
12 The philosophy of the resurrection in Early Christianity 153
Sophie Cartwright
13 Biblical hermeneutics 164
Scot Douglass
SECTION 3
Schools 177
14 The Presocratics 179
M. David Litwa
15 Socrates and Plato in the fathers 191
Joseph S. O’Leary
16 Aristotle and his school 206
Mark Edwards
17 Christians and Stoics 219
Mark Edwards
18 Epicureans 233
Mark Edwards
19 Cynics and Christians 240
Mark Reasoner
20 Sceptics 249
Mark Edwards
21 Philo of Alexandria 256
Mark Edwards
22 Orpheus, Mithras, Hermes 267
Fabienne Jourdan, Mark Edwards
vi
Contents
23 Middle Platonists and Pythagoreans 280
Carl O’Brien
24 Pagan and Christian philosophy: Plotinus, Iamblichus
and Christian philosophical practice 293
Kevin Corrigan
25 The philosophy of the later Neoplatonists: an interaction
with Christian thought 313
Sarah Klitenic Wear
SECTION 4
Individuals 329
26 Justin and Athenagoras 331
Runar M. Thorsteinsson
27 Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch and Irenaeus of Lyons 342
Josef Lössl
28 Clement of Alexandria 357
Matyáš Havrda
29 Tertullian and Cyprian 372
Allen Brent
30 “Hippolytus” and Epiphanius of Salamis 382
Sébastien Morlet
31 Origen and philosophy 397
Panayiotis Tzamalikos
32 The Sethians and the Gnostics of Plotinus 426
Tuomas Rasimus
33 Arnobius and Lactantius 438
Kristina A. Meinking
34 Philosophy in Eusebius and Marcellus 450
Aaron P. Johnson
35 Arius and Athanasius 461
Winrich Löhr
vii
Contents
36 Marius Victorinus 475
Chiara Ombretta Tommasi
37 Philosophy in Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan 490
Isabella Image
38 Eunomius of Cyzicus and Gregory of Nyssa 503
Andrew Radde-Gallwitz
39 Didymus the Blind and Evagrius of Pontus 516
Mark Edwards
40 Synesius of Cyrene: philosophy and poetry “sharing
the same temple” 528
Irini-Fotini Viltanioti
41 Augustine of Hippo 549
John Peter Kenney
42 Cyril of Alexandria 562
Christoph Riedweg
43 Theodoret of Cyrrhus 575
Mark Edwards
44 Boethius: the first Christian philosopher in the Latin West? 584
Thomas Jürgasch
45 John Philoponus 597
Orna Harari
46 Dionysius the Areopagite 609
Mark Edwards
47 Christian philosophy in Severus of Antioch and Leontius
of Byzantium 619
Benjamin Gleede
Bibliography of primary texts 632
Index 639
viii
Contributors
Allen Brent is former Professor of Early Christian History and Iconography, King’s College,
London, Visiting Professor at the Augustinianum (Lateran University), Rome, and Fellow of
St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. He is co-editor, with Professor Markus Vincent, of Studia
Patristica and editorial board advisor for Vetera Christianorum. His most recent book was Cyprian
and Roman Carthage (2010).
Dylan M. Burns holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and is a research associate at the Freie
Universität Berlin. He has published widely on Gnosticism, later Greek philosophy, M anichaeism,
and their modern reception, including his books Apocalypse of the Alien God (2014) and Did God
Care? (2020).
Sophie Cartwright has a Ph.D. in patristic theology from the University of Edinburgh and is
author of The Theological Anthropology of Eustathius of Antioch (2015).
Kevin Corrigan is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities in the
Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University in Atlanta,
Georgia. His recent publications include Love, Friendship, Beauty and the Good: Plato, Aristotle,
and the Later Tradition (2018).
Scot Douglass is Professor in the Herbst Program of Engineering, Ethics & Society and
Director of the Engineering Honors Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is
author of Theology of the Gap: Cappadocian Language Theory and the Trinitarian Controversy (2005),
co-editor with Morwenna Ludlow of Reading the Church Fathers (2011) and is currently working
on In/Between an Event: Paul, Dostoevsky and the Christian Now.
Mark Edwards has been Tutor in Theology at Christ Church, Oxford, and University Lec-
turer/Associate Professor in Patristics in the Faculty of Theology and Religion in the University
of Oxford since 1993. Since 2014, he has held the title of Professor of Early Christian Studies.
His books include Origen against Plato (2002), Catholicity and Heresy in the Early Church (2009),
Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries (2012), Religions of the Constantinian Empire
(2015), and Aristotle and Early Christian Thought (2019).
Benjamin Gleede is currently Privatdozent at Zurich University and holder of a Werner
Heisenberg fellowship at Tübingen University. His focal areas of research are ancient cosmol-
ogy, Christology and textual criticism.
ix