Vessela Valiavitcharska: Logos proforikos in Middle Byzantine Thought

The division of logos into endiathetos and proforikos, present in the thought philosophers from Philo to John of Damascus, appears foundational to the late antique and early Christian anthropology of language. It survives well into the middle Byzantine period, where it presents itself as part of the wider intellectual vocabulary. However, in contrast with the predominantly Neoplatonic understanding of late antiquity, Byzantine thinkers no longer see a dichotomy between logos endiathetos, pure thought, and logos proforikos, its fleshly shadow; rather, they offer a development, moving from the idea of logos proforikos as “messenger of the thought,” as Meletius and John of Damascus posit, to logos proforikos as an active participant in the divine life as the patriarchs Methodius and Photius see it. Logos proforikos receives attention also from the Byzantine teachers of rhetoric. Unlike their late antique counterparts, who adopt the sharp Neoplatonic dichotomy, rhetoricians John Siceliotes and John Doxapatres speak of both kinds of logos as a sort of rhetoric – but a distinct, purified form of rhetoric. Logos proforikos, the enunciated, performed human logos, born by the movements of the reasoning faculty of the soul and perfected by art, is a material procession, a flowering of the energies of the soul and a mystērion, through which human beings participate in divine creation and in the divine life.  This emphasis on the spiritual weight of the performed logos responds to a more general emphasis on  logos proforikos as a material activity – with implications for the performance of liturgical texts.

Florin George Calian: The Inherited Duality of One in the Corpus Areopagiticum

The logical and ontological relation between one and two/duality (both as numbers or ontological entities) forces philosophical and theological thinking to its limits. An important issue in Plato’s Parmenides is how one becomes two (the second hypothesis), while for the Neoplatonist the issue is whether the same one is the case in the first and the second hypotheses. Both features are related and have in the background the problem of emergence of multiplicity from unity. The solution of Proclus is to follow the established Neoplatonist interpretation admitting that the one of the second hypothesis is another one (in Parm. 6.1040–41). But speaking about two ones the Neoplatonist develops another type of aporia, positing two entities in which the relation between the first and the second one remains problematic. Even if the nature of absolute transcendence of the divine in the theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite inherits unresolved issues of the nature of the transcendent one from the Neoplatonist schools, the Christian author of the Corpus Areopagiticum understands that both hypotheses of the Parmenides have the same transcendent object. The Areopagite interpretation goes, unexpectedly, against the Neoplatonist clear distinction between two separate transcendent objects, and seems to be closer to Plato, since he himself does not distinguishes these ones. This paper explores why (1) it is necessary for Pseudo-Dionysius to make this switch; and (2) whether this is related to its contemporary discussion on the natures of Christ.

Viviana Félix: Platonismo y reflexión trinitaria en Justino

En este trabajo intentaremos identificar los elementos filosóficos recogidos por Justino en su reflexión sobre Dios y, de modo particular, ver si es posible hablar de un paradigma que tomaría de sus contemporáneos filósofos platónicos, para esbozar una doctrina trinitaria. Para esto consideraremos algunas de las doctrinas hipostáticas vigentes en el siglo II de las que podría haberse servido. Por tratarse de una teología trinitaria  incipiente, previa a la controversia arriana y a las definiciones de Nicea y Constantinopla, carece de las precisiones terminológicas de los concilios nombrados, pero tampoco acusa recibo del "trauma arriano", siendo otros sus interlocutores y, consecuentemente, otras las soluciones que propone, acordes a ese horizonte de referencia en el que se insertaría su respuesta.
Habiendo establecido lo anterior, haremos una valoración crítica del uso que Justino hace de esas categorías filosóficas en su teología, tratando de señalar alcance, aportes y límites del mismo.

Michael Schramm: Platonikerzitate in Kyrills Contra Iulianum: Argumentieren mit Zitaten

Cyril of Alexandriaʼs Against Julian is directed against Julian the Emperorʼs Against the Christians. One of its essential features consists in refuting Julianʼs Neoplatonic arguments by using quotations of Platonic school authors from Plato to famous Neoplatonic authors, e.g. Plotinus and Porphyrius. It will be examined how Cyril used the quotations, which role they play in the reasoning and which sources Cyril deals with.

Chance Woods: Plotinus and Origen Once More: The Case of a Cambridge Platonist

Recent scholarship, including the studies of Mark Edwards, Panayiotis Tzamalikos, and Dylan Burns, has seriously qualified the intellectual relationship between Plotinus and Origen.  Whereas Origen was once comfortably termed a “Platonist,” such an epithet has become increasingly difficult to ascribe to the Alexandrian theologian in light of his idiosyncratic reworking of ideas pertaining to ontology, eschatology, and hermeneutics.  Still, the conceptualization of Plotinus and Origen as somehow occupying the same intellectual terrain is not without historical precedent.  Indeed, this paper argues that we would do well to revisit an early stage of early modern theological inquiry to understand fully how and why Plotinus and Origen have often been uniquely compared.  Specifically, this paper addresses the so-called Cambridge Platonist Henry More (1614-1687), whose theology was both overtly indebted to Plotinus and characterized by contemporaries as suffering from the undue influence of “Origenism.”  In returning to some important points first adumbrated by D.W. Dockrill in the pages of Studia Patristica, this paper develops a sustained consideration of More’s theology and maintains that a careful consideration of More’s speculative enterprise stands to provide measureable insight into the historical comparison of Plotinus and Origen in the patristic scholarship of the last three centuries.

Mark Huggins: Comparing the Ethical Concerns of Plato and John Chrysostom

In Ancient Greek thought, a concern for ethical perfection was often expressed. Two prominent voices in present day discourses on ethics are Plato and John Chrysostom. In his Republic, Plato conceptualizes the ideal city where justice, or ethical perfection, prevails. Likewise, Chrysostom in his Against the Opponents of the Monastic Life describes the life of the monastic community, wherein ethical perfection also seems to be the goal. Nevertheless, despite these striking parallels, David Rylaarsdam’s John Chrysostom on Divine Pedagogy laments the tendency in modern scholarship to categorize Chrysostom as a moralist, differing from Plato perhaps only in his Christian faith. Both figures are clearly concerned with ethical dogmata and their subsequent effects upon all aspects of the human person and life. However, the concern for ethics alone does not necessarily justify the characterization of moralist. Therefore, as it has been questioned whether both can rightly be identified as moralists, the present paper investigates the ethical concerns of each, through a comparison of Plato's Republic with Chrysostom's Against the Opponents of the Monastic Life, in order to discern the sources from which these concerns originate, and the purposes to which they are directed.

Michael Bakker: A Tale of Two Cities: the Tripartite Soul in Plato and St Maximos

St Maximos the Confessor was asked by Thalasssios how to interpret κατὰ θεωρίαν the Old Testament narrative about king Hezekiah blocking off the waters from the springs outside Jerusalem (2 Par = 2 Chr 32: 2–4). In his exegesis in Q.Thal 49, Maximos draws a picture of Jerusalem as the soul, king Hezekiah as its (spiritual) intellect (νοῦς) and his three chief court officicals as the thinking power (λογιστικόν), desiring power (ἐπιθυμητικόν) and incensive power (θυμικόν) of the soul. Also elsewhere, Maximos interprets a threesome often as the these psychic faculties, so they form an important part of his thinking. Without explicitly mentioning Plato, Maximos conjures up the image of the tripartite soul as three classes of inhabitants (Republic, iv: 434D–441C). What are the differences between both cities? What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens?
Maximos plays an important role in the development of a (Greek) Patristic psychology, drawing on Plato, Aristotle and other philosophers. Throughout his writings, Maximos frequently mentions the three powers of the soul and analyses, amongst others, their relation to virtues and vices and to the intellect (νοῦς). He underlines that the soul can use the powers in a positive or a negative way, depending on its intention (γνώμη), disposition (διάθεσις)  and habits (ἕξεις). And, typically, Maximos stresses that the λογιστικόν, ἐπιθυμητικόν and θυμικόν are by nature good. All depends on how a free person employs his or her will to use them.

Olga Alieva: The connections between protreptic argumentation and isagogical literature in late Antiquity (especially in neoplatonical commentaries)

The study of literature which we could conveniently define “ isagogical” shows that it shares remarkable affinities with the corpus of the protreptics (in particular of the protreptics to philosophy). With the expression “isagogical literature” we refer both to some texts of introductive character in an exegetic perspective (it is about introductions and comments to works by Aristotle, Plato or Porphyrius, or about introductions to the study of these authors) and to an introductive material of first level, such as the introductions to the study of the disciplines. The affinities between the isagogic and the protreptic literature a priori come as no surprise if one considers that both have a propaedeutic function. Among the similarities we have to highlight a series of topoi whose rhetorical intention is evident: existence, utility and telos of philosophy, definitions of philosophy, and so on. The paper aims above all to illustrate the meanings of these topoi and the contests which justify the common ground between the two literatures.

On the other hand, it must be pointed out that right inside the isagogic – exegetic literature of the Late Antiquity, and more precisely that one of philosophical character (Alexander of Aphrodisias, and among the neoplatonics, Olympiodorus, Elias and David), we find the rare explicit quotations of the Protrepticus by Aristotle: in the second part of the paper we will deal with these texts in a more focused perspective as they are witnesses of the Protrepticus by the Stagirite.

Levan Gigineishvili: The notion of light and its ontological and epistemological significance in philosophy of Ioane Petritsi

Ioane Petritsi (XII century Georgian Neoplatonic philosopher) habitually translates the terms of Neoplatonic metaphysics into language fitting the Christian spiritual universe. With this respect it is quite interesting how does he deal with the Neoplatonic notion of light and enlightenment. What is the status and function of light in his philosophy? This question relates both to the ontological and epistemological functions: on the one hand light is effusion from the sole source – the One – its intensity and power diminishing with every successive stage of reality; on the other hand, light is the cognitive and revertive principle, accounting for a lower term’s understanding and return to its source. Moreover, light is a certain divine presence in human soul, through which the latter is able to behold spiritual realities. Now, is this light immanent to human, as belonging to his very essence, or a presence of transcendent Logos in him, which is also called “Light”? I shall discuss possibility of Petritsi’s dependence on not only Neoplatonic sources, but also Eastern patristic sources, most significantly Gregory of Nazianzus and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.

Ilaria Vigorelli: Souls' dance in Plotinus and Gregory of Nyssa

Both Plotinus and Gregory of Nyssa have recourse to the metaphor of the souls' dance around a choripheus in order to describe rational natures' assimilation to the Divine. The origin of this image goes back to Plato's Theaetetus that was later reinterpreted by Clement of Alexandria according to a Christian meaning. The paper studies the differences in these uses of the same metaphor on the background of the distinct conceptions of relation (schesis) and assimilation to God in Plotinus and Gregory. This analysis highlights the importance of Clement's contribution in the resematization of some Platonic categories in Christian theological thought.

Giulio Maspero: Isoangelia in Gregory of Nyssa and Origen on the background of Plotinus

In their works both Gregory of Nyssa and Origen speak about isoangelia (angel-likeness): according to God's plan the true end of a human person is to become like an angel. This paper compares the thought of the two authors on the background of Plotinus' philosophy of the souls. The Cappadocian defines isoangelia as a condition of the soul acquired at the end of time, because it is related to human will and its definitive direction towards God, according to a movement that is prolonged into the epektasis. On the other side, Origen's isoangelia is at the beginning, because it is related to the original similarity of human souls to the angels. This difference is explained having recourse to their different metaphysical frameworks and Plotinus' ontological view.

Michael Mantzanas: Plato's metempsychosis and Origen's apokatastasis

It is a well established assumption that Origen's philosophical theories of cosmology, ontology and eschatology bear the influence of Plato's thought. According to Plato's theory of metempsychosis, reincarnation and transmigration of the soul, when death comes, the soul enters the body of another human being, animal, angel or star, so as to be purified from the sins of the previous life and this very transition reoccurs until total catharsis is achieved. Origen's teachings of eschatology also involve spiritualism rather than materialism. Especially with regard to the problem of the restoration of all things, Origen's ideas appear to be a philosophical refinement of Platonic epistemology and the Platonic theory of metempsychosis according to which the doctrine of the reminiscence of the soul is used in order to explain the concept of gnosis.
Origen suggests that individuals know God through the communion with Him. Origen's idea of apokatastasis of all things is related to the notion of spiritual rebirth of beings, the communion with God and His creation, as well as the concept of universal salvation. Origen uses a mystical dialectic in his interpretation of the idea of restoration of all things. According to Origen, apokatastasis involves acknowledging the transcendence and infiniteness of God, as well as the communion of beings with God through regaining the authenticity of human existence and experiencing the hypostasis and otherness of God. Our paper is part of an attempt to examine any possible correlations and differences between the Plato's theory of metempsychosis and Origen's teachings on apokatastasis.

Juan Carlos Alby: The Platonic Background of Lex Divina in St. Irenaeus

Irenaeus speaks on numerous occasions about Mosaic law, but only in two about  divine law. In  Adv. Haer. V, 24, 4, he refers to Plato for the concept of divine lex which is not biblical, but refers to Laws 716 a. He appeals to the Platonic text in the context of his case about the angel’s apostasy on the law because of his jealousy towards man.  In the parallel passage of Adv. Haer. III, 25, 5, he will only take into account Timaeus 29 e, but his emphasis on the angel’s envy seems to be inspired in Phaedrus 247 a.: “because envy is separated from the divine choir.”  The explicit use of quotations from Plato is surprising in so reticent an author to classical philosophy. To explain the problem, it is necessary to consider two aspects. On the one hand, Irenaeus collects a tradition that comes from other Asian Patristic authors such as Tatian, Athenagoras and Theophilus of Antioch. On the other hand, Irenaeus argues on this topic in a polemic against Marcion and the Valentinian Gnostics who referred to the Demiurge’s envy.

Laela Zwollo: St. Augustine's trinitarian exploration of amor: how do we characterize Augustine as a "Christian Platonist"?

St. Augustine utilized numerous elements from Plotinus' philosophy to underpin his theology of the image of God, the imago trinitatis in De Trinitate. In spite of the fact that Augustine is continuously quoting scripture to explain the role of love in the development of the "image" (the intellect), his conception of amor has distinct parallels with Plotinus' notion of eros, especially when the image-intellect is depicted in the ascent to the divine.
How can the Plotinian influence in Augustine's doctrine of love in the imago trinitatis be accounted for? Especially in light of his explicit criticism of Platonist philosophy in book IV of De trinitate? Augustine's criticism (as well as his approbation) of Plotinian philosophy is often implicit - as can be detected in his teachings of love in his doctrine of the image of God from books VIII-X of De Trinitate. Are his Christian oriented teachings really "at tension" with those of his philosophical mentor Plotinus?

Mariano TROIANO: Dios y demiurgos. Diversas lecturas del Timeo en los orígenes del cristianismo.

Platón, en el Timeo 28c, hace referencia “al autor y al padre de este Universo”. Parece sotener entonces, la existencia de dos entidades diferentes: el autor y el padre. Paralelamente, la cosmogonía platónica recibirá fuertes críticas centradas en la naturaleza y la actividad desarrollada por el demiurgo. Dichas críticas al igual que las imprecisiones detectadas, obligarán a los autores platónicos a alejar al Dios primero del demiurgo.

Se impone entonces a lectores del gran filósofo la necesidad de ubicar a las realidades inteligibles en relación con el demiurgo. Surge así, la exigencia de precisar el proceso que da nacimiento al universo, ya sea por diferentes aspectos del Dios primero, ya sea a través de entidades separadas que cumplen parte del trabajo demiúrgico. Así el artesano divino de Platón se encontrará relegado a una posición relativamente baja en la jerarquía celeste. El objetivo de nuestro presente estudio es el de mostrar la evolución de la figura de demiurgo e indicar las confluencias entre las concepciones filosóficas, gnósticas y heresiológicas en la aceptación de figuras intermediarias entre Dios y su obra. Buscamos destacar la importancia de los textos gnósticos dentro de la historia de la filosofía, ya que dichos textos vehiculan interpretaciones filosóficas sobre cuestiones que atañen a las polémicas contemporáneas. De manera peculiar, los autores gnósticos exponen sus respuestas a cuestiones tales como la identidad y los atributos del Primer principio, el origen del mundo sensible y el lugar del hombre en el cosmos, por no mencionar que algunos de ellas.

Victor Yudin: Workshop on NEOPLATONISM and the FATHERS

The issue of love-hate relationships between certain representatives of
Neoplatonic school (3d-7th c. A.D.) and various church fathers, not only in
Greek and Latin Late Antiquity but also the Oriental Patristics still
remains significantly under-explored. Our task is to partially fill in this gap of
contemporary scholarship. 

Following a fruitful co-operation of a two days workshop at 2011 Oxfrod
Patristics Conference, which resulted in a publication of Studia Patristica
58 (Peeters, 2013), we would like to continue further as a group within the
similar lines.

Four experienced scholars from four different European countries present
their work on Neoplatonism as linked to various aspects of church fathers
teaching.  Among them Dr. Sergio Mainoldi (Milan, Italy), Dr. Victor Yudin
(Leuven, Belgium) Dr. Levan Gigeneishvili (Tbilissi, Georgia) and Dr. Alexey
Fokin (Moscow, Russia). Although these scholars have different church
fathers under the scope (S.Mainoldi - Pseudo-Dionysius, V.Yudin - Augustine,
L. Gigineishvili - Petritsi, A.Fokin - Marius Victorinus) as well as
different Neopalatonists such as Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus, the domain and
research methods still remain similar.

Ann Usacheva - Workshop Proposal: “The Genres of the Late Antique and Christian Literature: Interaction and Transformation”

1. Dr. John Dillon (Trinity College Dublin Ireland). The ‘Philosophical letter’ in the Hellenic and Christian traditions

2. Dr. Yuri Shichalin (Moscow State University Russia). The Traditional View of Late Neoplatonism as a Self-contained System

3. Prof. Petr Mikhaylov (St. Tikhon's Orthodox University Russia) The principles of argumentation in theological polemics by the Great Cappadocians

4. Alexey Fokin (Institute of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Sciences Russia). Noetic Triade in Neo-Platonism and Patristics

5. Prof. Bernard Pouderon (Université François Rabelais de Tours France). The genre of the Apology and the genres of the works of apologists

6. Prof. Svetlana Mesyats (Institute of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Sciences Russia). The concept of Hypostasis in Platonic philosophy and Christian theology of the 4th – 6th cent. AD

7. Ann Usacheva (St. Tikhon's Orthodox University Russia). The term πανήγυρις in Old and New Testaments and Christian Literature of the IV cent. AD

8. Olga Alieva (St. Tikhon's Orthodox University Russia). St. Basil's Orations in Light of Paraenetic Tradition

Cyril Hovorun - Workshop title: The Church Fathers vis-à-vis the Neo-Platonists (# 0141)

The Fathers vis-à-vis the Neo-Platonists in the 3rd - 7^th centuries.

Programme

Cyril HOVORUN (Ukraine), Influence of Neo-Platonism on the formation of theological categories in the 4^th-7^th centuries

Gabor BUZASI (Hungary), Julian's solar theology and its relation to the Christianity of his age

Victor YUDIN (Belgium), The place of Platonism in Augustine’s Resurrection theory 

Levan GIGINEISHVILI (Georgia), Eros in the Theology of I.Petritsi and Sh.Rustaveli

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abstracts

The Fathers vis-à-vis the Neo-Platonists in the 3rd - 7^th centuries.

Proposal for the workshop
at the Oxford Patristic Conference 2011

This workshop is the result of an international co-operation between various academic institutions: UCL, ELTE, the University of Tbilisi, Theological Academy of Kiev, and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kiev. It brings  scholars together from Belgium, Ukraine, Hungary and Georgia.

The workshop is dedicated to the creative rapprochement between the Neo-Platonic philosophy and the Christian theology from the 3^th through the 7^th centuries. We discuss whether the Neo-Platonists had a significant impact on the church fathers, or whether in some cases the impact was the other way around. We also examine to what extent debates at the time concerning discrepancies in ideas have been constructive on both sides. We shed light on these issues in the four following presentations.

The first paper by C.Hovorun is methodological in character. It deals with the formation of the theological vocabulary of the church fathers as rooted in classical Antiquity, and later in the Neo-Platonic school. The author compares the key terminology in Neo-Platonists and the Christian theologians, considering various aspects of the usage of their terms, such as οὐσία, φύσις, ὑπόστασις, ἰδιότης, ἐνέργεια. He also traces the significance of these notions with respect to the formation of theological ideas.

The following three papers present examples of such a terminology change, each of them in its own unique fashion. First, G.Buzasi explores the importance of Julian’s solar theology in the context of debates concerning theology at a time when the positions of the two parties were uncompromising. Next, V.Yudin focuses upon one of the key elements around which the debates took place. The issue under scrutiny is the resurrection of the body, as criticized by Porphyry and later defended by Augustine. Augustine based his position on Plato, and used Plato’s achievements in order to explore the Christian resurrection theory.  Finally, L.Giginieshvili analyzes the use of the notion of eros by the 12^th c. Georgian theologian Ioane Petritsi as well as by the poet Sh.Rustaveli, who both seem to have been under an influence of Proclus. This may point out that the impact of the Neo-Platonic philosophy on Christianity persisted even later, after the closure of the Athenian Academy or the Arab conquest of Alexandria.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Influence of Neo-Platonism on the formation of theological categories in the 4^th-7^th centuries

Proposal for the workshop on Neo-Platonism and Christianity
at the Oxford Patristic Conference 2011
by Cyril Hovorun (Kiev)

The emergence of a wide variety of interpretations of the Trinity and Incarnation, and discussions and fights over these issues, resulted in the development of a commonly accepted framework of basic categories. Thus, theological controversies encouraged their participants to adopt a system of coordinates with the categories of οὐσία, φύσις, ὑπόστασις, ἰδιότης, ἐνέργεια constituting its axes. These categories were borrowed from the classical dialectics, with significant input from its contemporary Neo-Platonism. However, the use of  philosophical categories in the Christian theology was eclectic. Traditional categories were modified, re-interpreted, and re-labelled.

The paper explores how Neo-Platonism influenced the formation of the basic categories of the Christian theology, and how Neo-Platonic dialectics were reshaped when applied to theology. It cover the period from the 4^th to the 7^th centuries and engage names from Porphyry to Stephan of Alexandria.

Christ and the Sun in the solar theology of Julian the Apostate

Proposal for the workshop 

on Neo-Platonism and Christianity at the Oxford Patristic Conference by

by Gabor Buzasi (Hungary)

This paper  present the results of a research on the Emperor Julian’s Neoplatonic solar theology. After a reconstruction of the metaphysical and cosmological framework of the Emperor‘s Hymn to the Sun King, I argue that this work, together with other passages of the Emperor’s oeuvre, is not only the most important testimony of Iamblichus‘ cosmological and theological ideas concerning the Sun, but also that it was influenced to a great extent by the Christological debates of the fourth century.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eros in Theology of I.Petritsi and Sh.Rustaveli

Proposal for the workshop on Neo-Platonism and Christianity
at the Oxford Patristic Conference 2011                                                                                         
 by Levan Gigineishvili (Tbilisi)

This paper discusses the notion of eros in the Neoplatonic philosophy of Ioane Petritsi and his influence on the thought of the epic poet Shota Rustaveli, who holds a similar vision. In both Petritsi and Rustaveli eros represents an anagogic power that leads souls from their self-centeredness towards higher realities and ultimately to God; in both, eros is intimately connected to the notion of conscience (logos/intellect/understanding). Comparisons and influences will be sought in the thought of the church fathers, but most importantly, in the thought of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Since eros in thought of Petritsi and Rustaveli is a universal power that permeates all and, thus, by implication, is not restricted to any single culture or religion, those thinkers ran a risk of falling under a censure of the official church, which would deny any salvific or even anagogic activity happening outside her bosom. I argue that this explains the hostility of the church officials towards both these authors in Medieval Georgia; especially in the case of Rustaveli, this hostility even has a theoretical/theological basis. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The place of Platonism in Augustine’s Resurrection theory 

Proposal for the workshop on Neo-Platonism and Christianity at the Oxford Patristic Conference by Victor YUDIN (Louvain-la-Neuve, Brussels)

One might assume that the Platonists, or indeed any pagan thinkers, have no place in Christian  theology. However, the case of Augustine’s Resurrection theory proves the opposite. He uses the Timaeus 41ab, which is one of the most complex texts in Plato, in order to advance some of his major claims in a purely Christian context. However, the question remains whether he  adequately understood this passage. 

Augustine’s resurrection theory is a significant theological contribution. He presented it in the course of his sermons of the Easter cycle (sermons 240-242) as well as in the last  (xii) of The City of God.  In the latter source he analyzes various aspects of the scientific knowledge of his time concerning the state of the resurrected body, answering the critique of the resurrection theory  launched by the opposition. One of his achievements is his claim that God is accessible for contemplation for the saints, but this happens only in the state of resurrection, after death.

What is surprising, however, is that this theory had not been formed in a theological dispute against other theologians. It took shape in the debate with the intellectuals of the time: the Neo-Platonists. Augustine feels challenged by Porphyry’s critique of Christianity Christians, specifically their critique of the resurrection theory, making numerous references to the Philosophy from Oracles. 

This paper focuses on the evaluation of Augustine’s claim that Tim 41ab contains the resurrection theory. First, we will try to evaluate Cicero’s Latin translation of the Timaeus dialogue, as it was used by Augustine in his analysis. I argue that Augustine’s translation was poor, and that therefore it was hardly possible  for him to understand Plato’s original. Secondly, I will consider whether Augustine was familiar with the Neo-Platonist exegesis of the Tim 41ab (by Porphyry, Iamblichus as later related by Proclus), and if so, to what extent, as he tries to convince the Neo-Platonists of the truth of the Christian teaching. Curiously, he rebukes them for having a poor knowledge of Plato. Finally, we will turn to the traditional use of this text by the preceding theologians (Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Hypollytus etc.), with the aim of getting to know how faithful Augustine’s interpretation was to the Patristic tradition.

Graciela Ritacco - Los estudios patrísticos en Latinoamérica IIEl Bien, el Sol y el Rayo de Luz según Dionisio del Areópago

Es bien conocida la notable continuidad entre el cap. iv de DN y la comparación del Bien con el Sol en Rep. vi. Dentro de ese contexto la utilización por Dionisio del neologismo ‘teárquico’ merece una revisión. Dada la notable importancia del vocabulario del Anónimo, no sólo por su complejidad sino también porque requiere de una afinada sintonía para la apreciación adecuada de la significación preeminente en el marco de una indudable conexión con la literatura neoplatónica pagana, considero de interés profundizar el significado de este término en particular. 

Me he ocupado anteriormente de los “himnos teárquicos”  y de las “luces teárquicas” . A partir de estas indagaciones previas,  queda en evidencia la conexión del vocablo con la problemática trinitaria, aspecto que deseo presentar en esta oportunidad.

 La aparición en el Corpus del “Rayo teárquico” [CH  121 b (8);165 a-b (18); EH  537 b-c (120)]; “Rayo solar divino” [CH  301 a-c (45)] y “Rayo de los Oráculos teárquicos” [DN  588 a (109)], resulta fuertemente apoyada por las bastante más numerosas apariciones del adjetivo referidas al “teárquico Jesús” [EH 477 c (98); 484 a (101)], aunque dicho de maneras muy diversas  en relación con “resplandor”, “palabra”, “inteligencia”, “filantropía”, “potencia”, etc . El neologismo es aplicado  también al Padre, al Espíritu, a las Hipóstasis, a la hyparxis y la hyperyparxis, a la ocultez, etc.  En todos los casos subyace la íntima relación del Bien con la luz, de manera que la adjetivación cobra con este término un considerable valor denotativo apto para ser desentrañado.

1. G.L. Ritacco de Gayoso,  ‘Los himnos theárquicos’ en Teología y Vida, (PUC-Santiago de Chile) XLIII, (2002) 2-3  350-376 (circula también digitalizado)

2. G.L. Ritacco de Gayoso, ‘Las luces teárquicas’, ponencia leída en “Conference Neoplatonism in the East –ex oriente lux- “, International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, University of Haifa on Mount Carmel, Israel, March 2011.

Catherine LEFORT - À propos d’une source inédite des Soliloques d’Augustin : la notion cicéronienne de « vraisemblance ».

La logique de la difficile argumentation du livre II des Soliloques s’éclaire si l’on sait y discerner la présence de la philosophie cicéronienne, une source qui n’a pas été suffisamment été mise en lumière pour ce dialogue philosophique. Augustin y adopte en effet le concept néoacadémicien de « vraisemblance » (uerisimile/similitudo) pour structurer une grande partie de ses développements. On se propose donc de voir en quel sens le nouveau converti reprend à son compte cette notion, comment il la pense dans un cadre ontologique renouvelé par sa découverte récente du néoplatonisme et de quelle manière ses analyses de jeunesse joueront un rôle important dans l’élaboration de sa doctrine ultérieure. 

The logic of the difficult argument of the second book of the Soliloquies gets clearer if one knows to read through it the presence of Ciceronian philosophy. Such a source has not been brought to light enough yet when it comes to this philosophical dialogue. Indeed, Augustine chooses the neo-academician concept of “verisimilitude” (verisimile/similitudo), in order to structure an important part of his propositions. Thus, our aim is to see how the newly convert uses that notion for his own purpose, how he conceives it in a new ontological frame, renewed par his fresh discovery of neo-platonism and how his early-year analyses will have an important role in the elaboration of his ulterior doctrine.