Irenaeus’ Theology in Second-Century Platonism and Christianity (2024)

FAQs

Is Platonism compatible with Christianity? ›

Christian Platonism is often thought of as a way of using Platonism as a kind of intellectual launchpad for Christian theology. Used in this sense, it might be contrasted with, say, Christian Aristotelianism, or to move closer to the present (though Plato and Aristotle are always with us), Christian existentialism.

The central point of Irenaeus's theology is the unity and the goodness of God, in opposition to the Gnostics' theory of God; a number of divine emanations (Aeons) along with a distinction between the Monad and the Demiurge. Irenaeus uses the Logos theology he inherited from Justin Martyr.

Through Augustine (354–430) in the West and the 4^th-century Cappadocian Fathers (Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus) in the East as well as the pseudo-epigraphic writings of Dionysius the Areopagite (early 6^th century), Neoplatonism profoundly influenced the emergence of mainstream and not so mainstream ...

Plato equated happiness with moral virtue: justice, piety, courage, modesty, moderation, and wisdom. An individual who possessed justice would have the other virtues, embodying the Good, identified with unity, or the One. Of all the virtues, Plato held three of utmost importance: wisdom, courage, and moderation.

Therefore, the Christian Trinity or the inner dynamics of the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been formulated using Plato's distinction between the Good, Nous and Pneuma (World Soul). The further development of the Platonic understanding of three principles was made by Middle Platonists (ca.

In any case, Plotinus's ideas had a profound influence on one of the great ancient philosophers, Saint Augustine*, and through him on all of Western consciousness. This extraordinary and far-reaching influence was the result of Augustine integrating the philosophical concepts of Plato with the tenets of Christianity.

However, the logic of Irenaeus' argument demands that the same quality of divinity be shared among all three figures. Their equal divinity provides the Son and the Spirit the power to enact the will of the Father in the economy.

Irenaeus' soul-making theodicy

Irenaeus stated that God made humans imperfect and is therefore partly responsible for the existence of evil. To make humans perfect would take away their freedom to live in accordance with God's will.

Irenaeus Fights Gnosticism

For the Gnostics, secret religious knowledge was required for salvation. Gnostics also embraced spiritual-physical dualism, insisting that human beings needed to be freed from the inherently evil physical world in order to pass into the spiritual realm.

Many Platonic notions were adopted by the Christian church which understood Plato's Forms as God's thoughts (a position also known as divine conceptualism), while Neoplatonism became a major influence on Christian mysticism in the West through Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Catholic Church, who was heavily influenced ...

What is the difference between Platonism and Neoplatonism? ›

Neoplatonist ideas are more explicitly religious than those of Plato, and they developed largely to counter dualistic interpretations of Plato's thought. For example, Neoplatonism sought to overcome the Platonic cleavage between thought and reality, or Ideal and Form.

Another influence may have been the Neoplatonist Plotinus' (204–70 CE) triad of the One, Intellect, and Soul, in which the latter two mysteriously emanate from the One, and “are the One and not the One; they are the one because they are from it; they are not the One, because it endowed them with what they have while ...

The two main alternatives to Platonism, then, are realistic anti-Platonism and nominalism.

In summary, Platonists contend that abstract objects are uncreated, whereas Traditional Theists argue that God created all reality; Platonists believe that abstract objects exist necessarily, whereas Traditional Theists contend that God alone is necessarily extant; Platonists propose that abstract objects are eternal, ...

In his anthropology Augustine was firmly Platonist, insisting on the soul's superiority to and independence of the body. For him, as for Plotinus and Porphyry, it was axiomatic that body could not act on soul, for soul was superior in the hierarchy of reality, and the inferior cannot act on the superior.

Christoplatonism is a term used to refer to a dualism opined by Plato, which holds spirit is good but matter is evil, which influenced some Christian churches, though the Bible's teaching directly contradicts this philosophy and thus it receives constant criticism from many teachers in the Christian Church today.

To Plato, God is transcendent-the highest and most perfect being-and one who uses eternal forms, or archetypes, to fashion a universe that is eternal and uncreated. The order and purpose he gives the universe is limited by the imperfections inherent in material.

In summary, Platonists contend that abstract objects are uncreated, whereas Traditional Theists argue that God created all reality; Platonists believe that abstract objects exist necessarily, whereas Traditional Theists contend that God alone is necessarily extant; Platonists propose that abstract objects are eternal, ...

Although Neoplatonism was the major philosophical influence on Christian thought in its early period and has never ceased to be an important element within it, Aristotelianism also shaped Christian teachings.