The Aëtian Placita and the church fathers : creative use of a distinctive mode of ordering knowledge
Book chapter
Runia, David T. (2023). The Aëtian Placita and the church fathers : creative use of a distinctive mode of ordering knowledge. In In Ayres, Lewis, Champion, Michael W. and Crawford, Matthew R. (Ed.). The intellectual world of late antique Christianity : Reshaping classical traditions pp. 198 - 220 Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108883559.014
Authors | Runia, David T |
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Editors | Ayres, Lewis, Champion, Michael W. and Crawford, Matthew R. |
Abstract | The church fathers made a significant contribution to the almost complete preservation of the Placita of Aëtius. In this chapter I investigate what motivated them to use it so extensively. I first introduce the Placita, outlining six features that give this work a distinctive mode of ordering knowledge. Philo of Alexandria, the first of eight authors to be discussed, is not a Christian. Nevertheless his approach to the variety of philosophical doctrines recorded in the antecdent tradition of the Placita will be crucial for his Christian successors. These commence with Athenagoras and Hermias, followed by three fourth-century authors, Eusebius, Pseudo-Justin and Nemesius, and conclude with two fifth-century writers, Cyril of Alexandrian and Theodoret. Although the Placita bring order into the vast body of contradictory doctrines put forward by the philosophers, this ‘structured disorder’ is in sharp contrast to the ordering of Christian knowledge, which is presented as being founded on a unified body of revealed truth. |
Keywords | Aëtius; doxography; dissensio philosophorum; Philo of Alexandria; Athenagoras; Hermias; Eusebius; Pseudo-Justin; Nemesius; Cyril of Alexandria; Theodoret of Cyrrhus |
Page range | 198 - 220 |
Year | 01 Jan 2023 |
Book title | The intellectual world of late antique Christianity : Reshaping classical traditions |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Place of publication | United Kingdom |
ISBN | 9781108883559 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108883559.014 |
Web address (URL) | https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/intellectual-world-of-late-antique-christianity/aetian-placita-and-the-church-fathers-creative-use-of-a-distinctive-mode-of-ordering-knowledge/9E11409F96D87E29B7F9875B04B8967C |
Open access | Published as non-open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Publisher's version | License All rights reserved File Access Level Controlled |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 05 Oct 2023 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 2023 |
Deposited | 20 Jun 2024 |
Additional information | © Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2023 |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/909q7/the-a-tian-placita-and-the-church-fathers-creative-use-of-a-distinctive-mode-of-ordering-knowledge
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