Monika Recinová: The Influence of Xenophanean Philosophical Theology on Athenagoras of Athens’ Legatio pro Christianis

The paper focuses on the reception of Xenophanean philosophical theology in Athenagoras’ Legatio. It is generally recognized that Legatiois heavily dependent on classical philosophical sources, especially of a middle-Platonic provenance. Their influence on Athenagoras is not restricted to his adoption of various citations and philosophical notions, but the entire thought structure of Athenagoras’ argumentation was shaped by the well-known philosophical commonplace of Xenophanean philosophical theology. This was constituted by the new rational notion of god, on the basis of which the mythological gods were criticized. The influence of the Xenophanean philosophical commonplace can be traced not only in Athenagoras’ extensive critique of Greek mythology and the religious cult, but also in his reinterpretation of his own Christian tradition, which he also explained in terms of Xenophanean philosophical theology. The monotheism of the Old Testament prophets is interpreted in categories of Xenophanean philosophical monotheism; Athenagoras’ notion of God is strongly ontologized and is characterized by many attributes of the Xenophanean god of philosophers. On the basis of this notion of God, Athenagoras criticizes the mythological gods and by means of almost all traditional Xenophanean arguments denies their divinity. This rejection of mythical anthropomorphism also exercised a strong influence on Athenagoras’ own attitude to the anthropomorphism of the New Testament in his rejection of the mythological understanding of the Logos’ sonship. This paper intends to contribute to the study of the patristic reception of Xenophanean theology, which is generally acknowledged but which has not - especially in Athenagoras - been sufficiently studied.