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John Philoponus Against Cosmas Indicopleustes : a Christian Controversy on the Structure of the World in Sixth-Century Alexandria

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John Philoponus Against Cosmas Indicopleustes : a Christian Controversy on the Structure of the World in Sixth-Century Alexandria John Philoponus against Cosmas Indicopleustes : A Christian Controversy on the Structure of the World in Sixth-Century Alexandria Elweskiöld, Birgitta 2005 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Elweskiöld, B. (2005). John Philoponus against Cosmas Indicopleustes : A Christian Controversy on the Structure of the World in Sixth-Century Alexandria. Greek. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 John Philoponus against Cosmas Indicopleustes A Christian Controversy on the Structure of the World in Sixth-Century Alexandria By Birgitta Elweskiöld Lund 2005 Lund University Department of Classics and Semitics © Birgitta Elweskiöld 2005 ISBN 91-628-6642-7 Printed in Sweden Media-Tryck, Lunds universitet 2005 2 To Paul 4 Organization Document name LUND UNIVERSITY DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Department of Classics and Semitics Date of issue October 21, 2005 Sölvegatan 6, SE-223 62 Lund Sweden Author(s) Sponsoring organization Birgitta Elweskiöld Title and subtitle John Philoponus against Cosmas Indicopleustes. A Christian Controversy on the Structure of the World in Sixth Century Alexandria Abstract The scope of this study is to compare John Philoponus and Cosmas Indicopleustes, two Christian individuals of different backgrounds and belonging to different fractions of the Church in the turbulent time for the Church in sixth century Alexandria. Any Christian is likely to feel the need to define how the tenets of his or her faith relate to contemporary science. As long as Christianity has existed, it has been active in societies where science has had a prominent position. There are obviously two extreme positions: either you declare that science is always right when it is in conflict with the Bible, or you regard the Bible as given by God and science as an inferior, man-made source of truth. Intermediate positions are those chosen by the two sixth- century writers who are the focus of this study, John Philoponus and Cosmas Indico- pleustes. We have no clear evidence to show that Cosmas and Philoponus, as individuals, polemized against each other, or even that they knew each other. However, not as individuals, but as representatives of the two opposing fractions, they certainly stand against each other. They were both Christians, and the books by them that we study here are attempts to reconcile their ideas on geography and cosmology with what Scripture teaches about these matters. Although both of them refer to Bible passages as support, they draw widely different conclusions. Although Cosmas distances himself from science and although Philoponus refuses to accept all doctrines taught by the philosophy that he knew so well, it is primarily a controversy between two Christian fractions. Key words Alexandria, De Opificio Mundi, Christian Topography, two-floor building, firmament, Genesis, angels, heaven, philosophical terms, philosophical reasoning, theology Classification system and/or index terms (if any) Supplementary bibliographical information Language English ISSN and key title ISBN 91-628-6642-7 Recipient´s notes Number of pages Price xiv +142 Security classification Distribution by (name and address) I, the undersigned, being the copyright owner of the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation, hereby grant to all reference sources permission to publish and disseminate the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation. Signature Date 1 Introduction 1.1 The controversy Any Christian is likely to feel the need to define how the tenets of his or her faith relate to contemporary science. As long as Christianity has existed, it has been active in societies where science has had a prominent position, and to everyone it has been obvious that the answers provided by science to a number of pertinent questions are in conflict with the answers provided by Scripture to the same questions. Hence the necessity for Christians to take a position in this conflict between faith and science. There are obviously two extreme positions: either you declare that science is always right when it is in conflict with the Bible, or you regard the Bible as given by God and science as an inferior, man-made source of truth. Both posi- tions are difficult to uphold. A Christian must accept some of the doctrines preached by the Bible, even those that in the light of science will appear to be irrational, so science cannot be allowed to dictate everything. On the other hand, the Bible is in conflict, not only with the more or less esoteric doctrines of sci- ence, but sometimes also with the sound empirical knowledge of ordinary man, so the Bible cannot be supposed to give the correct answer to every question. From this it follows that, in practice, Christians in these matters normally take some sort of intermediate positions between the two extremes. Intermediate positions are indeed those chosen by the two sixth-century writ- ers who are the focus of this study, John Philoponus and Cosmas Indico- pleustes. They were both Christians, and the books by them that we study here are attempts to reconcile their ideas on geography and cosmology with what Scripture teaches about these matters. However, their backgrounds were much different. One of them, Philoponus, represents the very first order of contempo- rary philosophy (and philosophy in those days, we must be aware, raised claims to providing the ultimate truths, much as science does today). He had a pro- found knowledge of contemporary natural science, and it is the tenets of that science he tries to trace in the writings of Moses and the rest of the Bible. Cos- 1 mas, on his side, was a man of wide practical experience and, although not en- tirely unfamiliar with the scientific doctrines of his day, he explicitly rejects the scientific teachings of “those outside” the Christian community (or the variety of Christian community he belonged to himself). His image of the world’s physical shape differed considerably from that taught by contemporary science. Thus, there ensues a controversy between the position of Cosmas and that of Philoponus. Although Cosmas distances himself from science and although Philoponus refuses to accept all doctrines taught by the philosophy that he knew so well, it is primarily a controversy between two Christian fractions. We have no clear evidence to show that Cosmas and Philoponus, as individuals, polem- ized against each other, not even that they knew each other,1 although they were contemporaries and both lived in Alexandria. However, not as individuals, but as representatives of the two opposing fractions, they certainly stand against each other. This is the reason why I chose the phrase “Philoponus against Cos- mas” for the title of this book and, since they are better known to us than other contestants in this controversy, I have allowed myself sometimes to refer to them as “opponents” or “combatants”, as if they had actually met in face-to-face disputes. What I concentrate upon is the way in which they fought that imaginary combat. They had both the same intention with their writings: to reconcile the teachings of the Bible with what they actually knew themselves about the physical world they lived in. The empirical data provided by that world were common to them, Cosmas could hardly have been ignorant of the philosophical interpretations of those data prevalent in contemporary Alexandria and de- fended by Philoponus, and the Bible was a common source of knowledge, highly revered by both. Both had a profound knowledge of their Bible and, when defending their positions, they largely use the same Bible passages, only interpreting them differently. Thus, this will be a study of how two Christians of the sixth century argued, from two different stand-points, for the truth of Scripture and against each other. It will define the sources of their arguments, whether they come from Scripture itself, from particular interpretations of it, from the empirical world or from scientific or pseudo-scientific doctrines. It will also, when possible, ana- lyze the reasons for choosing one argument before another or for arguing a par- ticular point with unusual vigour. Admittedly, the scope of the study is limited. The questions concerning the structure of the world were not the only ones that divided sixth-century Chris- 1 There is one passage in Cosmas (Topogr. VII.1) that refers to a certain individual of the opposing party, and that individual may well have been Philoponus. 2 tendom into fractions. The dogmatic controversies of the time form the back- ground against which the Cosmas–Philoponus controversy was fought; this par- ticular issue was part of a greater whole and, when discussing the relations of Philoponus and Cosmas to each other and to their surrounding universe, it is necessary to take a greater part of the theological spectrum into consideration. This is particular fruitful when we discuss their choice of arguments and their insistence of particular points.
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