Justin Martyr Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

THE LOGOS. THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL SOURCES OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION, Kraków: WAM 2006. The concept of the Logos is one of the oldest philosophical concepts. It sprang forth from the questions about ‘arche’, which were... more

THE LOGOS. THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL SOURCES OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION, Kraków: WAM 2006.

The concept of the Logos is one of the oldest philosophical concepts. It sprang forth from the questions about ‘arche’, which were formulated by the first natural philosophers in the VIIth century BC. The term ‘logos’ was first used in its philosophical meaning by Heraclitus of Ephesus. It was also he who outlined the first characteristic of Logos as the Universal Principle, to which the subsequent generations of philosophers referred. Some of the philosophical doctrines following the Heraclitus’s one contained many elements taken from this conception. The philosophy of the Stoical School was such a doctrine. A thesis can be proposed, then, that it was the Stoics who were the direct (despite the considerable time span) continuators of Heraclitus’s thought. Both conceptions contained the following common theses: 1° the Logos, for them, made up the immanent universal principle, responsible for its order and harmony; 2° It had the qualities of a rational, and even divine nature; 3° It was eternal and lasted despite the world burning down repeatedly; 4° It was connected with the rising of all things, as well as being responsible for the world „being born” as a whole; 5° It was present in each being while in man It manifested itself in their ultimate authority – reason; 6° living according to (or against) the Logos had ethical, and also epistemic consequences. Moreover, in both doctrines the term ‘logos’ appeared in logical and social issues. The comparison above makes it possible to assume that the Stoics became creative continuators of Heraclitus’s thought. Another line of development of the conception discussed here was connected with the appearance of the notion of the transcendence of the Logos. The beginnings of this idea can be seen in the similar conception – nous of Anaxagoras, and its expansion can be observed in the thoughts of Plato and Aristotle. In the philosophy of the latter Nous meant the transcendental and spiritual cause of everything, identical with the ultimate Good and Beauty. The transcendental Logos appeared, however, only in the Jewish philosophy of the beginnings of the common era, of which Philo of Alexandria was a distinguished representative. In Philo’s thought, compared to Heraclitus’s and the Stoics’ conceptions, a number of radically new elements can be observed. They were basically connected to the transcendence of the Logos and threads deriving from the Bible. Seemingly, there is no correspondence between the earlier conceptions and Philo’s concept of the Logos, and the philosopher created a completely new conception – different from already existing. Philo was, however, deeply rooted in the Greek philosophy and in the Logos of his conception many elements can be observed which were taken, or, at least, common with the philosophy of Heraclitus and the Stoics. From among them the following can be listed: 1° the Logos has a rational and divine nature; 2° It participates in creating all beings; 3° leaving out the transcendence of Philo’s Logos, It is also an immanent being acting in the world; 4° It is responsible for the order and the harmony in the world; 5° the reason (logos) of man is their ultimate authority and this is what makes them similar to God the most; 6° living in compliance with the Logos is the way to gain virtues and know the Truth; 7° in all three doctrines fragments can be found, in which the Logos is depicted as a personification.
It should be stressed that Philo is, above all, a biblical thinker. The concept of the Logos which he framed was a synthesis of philosophical theories with the teaching stemming from the texts of the Holy Scriptures. So mature and, in many points, so compliant with the Christian teaching a theory couldn’t probably have appeared, if it had not been for the numerous mentions of the Logos of God in the Old Testament. Whereas, as I have proved in chapter III of this work, in particular biblical books a clear development of the theology of the Word of God can be observed. It is connected with the process of hypostatization of the Divine activities and attributes, described by me in great detail. The Word of God (logos thou theou), which in the earliest prophecies had a form of only a statement or a command, in time, acquired the attributes of a separate being, which had an independent form of existence (the so called hypostasis). This phenomenon could be seen even more clearly in the Greek translation of the Bible (Septuaginta), which was used by Philo and the majority of the Fathers of the early Church. In the sapient books, which were written basically in the Hellenic period, the Logos was already depicted as the heavenly messenger, who carries out the will of God among people.
The important role in the shaping of the Judeo-Hellenic conception was played by the texts of the Old Testament concerning the God’s messengers (angeloi), and especially a unique category of „ the Angel of the Lord” (angelos kuriou). It is perhaps because of this that the Alexandrian could place the personified Logos either on the side of the transcendence or on the side of the immanence. As in some parts of the inspired text the Angel of the Lord appeared as the transcendental God Himself, showing himself before people in a visible form, and in other – as His messenger. While in the Book of Wisdom – which was written already in the Hellenic period – this category was identified with the Logos, which brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
It should be stressed here that the Logos of the old Testament assumed very often the divine qualities even if the individual texts did not clearly attribute to It the feature of hypostasis. Septuaginta, for instance, with reference to the Word of God , used the same expressions which were used in other places to refer to Jehovah exclusively. The individual biblical authors spoke about Its pre-existence, eternity, invariability and omnipotence. Moreover, they ascribed to It creative, soteric and eschatological functions.
It is worth mentioning here the two elements of the concept of the Logos, fundamentally new in comparison with the philosophical theories, which appeared only in the theology of the Old Testament. Namely, the Logos of God, apart form the fact that It governed the laws of nature, was also identified with the Wisdom of God, which was shown in the written Law (Torah). That detailed Law was not revealed to other nations apart from Israel. Although that concept was developed more within Palestinian Judaism which personified Torah to a greater extent than Logos, Philo used that as well. In his theory of ethics he postulated, namely, obedience to not only Logos (Wisdom), but also – which was relevant particularly for the members of the Chosen Nation – to Torah, containing the details of the natural law.
The personified Logos (and that is another biblical novelty) – particularly in the books written already in the Hellenic period – assumed the role of the Lord of the History as well. It is the Logos that, in the reinterpretation of the Book of Wisdom, led Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery and , at the same time, kept all the other nations alive so that they, too, could be converted and recognize the One True God. The Hellenic universality in connection with the theology of the former Israel contributed then – and on the biblical level – to the rise of an extraordinarily rich conception of the Logos comprising God and the world, nature and history, Israel and pagan nations.
The biblical premises mentioned here let Philo formulate a theory in which the philosophical concept of the Logos was improved with many new elements. And so, with the Hellenic Judaism in the genetic line of evolution of the concept of the Logos we observe the transition from immanence to transcendence, from the force governing the laws of nature to the Lord of the History, from the impersonal Universal Principle to the personified Being creating the world. It should be emphasised that all those elements appeared in the process of the development of this philosophical thought just because they were mentioned in the inspired text which Philo used.
In this context a thesis can be proposed that Philo’s doctrine became a keystone connecting the Greek philosophy with the Christian thought. It is thanks to that, that some philosophical ideas, so closely connected with the biblical Revelation, became close to Christians, who sought scriptural and rational arguments in order to justify and defend their faith. Referring to such a long philosophical-religious tradition connected with the concept of the Logos they could prove that their religion was not new at all, but that its roots went back to the oldest Old Testament Prophecies and it was their religion that answered the most fundamental questions.