Knowledge, Language and Intellection from Origen to Gregory Nazianzen

Epistemological theories of the patristic authors seldom attract attention of the researchers. This unfortunate status quo contrasts with a crucial place of the theory of knowledge in the thought of such prominent authors as Origen and the Cappadocian fathers. This book surveys the patristic epistemological discourse in its various 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 teaching. 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

Christian Ensoulment Theories within Dualist Psychological Discourse

This study of the philosophical and patristic texts of the second – fifth centuries, explores Christian theories of reproduction in the context of Hellenic dualist discourse and embryology. I argue that due to the specific metaphysical principles of Christian doctrine, the church fathers were bound to balance the dualist lexicon, which they often used, with holistic anthropological and Christological statements. Patristic theories of reproduction represent a vivid example of the balanced Christian holistic thought, which imbibed plenty of Hellenic concepts, yet remained true to the fundamental principles of Christian doctrine.Peer reviewe

Nemesius of Emesa

Peer reviewe

Agonistic Mimêsis and Genre Bending in Gregory Nazianzen’s Orations against the Emperor Julian

Peer reviewe

Knowledge, Language and Intellection from Origen to Gregory Nazianzen

Epistemological theories of the patristic authors seldom attract attention of the researchers. This unfortunate status quo contrasts with a crucial place of the theory of knowledge in the thought of such prominent authors as Origen and the Cappadocian fathers. This book surveys the patristic epistemological discourse in its various 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 teaching. 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

Introduction

Peer reviewe

The impact of secondary mineral formation on Na-K-geothermometer readings: a case study for the Valley of Geysers hydrothermal system (Kronotsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Kamchatka)

The temperature in the Valley of Geysers (Kamchatka) geothermal reservoir calculated using the feldspar Na-K-geothermometer has been steadily increasing over the past 10 years on average from 165 to 235 °C, which is close to the temperature values of a hydrothermal explosion of the steam and water mixture. For the analysis of chemical geothermometers, TOUGHREACT-simulation was used, with the help of which the previously known Na-K feldspar geothermometer was reproduced on a single-element model and new formulas were obtained for three Na-K geothermometers: zeolite, smectite, and based on volcanic glass. Data of chemical analysis for the period 1968-2018, in which the chloride ion is considered as an inert tracer of geofiltration processes, indicates that after 2007 a significant inflow of infiltration water (its mass fraction is estimated from 5 to 15 %) into the Geyser reservoir. It is assumed that the Na-K increased values of the feldspar geothermometer are not the result of the temperature increase in the Geyser reservoir, but the effect of smectite water dilution

"SOCRATICS" AS ADDRESSES OF ISOCRATES’ EPIDEICTIC SPEECHES (Against the Sophists, Encomium of Helen, Busiris)

This article analyses the three epideictic orations of Isocrates which are in themselves a precious testimony of the quality of intellectual life at the close of the fourth century before Christ. To this period belong also the Socratics who are generally seen as an important link between Socrates and Plato. The author of this article proposes a more productive approach to the study of Antisthenes, Euclid of Megara and other so-called Socratics, revealing them not as independent thinkers but rather as adherents of the sophistic school and also as teachers, thereby, including them among those who took part in the educative activity of their tim

Gramatyka teologii: logiczna argumentacja od Orygenesa do Ojców Kapadockich

W artykule przedstawiono filozoficzne i językowe tło ponicejskich debat teologicznych dotyczących relacji między Ojcem i Synem. Starano się zwłaszcza uwypuklić następujące zagadnienia: pochodzenie terminu hipostaza, filozoficzne i gramatyczne rozumienie określeń hypokeimenon i ousia oraz stoickie definicje: „element oznaczający” i „rzecz oznaczana”. W artykule przedstawiono nowe aspekty antyeunomiańskiej polemiki Ojców Kapadockich, które wynikają na skutek porównania pojęć teologicznych z greckimi teoriami językowymi i gramatycznymi. Takie porównanie ukazuje metodologiczny i techniczny aspekt argumentacji teologicznej Ojców Kapadockich, a także ich bliskość z metodologią egzegetyczną Orygenesa.The article outlines the philosophical and linguistic background of the Post- Nicene theological debates concerning the relationship between the Father and the Son. A sharp focus dwells of the provenance of the term hypostasis, the philosophical and grammatical understanding of the terms hypokeimenon and ousia and the Stoic definition of the signifier and thing signified. The article shows new aspects of the anti-Eunomian polemics of the Cappadocian fathers, which come into sight due to comparison of theological concepts with Hellenic linguistic and grammatical theories. In such a way, the comparison demonstrates methodological and technical strand of the theological argumentation of the Cappadocian fathers and their affinity for the exegetic methodology of Origen

Educational and Ritual Aspects of Reading and Publishing Practices from the Greek Philosophical Schools to Latin Monasticism

The chapter addresses the topic of motion from the perspective of authorial publishing, and dissemination of ideas through various reading practices. Shaped by their characteristic ritual and educational routine, the reading practices of the Greek philosophical schools and Christian monastic communities regulated the ways in which ideas and texts were studied and disseminated. With a specific focus on publishing practices in the monastic communities of Jerome at Bethlehem and of Rufinus at the Mount of Olives, the chapter explores the transformation from the pre-eminently oral book culture of pagan Antiquity to the chiefly written culture of the Christian epoch.Peer reviewe