Loading...
The AĆ«tian Placita and the church fathers : creative use of a distinctive mode of ordering knowledge
Runia, David T
Runia, David T
Author
Abstract
The church fathers made a significant contribution to the almost complete preservation of the Placita of AĆ«tius. 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 āstructured disorderā is in sharp contrast to the ordering of Christian knowledge, which is presented as being founded on a unified body of revealed truth.
Keywords
AĆ«tius, doxography, dissensio philosophorum, Philo of Alexandria, Athenagoras, Hermias, Eusebius, Pseudo-Justin, Nemesius, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrrhus
Date
2023
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
The intellectual world of late antique Christianity : Reshaping classical traditions
Volume
Issue
Page Range
198-220
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy
Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry
Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
Ā© Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2023