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The Nature of Early Christian Determinism

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The Nature of Early Christian Determinism Chapter 7 Summary: the Nature of Early Christian Determinism This study of the ethics of TriTrac has been divided into two main blocks. One chief aim of the study as a whole, apart from exploring the ethics of the text, has been to elucidate the workings of early Christian determinism, and to highlight that it did not entail the simple denial of human choice. The first part of the study was devoted to investigating the mechanism and theoretical framework of TriTrac’s ethics. How could a fixed anthropological system have been used to legitimize ethical discussion? The second part of the study was devoted to the practical and social implications of TriTrac’s ethics. What social structures did the fixed anthropological categories produce and how were they legitimized? In Chapter 1, we discussed the ontology and epistemology of TriTrac. The three substances that make up the world—pneuma, psychê and matter— are related to three different ways of reflecting knowledge and the divine: as pneumatic images that retained knowledge of the divine, as psychic likenesses that in a limited way reflected knowledge of the divine, and finally as material imitations that did not reflect the divine at all. These three substances, as well as the three epistemological levels, are combined within each human, as per ancient anatomies of the human body and mind. In order to attain knowl- edge of God one needs to get “unmixed” from one’s material parts and instead become “blended” with the Savior and the collective. This language draws upon Stoic and Aristotelian physics, wherein immoral people are described as unfavorably mixed and virtuous people are those who possess the correct blending of the substances making up each person. This chapter demonstrat- ed the importance of ontology and epistemology to ethical considerations. Chapter 2 investigated the theory of passions employed in TriTrac and ques- tions of how human cognition works. In TriTrac there are three levels of emo- tions, corresponding to the three substances that make up the human body and the three powers in heaven. The lowest and basest emotions, like envy, rage, and fear, are identified with materiality and called sickness and femininity. Pneuma is identified with good emotions like enjoyment, love, brotherly love, generosity, and joy. Psychê is in a middle position and attached to honor, ambi- tion, and pursuit of glory. The text does not follow any known list of passions but there are, nevertheless, strong similarities to Stoic theories of emotions, © PAUL LINJAMAA, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004407763_009 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.Paul Linjamaa - 9789004407763 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:44:54PM via free access 260 Chapter 7 especially in the depictions of the good emotions. The way the Logos is de- scribed as closely associated with motion and movement is also very similar to Stoic concepts of initial tremors that afflict everyone, motions that are not full- blown emotions. The Logos is without blame in TriTrac, as are those who expe- rience initial tremors in the mind. TriTrac maintains that, while base emotions and materiality are to be combatted, they are useful in highlighting the need for salvation as well as in the governance of the cosmic system. Emotions af- fect humans through the body and, consequently, they are likened to demons and lower cosmic powers that coerce people into believing false things. The emotions attached to the psychic substance are depicted as more beneficial, and the psychic humans are told to help the pneumatics. The pneuma should control them both. This resembles the Platonic and Aristotelian tripartite view of the soul where the two lower parts are associated with passions while the third, logical part, is wholly above both. TriTrac even uses the same metaphor as found in other depictions of this view of the human mind, of an intellect as a driver driving a carriage made of baser emotions. Here, too, we can see the social application of such a theory, especially given that there are three classes of humans in TriTrac called material, psychic, and pneumatic. Chapter 3 engaged with how TriTrac relates to the question of free will and human choice. Here we followed up in greater detail the workings of the cognitive theory of the text initiated in the previous chapter. In common with other Christian theologians, the text utilizes the Stoic notion of assent (συγκατάθεσις). The human mind creates mental images by being exposed to different impressions; the impressions that people create for themselves and consequently act upon depend on the constitution of each mind. However, in TriTrac the human mind is not in the possession of self-determination, a technical term used in ancient thought for free will. The will of self- determination is restricted to the highest realm, and the Aeons in the Pleroma are the only beings described as possessing this characteristic. The Aeons are in perfect alignment with the will of God—also how some Stoics defined free will. However, it is not possible for humans to attain this state in the cosmos, according to TriTrac. Rather, proairesis is the faculty that defines a human’s moral worth, that decides whether a person can assent to the appearance of the Savior or not. Pneumatics have a good proairesis, a preference and natural inclination to assent to the Savior. The proairesis of psychic people needs con- vincing and instruction; they need to imitate the pneumatics’ example. The proairesis of material people is always inclined to follow temporary honor and the empty glories of the cosmos. The nature of the proairesis depends on each person’s constitution, on whether one was born with a pneumatic, psychic, or material preference. However, this does not mean that there is no room for Paul Linjamaa - 9789004407763 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:44:54PM via free access Summary: the Nature of Early Christian Determinism 261 moral improvement, at least for some; both pneumatic and psychic people are described as undergoing moral formation. The concluding part of this chapter was devoted to the context of TriTrac’s anthropology and it was argued that the way the Valentinian opponents of Origen of Alexandria are described in his work On First Principles resembles the anthropology we encounter in TriTrac. Chapter 4 explored the anthropology of TriTrac, arguing that the tripartite anthropology in TriTrac should not be read from the lens of other Valentinian anthropologies, since there seem to be clear points of difference. The tripartite anthropology functions in three principal ways: (1) as a pedagogical schema to point out different roles and responsibilities humans have in relation to each other and to teaching and learning the message of the Savior; (2) to explain why people have different responsibilities and roles to play in the world; and (3) to create and sustain a hierarchy within the community. The pneumatics are described as ethical experts and play the role of teachers for the members of the community, while the psychics are described as helpers of the pneumat- ics and as the students of pneumatics. An anthropology that restricted human choice would have been just as effective an ethical system as one that sub- scribed to the doctrine of free will. As previous scholars have pointed out, the only way one would have been able to know if a person was a pneumatic, psy- chic, or material human, would have been through scrutinizing that person’s behavior. The behavior that reveals one’s nature is determined by social fac- tors; in TriTrac (as in most anthropological systems I would imagine) each cat- egory is defined by its relation to the group and, as group dynamics are prone to change, the categories probably functioned fluidly in practice, which a fixed anthropological theory would likely have supported effectively. It would have been virtually impossible for everyone to live up to the standards of a pneu- matic and not everyone could become a teacher and moral expert. In Chapter 5 the aim was to analyze the social organization from which TriTrac stemmed, by way of the mention of a school and the language of teach- ing and learning. At the outset, we should recognize the technical way the term ἐκκλησία is used in TriTrac to refer to the collective of pneumatics and not the community as a whole. How should the community be organized according to TriTrac? We quickly concluded that school language and the metaphor of the cosmos as being like a school for the soul was immensely popular, not only among Christians. The ideal social structure in TriTrac was modeled on the relationship between the Aeons in the Pleroma. The Aeons are described as existing in a collective with a clear hierarchy, differing in degrees of knowledge and instructed to help one another develop. Gaining knowledge of God is lik- ened to gaining form. This ideal is reflected in the earthly community, which is a place where the pedagogical vision of TriTrac culminates. This includes Paul Linjamaa - 9789004407763 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 12:44:54PM via free access 262 Chapter 7 the following: (1) an attitude that no one could advance alone; (2) a need for teaching and learning for all; (3) higher pneumatic members teaching lower psychic members and the Savior teaching the pneumatics; (4) psychics seeing to the needs of the pneumatics and engaging in worship in the community; (5) oral instructions delivered by the teachers of the congregation, including pre-baptismal instruction; (6) a community made up of psychics, probably with a lower educational level, who are expected to follow the example of the teachers and leaders; (7) an upper level identified with the pneumatics who possessed the ability to consider moral questions, topics that would most likely have demanded a high level of education.
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