Christian Platonism in Early Modernity (original) (raw)
Platonism and Christian Thought in Late Antiquity
2019
Platonism and Christian Thought in Late Antiquity examines the various ways in which Christian intellectuals engaged with Platonism both as a pagan competitor and as a source of philosophical material useful to the Christian faith. The chapters are united in their goal to explore transformations that took place in the reception and interaction process between Platonism and Christianity in this period. The contributions in this volume explore the reception of Platonic material in Christian thought, showing that the transmission of cultural content is always mediated, and ought to be studied as a transformative process by way of selection and interpretation. Some chapters also deal with various aspects of the wider discussion on how Platonic, and Hellenic, philosophy and early Christian thought related to each other, examining the differences and common ground between these traditions. Platonism and Christian Thought in Late Antiquity offers an insightful and broadranging study on the subject, which will be of interest to students of both philosophy and theology in the Late Antique period, as well as anyone working on the reception and history of Platonic thought, and the development of Christian thought.
Platonismus und Christentum: Ihre Beziehungen und deren Grenzen
Laval théologique et philosophique (LTP), 2025
This volume is the result of a colloquium held on May 6, 2022, which took place in honor of Professor Barbara Aland † on the occasion of her 85th birthday in the Schloss der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
For anyone reflecting seriously on the tradition of Christian mysticism in the medieval West, it is hard not to notice the hold that Platonism has exercised on that tradition throughout much, if not all, of the period. Upon closer inspection, it appears there are actually two divergent, be it equally central ways-which I shall call below the inherent and the forensic-in which Platonism has left a lasting imprint on the Christian mystical tradition. The aim of this particular essay on Platonism, which for me will include the wider Platonic influence, is first of all to survey and analyze this twofold impact of Platonism, dwelling on the different approaches to the mystical quest which it yields.
The papers in this volume address aspects of the complicated relationship between Platonism and Christianity, with coverage from the second to the seventh centuries CE. Emphasis is heavily weighted on Greek authors, especially (Pseudo-)Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and Origen on the Christian side and the alliterative triad of Plotinus, Porphyry, and Proclus on the non-Christian side. Augustine is the sole Latin author treated in detail. The other languages of Christian late antiquity are absent, except for a brief glance in the direction of Syriac. As this coverage implies, the editors make no pretense of offering a comprehensive treatment of the topic, instead emphasizing the importance of case studies.
Christianity's Content: (Neo)Platonism in the Middle Ages, Its Theoretical and Theological Appeal
The development of medieval Christian thought reveals from its inception in foundational authors like Augustine and Boethius an inherent engagement with Neoplatonism. To their influence that of Pseudo-Dionysius was soon added, as the first speculative medieval author, the Carolingian thinker Johannes Scottus Eriugena (810–877 CE), used all three seminal authors in his magisterial demonstration of the workings of procession and return. Rather than a stable ongoing trajectory, however, the development of medieval Christian (Neo)Platonism saw moments of flourishing alternate with moments of philosophical stagnation. The revival of the Timaeus and Platonic cosmogony in the twelfth century marks the achievement of the so-called Chartrian authors, even as the Timaeus never acquired the authority of the biblical book of Genesis. Despite the dominance of scholastic and Aristotelian discourse in the thirteenth century, (Neo) Platonism continued to play an enduring role. The Franciscan Bonaventure follows the Victorine tradition in combining Augustinian and Dionysian themes, but Platonic influence underlies the pattern of procession and return — reflective of the Christian arc of creation and salvation — that frames the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Echoing the interrelation of macro-and microcosmos, the major themes of medieval Christian Platonic thought are, on the one hand, cosmos and creation and, on the other, soul and self. The Dominican friar Meister Eckhart and the beguine Marguerite Porete, finally, both Platonically inspired late-medieval Christian authors keen on accomplishing the return, whether the aim is to bring out its deep, abyss-like " ground " (Eckhart) or to give up reason altogether and surrender to the free state of " living without a why " (Marguerite), reveal the intellectual audacity involved in upending traditional theological modes of discourse.