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The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Philosophy PDF

671 Pages·2020·4.5 MB·English
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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 by Apex CoVantage, LLC 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

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