DOCSLIB.ORG

The Standing of the Soul: the Search for a Middle Being Between God and Matter in the De Statu Animae of Claudianus Mamertus

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Standing of the Soul: the Search for a Middle Being Between God and Matter in the De Statu Animae of Claudianus Mamertus The Standing of the Soul: The Search for a Middle Being between God and Matter in the De Statu Animae of Claudianus Mamertus Author: Steven Robert Cain Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:105066 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2016 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Philosophy THE STANDING OF THE SOUL: THE SEARCH FOR A MIDDLE BEING BETWEEN GOD AND MATTER IN THE DE STATU ANIMAE OF CLAUDIANUS MAMERTUS a dissertation by STEVEN ROBERT CAIN submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2016 © copyright by STEVEN ROBERT CAIN 2016 ABSTRACT THE STANDING OF THE SOUL: THE SEARCH FOR A MIDDLE BEING BETWEEN GOD AND MATTER IN THE DE STATU ANIMAE OF CLAUDIANUS MAMERTUS Steven Robert Cain Advisor: Dr. Stephen Brown This thesis is intended as a complement to Fr. Ernest Fortin’s Christianisme et culture philosophique. In that work, he examined the De statu animae of Claudianus Mamertus and its affinity to the thought of the Neoplatonic philosophers (especially Porphyry) in order to make its doctrine more clear. But he also looked at it to see the greatness of philosophical spirit that its author possessed, a remarkable spirit considering the time in which he wrote. Though Fr. Fortin’s work is quite thorough, there are some aspects of the De statu animae that are treated only slightly or not at all. This thesis aims at filling out some of them. The thesis first considers the difficulty of the philosophical question discussed in the work: the incorporeality of the human soul. Among the many difficulties which this question raises is one raised by Faustus of Riez, against whom Claudianus is writing, namely, that of conceiving an incorporeal creature without confounding it with God. It then considers the historical context, both political and philosophical, in which Claudianus lived and wrote. In particular, it brings out the influence of the Emperor Julian in his efforts to replace Christianity with pagan philosophy (especially as influenced by Porphyry and Iamblichus), and his connection with the intellectual life in Gaul. This it does to put into relief the magnanimity of a Christian writer who could look to the philosophy that most influenced the most ardent opponents of Christianity and see in it an ally rather than an enemy. Faustus regarded the philosophers as enemies because he thought them, in their reasonings, to have raised the soul to the dignity of its Creator. Of the philosophers open to this charge of impiety, it is, perhaps, most aptly laid upon the Platonists. A tendency in this direction appears in Plato, and reaches something of an apex in the thought of Plotinus. In Plato’s writings, it appears especially in the Phaedo, which Claudinaus quotes at length in the Second Book. The thesis looks at this dialogue to bring into relief this tendency in the work, and then compares it to Ennead V.1 to show that Plotinus takes the considerations in that dialogue and follows them out to show the kinship between the soul and the divine. Against this background, there are a couple of aspects of De statu animae that emerge. The first is the importance of seeing the soul as a middle being between God and bodily creatures. The second is the importance of seeing the soul as the imago Dei. Claudianus, in spite of his rhetoric, saw the seriousness of the difficulty raised by Faustus, and his work can be read, especially in the First Book, as an attempt to raise the mind of the reader from the fleshy world of sensation to the more beautiful, true, and good world of the spirit. The thesis argues that though the work is polemical, and so formed somewhat in the order of Faustus’s own arguments, Claudianus has worked that order to his own end; this can be seen in his use of the word status. This word is taken from Faustus, who uses it in his letter to name the nature of the soul. Claudianus, without leaving behind that sense, uses it to bring out the importance of understanding the soul’s nature through understanding its standing in the order of beings. His arguments are meant to help the reader to do just that. He first establishes that the world would be more perfect if there were an incorporeal creature, then he argues that there is in fact such a creature, and finally how it is possible for there to be such a creature. In doing so, he relies on ideas of the Neoplatonists, and especially Iamblichus, who looked at the soul as a middle being in order to see it as, one the one hand, less than the beings of the intelligible order, and yet superior to those of the sensible order. It is in this notion of the soul as a middle being that Claudianus finds an account for the changeableness of the soul without relying on matter. To show this, he invokes a distinction among motions: stable, in time, and in time and place. The first belongs to God, the second to the soul, and the last to bodies. This distinction arises from the fact that God is above all the categories of Aristotle, bodies are subject to them all, but the soul is subject only to some. In this way, the soul can be seen to undergo qualitative change, or changes in its affections, without suffering change in place. Thus, though not a body, it is nevertheless subject to change of some sort. And so, though superior to bodies, it falls short of the perfection of its Creator. But running throughout this discussion is the notion of image. And at the end of the book, its importance emerges. When Claudianus turns to a consideration of our act of knowing, the nature of the soul becomes more clear. When the soul turns its attention from bodies to look at itself, what it sees is an image of God, Who is incorporeal. And so, it sees, if it can free itself from the seductions of the images of bodies it has drawn in through the senses, that it is incorporeal. Here he reveals to the reader more fully what he has been trying to do. He has been working to turn the eye of the mind from the world of sensation to look at itself in itself, for if it does this, it will see itself as the imago Dei, and thus incorporeal. In this last aspect of the work especially, we can see the influence of Iamblichus, who, as Carlos Steel has shown, came to conceive of the soul as the image of Intellect precisely to establish it as a middle being between Intellect and the material world. It is an image so that it can be both like and unlike its exemplar. It understands (or more precisely, reasons) and so is like Intellect. But it does so by introducing order into its thoughts so that though always thinking (like Intellect), it moves from one thought to the next. Thus, it introduces time into the world. In this way, it departs from Intellect and becomes subject to change, though not in place. Claudianus recognizes in this a way of conceiving of the soul as incorporeal, therefore like God, and yet subject to change in time, therefore unlike Him, and so a creature. And so he comes to see the soul, in its essence to be the image of its Creator. Claudianus, in his refutation of Faustus, has raised the minds of his readers to lofty heights. Following the teachings of the Platonists, to whom his friend Sidonius likens him in everything except his garb, he has purged his mind from the entrapments of the corporeal world, has raised it to the pure world of being, and found himself a part of it. But those he has followed had been, either directly or indirectly, ardent foes of the faith which he professed and to which he had given his life. Porphyry had composed a work attacking Christianity; and Iamblichus, through his disciples, had inspired Julian with a devotion to the pagan gods that led him to attack the Church both in his writings and in his political endeavors. But unlike Faustus and others like him, he saw a harmony between his faith and his philosophy that gave him confidence that the natural light of reason and the light of revelation could work together to unite his soul to its Beginning, which is also his End. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Faustus of Riez and His Arguments against the Immateriality of the Soul Faustus of Riez 12 The Letter of Faustus and the Corporeality of the Soul 21 Chapter 3: The Historical and Philosophical Backdrop to the 30 De statu animae Roman Gaul in the Late Empire 31 The Rise of Christianity 37 Julian 44 Chapter 4: The Platonic Background Plato and the Phaedo 53 Plotinus and the Divination of the Soul 63 Iamblichus and the Un-Divinization of the Soul 70 Chapter 5: Claudianus and the Soul as a Middle Being The Need for an Incorporeal Creature 76 That there Is an Incorporeal Creature 83 How there Is an Incorporeal Creature 91 i Chapter 6: The Soul as the Imago Dei The Importance of the Notion of Image in the De statu animae 109 Plato’s Notion of Image 121 Plotinus’s Notion of Image 135 Iamblichus and the Soul as Image 144 The Soul as the Image of God 149 Conclusion 165 Appendix: Translations of the Letter of Faustus, De statu animae, and the Letter of Claudianus to the Rhetor Sapaudus Letter of Faustus 171 The Three Books of Claudianus Mamertus Concerning the Standing of the Soul Preface 184 The First Book 187 The Second Book 253 The Third Book 297 Epilogue 327 Letter of Claudianus to the Rhetor Sapaudus 333 Bibliography 337 ii Acknowledgements There are many to whom I am indebted for assistance in the completion of this thesis, to all of whom I am grateful.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Fathers of the Church, Part 2: the Latin (Or Western) Fathers
    Fathers of the Church, Part 2: The Latin (or Western) Fathers A previous In Focus explored some of the great Fathers of the Eastern, or Greek, Church. This week the Latin (Western) Fathers are highlighted. While there is no official list of the Fathers, since the fifth century the criteria for selection has been that the individuals lived holy lives, were orthodox in their teachings and writings, lived during antiquity (the first through seventh centuries) and have been approved by the Church. According to some historians, there are more than 100 total Church Fathers (East and West); many of the same names are found on the different lists. The Fathers helped define, establish and promote the dogmas of the Catholic faith. They not only explained and advanced Christianity, but they stood against those who would defame, deny or exploit our Lord, Jesus Christ. This author is not able to adequately measure or describe the sanctity of these men, who were popes, bishops, theologians, apologists and writers. Some are saints, and all gave themselves in the service of the Lord. Here are a handful among the giants from the Western Church who have the title Church Father. They are categorized by those who lived just before the Council of Nicea, those in the era of Nicea and those after the council, up through the seventh century. Part one about the Greek (Eastern) Church Fathers was published Jan. 21 and can be found at: bit.ly/fatherspart1. Ante-Nicea Fathers Tertullian (c. 155-220) Tertullian Public domain The Fathers of the Western Church begin with Tertullian in the second century.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the Richard Peter Mckeon Papers 1918-1985
    University of Chicago Library Guide to the Richard Peter McKeon Papers 1918-1985 © 2006 University of Chicago Library Table of Contents Acknowledgments 4 Descriptive Summary 4 Information on Use 4 Access 4 Citation 5 Biographical Note 5 Scope Note 6 Related Resources 7 Subject Headings 7 INVENTORY 8 Series I: Biographical Materials 8 Subseries 1: Professional Materials 8 Subseries 2: Personal Papers and Memorabilia 9 Subseries 3: Family Documents and Correspondence 10 Series II: Correspondence 11 Series III: Subject Files 41 Series IV: Writings 61 Subseries 1: Bibliography 62 Subseries 2: Reprints 62 Subseries 3: Books 63 Sub-subseries 1: William of Ockham Materials 63 Sub-subseries 2: Peter Abailard (Abelard), Sic et Non 65 Sub-subseries 3: Sic et Non Card Files 66 Sub-subseries 4: Other Books 71 Subseries 4: Published Articles 71 Subseries 5: Book Reviews 79 Subseries 6: Unpublished Materials 79 Subseries 7: Miscellaneous 86 Series V: Course Materials 101 Subseries 1: Lecture Notes 101 Subseries 2: Syllabi, Examinations, Handouts 114 Series VI: Conferences 121 Series VII: UNESCO Materials 127 Subseries 1: Preparatory Commission 128 Subseries 2: First General Conference, Paris 128 Subseries 3: Second General Conference, Mexico City 129 Subseries 4: Third General Conference, Beirut 130 Subseries 5: Fifth General Conference, Florence 131 Subseries 6: Sixth General Conference, Paris 131 Subseries 7: Programme Commission Reports 131 Subseries 8: Executive Board of UNESCO Meetings 132 Subseries 9: U.S. National Commission for UNESCO 132 Subseries 10: Miscellaneous 133 Series VIII: Encyclopaedia Britannica 137 Subseries 1: History 137 Subseries 2: Board of Editors Meetings 137 Subseries 3: Roof articles project 138 Subseries 4: Other Articles and Projects 139 Series IX: Miscellaneous Papers 140 Series X: Audio-Visual Materials 140 Subseries 1: Reel Tapes 141 Subseries 2: Microfilm and Glass Plates 144 Series XI: Recommendations and Evaluations 144 Descriptive Summary Identifier ICU.SPCL.RPMCKEON Title McKeon, Richard Peter.
    [Show full text]
  • Poverty, Charity and the Papacy in The
    TRICLINIUM PAUPERUM: POVERTY, CHARITY AND THE PAPACY IN THE TIME OF GREGORY THE GREAT AN ABSTRACT SUBMITTED ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF MARCH, 2013 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS OF TULANE UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY ___________________________ Miles Doleac APPROVED: ________________________ Dennis P. Kehoe, Ph.D. Co-Director ________________________ F. Thomas Luongo, Ph.D. Co-Director ________________________ Thomas D. Frazel, Ph.D AN ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the role of Gregory I (r. 590-604 CE) in developing permanent ecclesiastical institutions under the authority of the Bishop of Rome to feed and serve the poor and the socio-political world in which he did so. Gregory’s work was part culmination of pre-existing practice, part innovation. I contend that Gregory transformed fading, ancient institutions and ideas—the Imperial annona, the monastic soup kitchen-hospice or xenodochium, Christianity’s “collection for the saints,” Christian caritas more generally and Greco-Roman euergetism—into something distinctly ecclesiastical, indeed “papal.” Although Gregory has long been closely associated with charity, few have attempted to unpack in any systematic way what Gregorian charity might have looked like in practical application and what impact it had on the Roman Church and the Roman people. I believe that we can see the contours of Gregory’s initiatives at work and, at least, the faint framework of an organized system of ecclesiastical charity that would emerge in clearer relief in the eighth and ninth centuries under Hadrian I (r. 772-795) and Leo III (r.
    [Show full text]
  • From Hades to the Stars: Empedocles on the Cosmic Habitats of Soul', Classical Antiquity, Vol
    Edinburgh Research Explorer From Hades to the stars Citation for published version: Trepanier, S 2017, 'From Hades to the stars: Empedocles on the cosmic habitats of soul', Classical Antiquity, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 130-182. https://doi.org/10.1525/ca.2017.36.1.130 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1525/ca.2017.36.1.130 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Published In: Classical Antiquity Publisher Rights Statement: Published as Trépanier, S. 2017. From Hades to the Stars: Empedocles on the Cosmic Habitats of Soul, Classical Antiquity, Vol. 36 No. 1, April 2017; (pp. 130-182) DOI: 10.1525/ca.2017.36.1.130. © 2017 by the Regents of the University of California. Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the University of California for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation.
    [Show full text]
  • THE MYTH of ORPHEUS and EURYDICE in WESTERN LITERATURE by MARK OWEN LEE, C.S.B. B.A., University of Toronto, 1953 M.A., Universi
    THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE IN WESTERN LITERATURE by MARK OWEN LEE, C.S.B. B.A., University of Toronto, 1953 M.A., University of Toronto, 1957 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OP PHILOSOPHY in the Department of- Classics We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, i960 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada. ©he Pttttrerstt^ of ^riitsl} (Eolimtbta FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES PROGRAMME OF THE FINAL ORAL EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of MARK OWEN LEE, C.S.B. B.A. University of Toronto, 1953 M.A. University of Toronto, 1957 S.T.B. University of Toronto, 1957 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1960 AT 3:00 P.M. IN ROOM 256, BUCHANAN BUILDING COMMITTEE IN CHARGE DEAN G. M. SHRUM, Chairman M. F. MCGREGOR G. B. RIDDEHOUGH W. L. GRANT P. C. F. GUTHRIE C. W. J. ELIOT B. SAVERY G. W. MARQUIS A. E. BIRNEY External Examiner: T. G. ROSENMEYER University of Washington THE MYTH OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE IN WESTERN Myth sometimes evolves art-forms in which to express itself: LITERATURE Politian's Orfeo, a secular subject, which used music to tell its story, is seen to be the forerunner of the opera (Chapter IV); later, the ABSTRACT myth of Orpheus and Eurydice evolved the opera, in the works of the Florentine Camerata and Monteverdi, and served as the pattern This dissertion traces the course of the myth of Orpheus and for its reform, in Gluck (Chapter V).
    [Show full text]
  • The Summit of Ancient Latin Mathematical Competence:Apuleius and Augustine
    Roskilde University The Summit of Ancient Latin Mathematical Competence Apuleius and Augustine Høyrup, Jens Published in: Actes du XIIIe Colloque Maghrébin sur l'Histoire des Mathématiques Arabes (COMHISMA13) Publication date: 2018 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (APA): Høyrup, J. (2018). The Summit of Ancient Latin Mathematical Competence: Apuleius and Augustine. In M. Abdeljaouad, & H. Hedfi (Eds.), Actes du XIIIe Colloque Maghrébin sur l'Histoire des Mathématiques Arabes (COMHISMA13) (pp. 157-170). COMHISHA. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain. • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 23. Sep. 2021 13e colloque maghrébin sur l’histoire des mathématiques arabes, Tunis 2018 THE SUMMIT OF ANCIENT LATIN MATHEMATICAL COMPETENCE: APULEIUS AND AUGUSTINE Jens HØYRUP Roskilde Universitetscenter (Danemark) Dedicated to Samia Ahasniou and Saliha Mostefai Abstract. According to all we know, Latin Antiquity was utterly unfamiliar with the theoretical aspects of mathematics; Quintilian did not know finger reckoning from geometry, while Cicero explains that the Romans were not interested.
    [Show full text]
  • SDS Contributions
    Contributions on Salvatorian History, Charism, and Spirituality Volume Twelve Key Elements Contributions on Salvatorian History, Charism, and Spirituality Volume Twelve Key Elements A Project of the Joint History and Charism Committee Ms. Janet E Bitzan, SDS Ms. Sue Haertel, SDS Sr. Nelda Hernandez, SDS Fr. Michael Hoffman, SDS Fr. Patric Nikolas, SDS Sr. Barbara Reynolds, SDS Mr. Anthony Scola, SDS Sr. Carol Thresher, SDS With Permission of the Superiors Sr. Beverly Heitke, SDS Provincial of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Savior Mrs. Jaqueline White, SDS National Director of the Lay Salvatorians Fr. Jeff Wocken, SDS Provincial of the Society of the Divine Savior February, 2020 Contents Introduction . v Key Element: Charism . 1 Universality in the Family Charter and its Roots in Father Jordan . .3 Ms. Janet Bitzan, SDS Our Salvation In Jesus Christ . .11 Fr. Luis Alfredo Escalante, SDS Towards a Salvatorian Theory of Salvation in the African Perspective . 23 Fr. Marcel Mukadi Kabisay, SDS Toward a Salvatorian Theology of Salvation. .41 Fr. Thomas Perrin, SDS Exploring Universality as Inclusive Love. .49 Sr. Carol Thresher, SDS Signs of the Presence of the Holy Spirit in the Society of the Divine Savior . .63 Fr. Milton Zonta, SDS The Holy Spirit in Early Salvatorian History. .75 Sr. Carol Thresher, SDS Key Element: Mission. 91 The Salvatorian Family Charter and the Kingdom of God . .93 Sr. Rozilde Maria Binotto, SDS, and Sr. Therezinha Joana Rasera, SDS Salvatorian Mission for the Signs of the Time . .105 Sr. Dinusha Fernando, SDS Living in the “Now”: A Salvatorian Response to the Signs of the Times .
    [Show full text]
  • Housman Lecture O'donoghue 2018 Final 02.Indd
    UCL DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND LATIN UCL Housman Lecture 2018 ‘Chosen Ancestors’ Aeneid 6 and Seamus Heaney’s Pieties by Bernard O’Donoghue A.E. Housman (1859–1936) Born in Worcestershire in 1859, Alfred Edward Housman was a gifted classical scholar and poet. After studying in Oxford, Housman worked for ten years as a clerk, while publishing and writing scholarly articles on Horace, Propertius, Ovid, Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. He gradually acquired such a high reputation that in 1892 he returned to the academic world as Professor of Classics at University College London (1892–1911) and then as Kennedy Professor of Latin at Trinity College, Cambridge (1911–1936). Housman Lectures at UCL The Department of Greek and Latin at University College London organizes regular Housman Lectures, named after its illustrious former colleague (with support from UCL Alumni). Housman Lectures, delivered by a scholar of international distinction, originally took place every second year and now happen every year, alternating between Greek and Roman topics (Greek lectures being funded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation). This is the tenth Housman Lecture, and it took place on 14 March 2018. Bernard O’Donoghue is a poet and an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. Cover images: Attic black-figured amphora: Aeneas’ flight from Troy © The Trustees of the British Museum HOUSMAN LECTURE ‘Chosen Ancestors’ Aeneid 6 and Seamus Heaney’s Pieties Bernard O’Donoghue A complete translation by Seamus Heaney of Aeneid 6 had long been rumoured, so its posthumous appearance in 2016 was a major event. Heaney had said that he wanted to produce a ‘poetic remaking of Book VI’, by contrast with his more dutiful translation of Beowulf, which he said to begin with he did ‘not know or love enough’ to remake poetically.
    [Show full text]
  • Tertullian and Medicine
    Tertullian and Medicine Thomas Heyne, Dallas ABSTRACT: Scholars have long described Tertullian as the first Christian writer to show an appreciable knowledge of medicine, but none has analyzed this theme in comprehensive detail. A thorough analysis of Tertullian’s corpus reveals a remarkably consistent respect for physicians, profound understanding of medical science, and creative use of medical metaphors. His medical knowledge ‒ derived from Soranus of Ephesus and Pliny the Elder ‒ was deeper than that of prior Christians, and it appears to have deepened further throughout his lifetime. Furthermore, Tertullian never disparaged doctors as many of his contemporaries did. Nonetheless, he was apparently ignorant of Galen, and he never made medicine his major priority. 1 I. Introduction1 Few scholarly topics are of more practical import today than the interplay between faith and healthcare. And few early Christian writers are more controversial and fascinating than Tertullian of Carthage. Lively scholarly debate continues on numerous topics, including whether he rejected secular learning or embraced Montanism, and whether these opinions changed. Relatively unexplored is the corollary question: did Tertullian, as many scholars have intimated, reject medical science? More specifically, did the ‘fundamentalist’ Tertullian typify a rejection of medicine by certain early Christians, who either embraced suffering or prayed for healing—and therefore ‘hastened the decline of medicine’?2 Put differently, was Tertullian an example of the ‘Christian…glorification of disease,’ which ‘delighted exuberantly in famine and plague’?3 In addition, what precisely was Tertullian’s knowledge and opinion of disease and medicine, and did his opinions ever change? Despite a burgeoning interest in the history of medicine and early Christianity, and despite repeated scholarly acknowledgements of Tertullian’s medical erudition, these questions remain largely answered.
    [Show full text]
  • Jantzen, GOD's WORLD, GOD's BODY
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Asbury Theological Seminary Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 4 Issue 1 Article 8 1-1-1987 Jantzen, GOD'S WORLD, GOD'S BODY Charles Taliaferro Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation Taliaferro, Charles (1987) "Jantzen, GOD'S WORLD, GOD'S BODY," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 8. Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol4/iss1/8 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. BOOK REVIEWS God's World, God's Body,by Grace Jantzen. Foreword by John Macquarie (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1984). Pap. $10.95. Reviewed by CHARLES TALIAFERRO, St. Olaf College. In recent years philosophers have sought to retain a Christian metaphysics while either dispensing with or radically revising important tenets of the classical Christian conception of God. Immutability, metaphysical simplicity, eternity, necessary existence, essential goodness, omniscience, and omnipotence have been among the most popular Divine attributes targetted for critical review. In God's World, God's Body Grace Jantzen argues for the bold thesis that a Christian metaphysics need not claim that God is incorporeal. Criticism of the thesis that God is incorporeal is not new to philosophical theology, but Jantzen's work is a significant, new attempt to establish the compatibility of theism with the view that there are no incorporeal, nonphysical persons.
    [Show full text]
  • The Legacy of Andre Vauchez's Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages
    The Legacy of André Vauchez � Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages Thomas Head Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY It is the appearance of a translation entitled Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages (trans. Jean Birrell [Cambridge, 1987]) which provides us the excuse this afternoon to consider the André Vauchez � masterwork and its legacy in shaping the hagiographic scholarship over the course of almost two decades. Vauchez originally published his thèse d �état in 1981. It became on its publication, and remains today, the benchmark for all study of hagiography and the cult of saints in the later middle ages. The book is a systematic examination of the records of the formal processes initiated for the canonization of saints between 1198 and 1431. Vauchez thus implicitly took up the challenge issued in 1965 by Frantisek Graus Volk, Herrscher und Heiliger im Reich der Merowinger: Studien zur Hagiographie der Merowingerzeit (Prague, 1965), that is to use neglected genres of hagiographic works as sources for the social history of western Christianity. Given the importance that has come to be accorded Graus � pioneering study among scholars �particularly Anglophone scholars �who examine hagiography more for social historical than for philological or theological reasons, it is natural to link the work of the French Catholic to that of the Czech Marxist. Our chair this afternoon, Richard Kieckhefer �himself one of the most distinguished Anglophone scholars of late medieval sanctity �made exactly that connection on the opening page (p. xix) of the foreword which he provided for the English translation. Vauchez himself invoked Graus on the first page of his own introduction, but in a much more limited manner, as one among a group of scholars of the Merovingian and Carolingian periods who have "made it possible to bring within the �territory of the historian � the terra incognita which the history of sanctity has long represented." (p.
    [Show full text]
  • Title: Midas, the Golden Age Trope, and Hellenistic Kingship in Ovid's
    Title: Midas, the Golden Age trope, and Hellenistic Kingship in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Abstract: This article proposes a sustained politicized reading of the myth of Midas in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It argues that Midas stands, first, as the embodiment of failed, Hellenistic kingship, with its ostentatious display of wealth and heralding of a new Golden Age, and, second, as a warning against the infectious “love of gold”, to which Roman politicians are far from immune. While the capture of Silenus and the golden touch episode link Midas with the tropes of Hellenistic kingship, his involvement in the competition between Pan and Apollo raises questions about the tropes of Roman imperial power itself. 0 Midas, the Golden Age trope, and Hellenistic Kingship in Ovid’s Metamorphoses It might be heaven, this static Plenitude: apples gold on the bough, Goldfinch, goldfish, golden tiger cat stock - Still in one gigantic tapestry – Sylvia Plath, In Midas' Country Ovid provides the fullest and most elaborate account of the myth of Midas that has come down to us from Classical Antiquity. His version conflates what must have been three different myths involving the legendary Phrygian king: first, his encounter with or capture of Silenus, second, the gift of the golden touch, which turned into a curse, and third, his acquisition of ass’s ears –– in Ovid’s version as a punishment by Apollo for his musical preferences. Throughout the narrative (11.85-193) Midas emerges as a figure of ridicule, a man unable to learn from his mistakes1. Despite the amount of criticism that has focused on the Metamorphoses, this episode has attracted remarkably little attention.
    [Show full text]