Neoplatonism in Relation To Christianity, An Essay, Ch. Elsee, 1908
Neoplatonism in Relation To Christianity, An Essay, Ch. Elsee, 1908
Eflb fllS
NEOPLATONISM
IN RELATION TO
CHRISTIANITY
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CHRISTIANITY
AN ESSAY
CAMBRIDGE :
at the
University Press
1908
Cantbrttige :
GENERAL
PREFACE
182302
VI PREFACE
INDEX 141
LIST OF MODERN WORKS CONSULTED
E. N. I
2 ROMAN RELIGION IN [l
12
4 ROMAN RELIGION IN [I
contempt
Such are the only direct references to Christianity
which are to be found in Lucian's writings. It is
clear that the subject had but little interest for him.
It failed to excite his curiosity, and he practically
it.
ignores
With regard however to the condition of pagan
thought in his day, Lucian is a most valuable witness.
He is a man of considerable ability, at once thoroughly
versatile and thoroughly sceptical, whilst his detached
attitude lends especial weight to his opinions. The
impression that we gain from a study of his writings
is that there was no central force in paganism at this
time : the old powers were found to be effete, or, at
the best, to be spasmodic and local in their effects,
and it seemed as though the whole system were
crumbling away through sheer inability to survive.
But it must not be assumed that this would be
equally true as a description of the religion of the
Empire half a century later. In the period between
Lucian and Plotinus there occurred an extraordinary
revival or recrudescence of paganism. This was not
merely a revival of external ceremonial, such as took
1
Ib. 13-
I]
THE THIRD CENTURY 5
Emperor. At
the same time, the apotheosis of
departed Emperors did not tend to raise the tone of
heathenism. Rather it served to diminish the value
of deity and to place an efficient weapon in the hands
of those who wished to bring discredit upon paganism.
The reigning Emperor was usually worshipped,
not in person, but through the medium of his Genius*.
But the possession of a Genius was not the prerogative
of the Emperor alone. There was a special Genius
for every man, every family, every nation ;
we even
1 2
Tert. Apol. 28. Reville, p. 39.
8 ROMAN RELIGION IN [I
discernible at Rome
under the Antonines, brought
him into favour Antoninus Pius built a temple in
:
3
Tertullian among the Christians, were as ready to
accept the legend of the Phoenix as Celsus 4 or
5
Philostratus But in the third century the tide of ill-
.
1 2
Ann. 6. 28. Ep. i. 25.
4
3
DeRes. Cam. 13. Or. c. Cels. 4. 98.
5
Vit. Apoll. 3. 49.
I] THE THIRD CENTURY i;
E. N. 2
1 8 ROMAN RELIGION IN [l
22
20 ROMAN RELIGION IN [l
1 2
Dio Cass. 77. 18. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 29.
3 4
Eun. Vit. Phil. Proem, p. 3. Boiss. Reville, p. 237.
I] THE THIRD CENTURY 21
problem of
paganism by a religious eclecticism ;
"
self-subsisting, and seems to represent the rational
self-evolution of the world," the law of progress by
means of constant strife 4 . The name \6<yo<? was
apparently selected, as being less encumbered with
human and material associations than either 1/01)9 or
1
Cf. Drummond I.
p. 44.
2 R. P. p. 117.
Anax. apud Simplic. Phys. 156. 13;
II] GREEK PHILOSOPHY 25
1 2
Cf. Ueberweg, pp. 42 49. Xenophanes, frag. 6; R. P. p. 79.
3
De Melisso, 977 b; R. P. p. 85.
26 EARLIER SYSTEMS OF [ll
2
1
Xen. Mem. 4. 3. 3 10. Ib. 4. 3. 14.
3
Drummond I.
p. 56.
4
Plato, Soph. 248 E; R. P. p. 243.
28 EARLIER SYSTEMS OF [ll
The Ideas are not all on the same level : there are
various ranks to be distinguished among them, and
the highest of all is the Idea of " The Good 1 ."
The universe in which we live falls short of the
perfection of the world of Ideas. It has been created
1
Plato, Rep. vi. 5080; R. P. p. 251.
2
Plato, Tim. 290; R. P. p. 257.
4
3
Plato, Tim. 410. Drummond i.
p. 66. Rep. x. 617 E.
II] GREEK PHILOSOPHY 29
Of
the vast system of Aristotle it is impossible
here to give a detailed account 5 His work was .
1
Arist. Z><? Caelo I.
3. 270 A; R. P. p. 329.
2
Vit. Plot. 18.
II] GREEK PHILOSOPHY 31
speculative. The
subjects with which the Stoics and
Epicureans occupied themselves were the relations of
philosophy to religion, and above all the quest of that
indifference to things external which alone could arm
the individual with calmness and fortitude under all
circumstances. The Epicureans we may
pass over.
Beyond accepting in its entirety the atomic theory of
Democritus, they made no attempt to discover the
final cause of the creation and government of the
world ;
and they exercised no influence on the later
systems with which we are concerned. Even the
traces of speculation that still remained among the
Stoics showed that the current of men's thought had
taken a new direction. Their conceptions of the
ultimate principles had become materialised. The
universe was regarded as a living being, endowed
with the highest reason 1 and the existence of an
,
the Cynics ;
but the method had not before been
systematically applied to the whole field of popular
superstition.
Under the Roman Empire Stoicism continued to
be the dominant philosophical system until the latter
half of the second century of the Christian era. But
before discussing the schools that took its place, we
must turn back for a moment, to trace the rise of a
new stream of speculation, which had begun to
exercise a considerable influence upon the general
current of men's thought. We cannot here enter
fully into the origin either of the Jewish colony at
Alexandria, or of the philosophical school which it
produced. Suffice it to say that the Alexandrian
Jews entered readily into the intellectual life of the
place they welcomed Greek philosophy as a further
:
E. N. 3
34 EARLIER SYSTEMS OF [ll
1
Herriot, Philon lejuif, pp. 206 ff.
2
Herriot, pp. 237 ff.
3
Philo, De Conf. Ling. 28. p. 427 Mang.
II]
GREEK PHILOSOPHY 35
world 1 the
,
sum of the Angels or of the Ideas and
again as the divine spirit. At one time He seems
to have a distinct personality, at another, merely to
teaching of Plato 3
He explicitly rejects both the
.
1
Philo, De Opif. Mundi, 6. p. 5 Mang.
2
Herriot, pp. 241 ff.
3
Herriot, pp. ssoff. ; cf. De Incorrupt. Mundi, 3.
32
36 EARLIER SYSTEMS OF [ll
1
Cf. Ueberweg, p. -237.
40 EARLIER SYSTEMS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY [ll
opportunity arose. We
find the school in existence,
soon after the middle of the second century, under
3
the presidency of Pantaenus but our information
;
1 2
Bigg, Christian Platonists, p. 42. de Faye, p. 31.
3
Eus. Hist. Eccl. 5. 10.
Ill] CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY 45
2
e.g. Strom. 7. 59 end.
Ill] CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY 47
1
Protr. 66 end; Strom, i. i.
48 THE FIRST BEGINNINGS OF [ill
1 2
Strom, i. 51. Strom, i. 37.
3 4
Strom. 2.. 6. Strom. 4. 153, 7. 37.
Ill] CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY 49
" "
many, respects similar to the Wise Man of Stoic
tradition.But, even here, Christian Love as well as
Knowledge, forms one of the mainsprings of the
ideal character.
The
foregoing account will make sufficiently clear
the attitude of the Christian Church towards the
great schools of Greek thought in the years that
1 2 3
Strom. 5. 39. Strom. 7. 42. Strom. 7. i ff.
E. N.
5O FIRST BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY [ill
2 3
Strom. 7. 12, 13. e.g. Strom. 4. 158.
CHAPTER IV
perspective.
The founder of the school was Ammonius Saccas.
Of him and of his teaching we have but little infor-
mation, and of that little, much is by no means certain.
According to Porphyry he was born
1
at Alexandria
1
Eus. Hist. EccL 6. 19.
42
52 THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM [IV
1
Maurice, Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, p. 316.
2
Porph. Vit. Plot. 3.
IV] THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM 53
t
without any endeavour to prove it. In so doing he is
<
merely following the fashion of his time. The great
"
popularity of Mysteries," to which reference has
already been made, an indication of men's readiness
is
possible
1
,
and by continual contemplation, yet ever
with fresh difference, it produces all that truly exists,
that is to say the Universe of Ideas. Similarly it is
by contemplation that the Soul creates, but, inas-
much as it contemplates The One, not directly but
through the medium of the Mind, the objects created
by it stand on a lower level than those created by the
Mind. And in like manner Nature gives form to
formless matter, and thus creates the physical world.
Matter is regarded as indestructible, and as
2
existing before the present world . Its existence
however is negative rather than positive, for apart
from reason it is formless and barren indeed, the :
2 3
1
Enn. 5. 9. 6. Enn.
Ei 2. 4. 5. Enn. 2. 4. u.
4 Enn. 10.
Whittaker, p. 78 ;
i.
3. i.
IV] THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM 57
1 2
Porph. Vit. Plot. i. Whittaker, p. 94.
4 5
3
Enn. i. 2. 4. Enn. 6. 9. n. Vit. Plot. 23.
IV] THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM 59
1
Enn. 2. 9.
60 THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM [IV
ii
1 2 3
Vit. Plot. 11. Vit. Plot. 10. Vit. Plot. 2.
4 5 6
Vit. Plot. 17. Eus. Hist. Eccl. 6. 19. Vit. Plot. 18.
IV] THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM 61
is holiness. In
fact, if Neoplatonism reached its
1
Eus. Hist. Ecd. 6. 19.
2
Porph. apud Eus. Praep. Evang. r. 10.
3
Porph. apud Eus. Praep. Evang. 3.7.
IV] THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM 63
vogue.
The
writer professes to be an Egyptian priest 1
,
1
De Myst. i. 8, i. 17.
2
De Myst. i. 12, 5. 10.
4
3
De Myst. 5. 22. De Myst. 6. 5.
5
De Myst. 10. 5, 6.
IV] THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM 65
iii
1
Cf. Erdmann, Hist, of Philosophy, tr. Hough, i.
p. 248.
E. N. 5
OF THE ^S
66 THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM [IV
1
deol voepoL, u7re/)K007oi,
52
68 THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM [IV
iv
The next name which arrests our attention is that
of the Emperor Julian. More perhaps than almost
any other character in history, he has been the victim
of circumstance. We speak with respect of Celsus
and Porphyry, recognising that, if they were op-
ponents of Christianity, they were nevertheless men
of honesty, who tried by fair and open argument to
justify their preference for the religion of their
ancestors. But of Julian it is difficult to speak with-
out adding the hateful surname of "The Apostate,"
and without regarding him as a traitor, who perse-
cuted the Church and tried to undo the noble work of
Constantine. What that Christianity was which he
forsook, and how far he is to be considered a per-
secutor of the Church, are questions which we do not
often attempt to answer. The relation however of
Julian to the Church will be more properly considered
IV] THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM 69
influence ;
and in particular to that of Mithras-
worship. This view
corroborated by the confusion
is
V
This period of stagnation was followed by the
great revival of Neoplatonism which marked the
opening years of the fifth century. This revival had
two centres of activity, in the universities of Alex-
andria and Athens. It was essentially academical in
2
Cf. Ueberweg, vol. i.
p. 257.
74 THE HISTORY OF NEOPLATONISM [IV
VI
Dionysius
the Areopagite/ It will be sufficient at this point
E. N.
CHAPTER V
THE RELATIONS BETWEEN NEOPLATONISM
AND CHRISTIANITY
THE broad features of the relations between Neo-
platonism and Christianity have been roughly sketched
in the last chapter. There was at first a period of
2
living beings possessed of souls .
Strange as it
1
Philocalia, i. 12.
2
Whittaker, p. 74; Plot. Enn. 4. 4. 22; Westcott, Religious
Thought in the West, p. 229; Origen, De Princ. i. 7. 3, Comm.
in Joh. t. 2, c. 17.
96 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
animals,
^ Origen explicitly denies that such a thing is
he endeavours support to
interpretation by his
" "
conception of evil as that which is not is derived,
not from Scripture, but from philosophy. Origen is
the Son and the Holy Spirit, Origen says " Perhaps
we may say even this, that in order to be freed from
the bondage of corruption, the creation, and especially
the race of men, needed the incarnation of a blessed
and divine Power which should reform all that was on
the earth and that this duty fell, as it were, to the
:
72
IOO THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
king ;
and the final Blessedness so far from being a
state of indolent repose will be a vision of divine
glory, with an ever growing insight into the infinite
1
Enn. 6. 9. 1 1 .
2
Westcott, R. T. W. p. 244.
3
Ib. p. 22-2.
V] NEOPLATONTSM AND CHRISTIANITY IOI
ii
4
\ immortality of the soul .
1
Eus. Praep. Evang. 3. 7, 3. 9, 3. 4.
2 3
Ib. i. i. Ib. ii. 20, p. 541 d.
4
Ib. 15. 10, p. 8nb.
V] NEOPLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY IO5
iii
1
Kendall, p. 252.
V] NEOPLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY 109
iv
1
Aug. Conf. 3. 4 .
V] NEOPLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY III
1
Grandgeorge, Saint Augustin et le Neo-Platonisme, p. 149.
2
e.g. Serm. 348; Grandgeorge, p. 28.
3
Ib. p. 60.
4
Aug. De Civ. Dei, 9. 16; Serm. 117. 5; De Trin. 82.
5
Cf. Plot. Enn. 6. 5. 9, 3. 9. 3, 4. 4. n, 3. 7. i ; Aug. Conf. i. 2,
E.N. 8
114 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
82
Il6 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
3
Plot. Enn. 3. 2. 7; Aug. De Lib. Arb. 3. i. 2.
V] NEOPLATONISM AND -CHRISTIANITY I
19
1
Westcott, Religious Thought in the West, p. 224.
2
See A. W. W. Dale, art. " Origenistic Controversies" in Diet.
Christ. Biog.
V] NEOPLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY 121
1
Socrates, Hist. Eccl. 6. 17.
2
Glover, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century, p. 346.
3 4
Hymn. 3. 448. Glover, p. 347.
128 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
VI
E. N. Q
I3O THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
the works of
'
',
higher.
We need not
linger over the details of the
Heavenly Hierarchy, or follow 'Dionysius' as he
traces out the functions of the nine orders of angels.
We pass on to the treatise On the Ecclesiastical
Hierarchy. Here we learn that there is on earth an
image or reflection of the great system in the heavens.
It stands on a lower level than its heavenly counter-
1
Westcott, R.T.W.^.\^i\ Dion, de Gael Hier. i. 3.
2
DeEccl.Hier. i. 2.
92
132 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
The next
great characteristic of God, after His
Unity, His Goodness.
is
Just as the sun, because it is
the sun, shines on all alike, so God, because He is
God, extends His love to all His creatures. There is
no corner of creation beyond His reach there is no :
good
3
." He
looks, that is, not at the extent to which
this or thatbeing has fallen short of His design, but
at the extent to which it is fulfilling it And it is
because to some extent, however small, the evil powers
are working for good, that He allows them to continue.
In the case of man the matter is further explained
1
De Div. Nom. i. i.
2
Westcott, R. T. W. p. 179.
3
De Div. Nom. 4. 30. Westcott, R. T. W. p. 180.
134 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN [V
Dionysius tries
'
He
to carry
little further. us a
endeavours to enable the reader to rise above the
world that we can see and touch and think about,
and to secure a truer knowledge of God by laying
aside every form of thought or expression which
seems to limit Him to the things of this world. In
the work On the Divine Names the method employed
is for the most part affirmative. The writer takes the
names which describe God's nature and expounds
their meaning. In the present work the negative
method naturally predominates, and God is described,
not by the attributes which He possesses, but by the
limitations from which He is free.
Dionysius
'
is wearisome and
verbose, and easy to quote phrases and paragraphs
it is
Dionysius
'
knowledge of God.
It is remarkable that in this work the leading
ideas of Christianity should be almost entirely
omitted. There is no reason to suppose that Boethius
was a heathen. The
Theological Tracts show clearly
enough that he was well acquainted with western
theology and yet in the books with which he solaced
;
Gordianus, i, 53 Monnica, no
Gregory of Nazianzus, 79, 122 Montanism, 3
Gregory of Nyssa, 79, 122 Mysteries, 3, 11, 16, 45, 54
Gregory Thaumaturgus, 77
Nature, 55
Heraclas, 121 Neopythagoreanism, 15, 19, 38
Heraclides, 29 Ntimber, 25, 29, 38
Heraclitus, 23, 26 Numenius, 38
Herennius, 52 f.
Hierocles of Alexandria, 73 Odovacar, 135
Hierocles of Bithynia, 66 f., 88 One, The, 34, 55
Hilary, 79, 109 f. Origen, 5, 18, 45, 52, 60, 77:
Hypatia, 72f. Origen compared -with the
Neoplatonists, 91-103: doc-
lamblichus, of Pythagoras,
life trines common to both,
25, 29 ; elaboration of
his 92 f. ; use of allegorical
Plotinus' system, 65 ; his love interpretation, 93 f.; trans-
of theurgy, 66 migration of soul, 96 ; the
Ideas, 27, 29, 30, 35, 37, 48, 55 problem of evil, 97; sub-
ordination of the Holy
Jerome, 79, 125, 127 Spirit, 97 f. ; resurrection
Joannes Scotus, 83, 130 of the body, 99 f. ; classes
Julia Domna, 18, 86 of worship, 102
Julian, 68-70, 106-108 ; his Later influence of Origen:
system, 69^; his attitude to- on Hilary, 109 ; on Alex-
wards Christianity, 106 his ; andrian theology, 121 on ;
37 Clement of Alexandria
; Sallustius, 71
and Ecstasy, 50 Septimius Severus, i, 18
Plotinus
1
^^CQ
'8
\8V30l 5/7
A.
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