Knowledge, Language and Intellection from Origen to Gregory Nazianzen a Selective Survey
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Epistemological theories of the patristic authors seldom attract attention of the re- searchers. This unfortunate status quo contrasts with a crucial place of the theory EARLY CHRISTIANITY of knowledge in the thought of such prominent authors as Origen and the Cappa- ECCA 18 docian fathers. This book surveys the patristic epistemological discourse in its vari- IN THE CONTEXT ous settings. In the context of the Church history it revolves around the Eunomian controversy, Eunomius’ language theory and Gregory Nazianzen’s cognitive theory, where the ideas of Apostle Paul were creatively combined with the Peripatetic teach- OF ANTIQUITY ing. In the framework of Biblical exegesis, it touches upon the issues of the textual criticism of the Homeric and Jewish scholarship, which had significantly shaped Origen’s paradigm of the Biblical studies. Edited by Anders-Christian Jacobsen, Christine Shepardson, Jörg Ulrich Anna Usacheva Knowledge, Language and Intellection from Origen to Gregory Nazianzen A Selective Survey Anna Usacheva holds a PhD in Classical Philology and was a lecturer in Patristics and Ancient Languages at St. Tikhon Orthodox University (Moscow, Russia). Cur- rently, she is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Intellection and Language Knowledge, · Usacheva Anna Theology, Aarhus University (Denmark). 18 ISBN 978-3-631-73109-3 Epistemological theories of the patristic authors seldom attract attention of the re- searchers. This unfortunate status quo contrasts with a crucial place of the theory EARLY CHRISTIANITY of knowledge in the thought of such prominent authors as Origen and the Cappa- ECCA 18 docian fathers. This book surveys the patristic epistemological discourse in its vari- IN THE CONTEXT ous settings. In the context of the Church history it revolves around the Eunomian controversy, Eunomius’ language theory and Gregory Nazianzen’s cognitive theory, where the ideas of Apostle Paul were creatively combined with the Peripatetic teach- OF ANTIQUITY ing. In the framework of Biblical exegesis, it touches upon the issues of the textual criticism of the Homeric and Jewish scholarship, which had significantly shaped Origen’s paradigm of the Biblical studies. Edited by Anders-Christian Jacobsen,Christine Shepardson, Jörg Ulrich Anna Usacheva Knowledge,Language and Intellection from Origen to Gregory Nazianzen A Selective Survey Anna Usacheva holds a PhD in Classical Philology and was a lecturer in Patristics and Ancient Languages at St. Tikhon Orthodox University (Moscow, Russia). Cur- rently, she is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Knowledge,· Usacheva Anna Intellection and Language Theology, Aarhus University (Denmark). 18 Knowledge, Language and Intellection from Origen to Gregory Nazianzen EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN THE CONTEXT OF ANTIQUITY Edited by David Brakke, Anders-Christian Jacobsen, Jörg Ulrich Advisory board: Hanns Christof Brennecke, Ferdinand R. Prostmeier Einar Thomassen, Nicole Kelley Jakob Engberg, Carmen Cvetkovic Ellen Muehlberger, Tobias Georges Volume 18 Zu Qualitätssicherung und Peer Review Notes on the quality assurance and der vorliegenden Publikation peer review of this publication Die Qualität der in dieser Reihe Prior to publication, the quality erscheinenden Arbeiten wird vor der of the work published in this Publikation durch die Herausgeber der series is reviewed by the editors Reihe sowie durch Mitglieder des of the series and by members of Wissenschaftlichen Beirates geprüft. the academic advisory board. Anna Usacheva Knowledge, Language and Intellection from Origen to Gregory Nazianzen A Selective Survey Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. ISSN 1862-197X ISBN 978-3-631-73109-3 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-631-73110-9 (E-PDF) E-ISBN 978-3-631-73111-6 (EPUB) E-ISBN 978-3-631-73112-3 (MOBI) DOI 10.3726/b11833 Open Access: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main 2017 All rights reserved. Peter Lang Edition is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH. Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main ∙ Bern ∙ Bruxelles ∙ New York ∙ Oxford ∙ Warszawa ∙ Wien All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems. This publication has been peer reviewed. www.peterlang.com To my mother Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................. 11 Introduction .......................................................................................... 13 Part One: Language and Theological Knowledge in the Teachings of Origen, Basil and Eunomius ......................................... 21 Introduction to Part One ......................................................................... 21 Chapter 1. Epistemological and Pedagogical Debates of Late Antiquity: Language, Logic and Theology ............................................... 22 1. Epistemology from the Hellenistic epoch to Late Antiquity: Aristotelian methodological turn ...................................................... 22 1.1 The epistemological conundrums of the Hellenic grammatical and medical studies .............................................. 25 1.2 Philological paradigm of Hellenic paideia ................................. 29 2. Logic and a verified belief in Christian education.............................. 34 Chapter 2. Epistemological and methodological principles of Origen’s biblical studies ...................................................... 38 1. Institutional framework of Alexandrian scholarship and Origen’s biblical studies ........................................... 38 2. Origen’s exegetic methodology and Hellenic grammarians ............... 51 Chapter 3. Eunomian teaching in the context of philosophical and pedagogical debates .................................................... 59 1. Philosophical background of Eunomian teaching ............................. 59 2. Historical and social context of Eunomian teaching ......................... 64 2.1 Gregory vs. Julian: a pedagogical debate ................................... 64 2.2 The Cappadocian fathers vs. Eunomians: how the debate started ...................................................................... 67 2.3 Polemical rhetoric of the Cappadocians and Eunomians: an unjustified reasoning ......................................... 70 7 Chapter 4. Logical, linguistic and grammatical theories in the doctrines of Origen, Basil and Eunomius ....................................... 73 1. The post-Nicene debate: a terminological introduction ..................... 73 1.1 Stoic linguistics at the service of Christian thought ................... 76 1.2 The categorial theory and correlation between logic and linguistics ................................................................... 80 2. Hellenic philosophers, Eunomius and Origen on the correctness of names ......................................................................... 83 3. The language theories of Origen and Basil, and Stoic linguistics .......................................................................... 93 4. Methodology of the theological discourse of Origen and Basil ........................................................................... 99 4.1 Conceptual theology and the notion of epinoia ......................... 99 4.2 The categorial theory in the Trinitarian doctrine ..................... 106 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 111 Part Two: Epistemology and Human Intellection in the Theological Orations of Gregory Nazianzen .................................. 115 Introduction to Part two ....................................................................... 115 Chapter 1. The methodological framework of the theological orations ..................................................................... 115 Introduction .......................................................................................... 115 1. Method in the theological orations: historical evidence and modern scholarship ................................................... 117 2. A reception paradigm of the theological orations............................ 122 3. Style and argumentative strategies of the theological orations......... 130 3.1 The objectives of the theological circle: Gregory’s explicit testimony .................................................... 130 3.2 Dialectical argumentation in the theological orations ............. 135 3.3 Exegetic theology and Aristotelian categorial theory ............... 141 Chapter 2. The essential predication of the divine nature in the context of Eunomianism ................................................... 147 Introduction .......................................................................................... 147 8 1. Aristotelian