Neoplatonism

and
Christianity

Neoplatonism was a major influence on Christian theology throughout

Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the East, and sometimes in the
West as well. In the East, major Greek Fathers like Basil, Gregory of
Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus were influenced by Platonism and
Neoplatonism, but also Stoicism often leading towards asceticism and
harsh treatment of the body, for example stylite asceticism. In the West,
St. Augustine of Hippo was influenced by the early Neoplatonists
Plotinus and Porphyry. Later on, in the East, the works of the Christian
writer Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who was influenced by later
Neoplatonists such as Proclus and Damascius, became a critical work
on which Greek church fathers based their theology, like Maximus
believing it was an original work of Dionysius the Areopagite.

Late Antiquity
Early Christians including Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine were
influenced by Neoplatonism, but none accepted it uncritically and they
accepted absolute monism and its emanationists' views.[1] Certain
central tenets of Neoplatonism served as a philosophical interim for the
Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo on his journey from dualistic
Manichaeism to Christianity. As a Manichee, Augustine had held that
evil has substantial being and that God is made of matter; when he
became a Neoplatonist, he changed his views on these things. As a
Neoplatonist, and later a Christian, Augustine believed that evil is a
privation of good and that God is not material. Perhaps more
importantly, the emphasis on mystical contemplation as a means to
directly encounter God or the One, found in the writings of Plotinus and
Porphyry, deeply affected Augustine. According to his own account of
his important discovery of 'the books of the Platonists' in Confessions
Book 7, Augustine owes his conception of both God and the human
soul as incorporeal substance to Neoplatonism. But Augustine was
also critical of Neoplatonism doctrines and their formulations, and he
rejected the Neoplatonists' immaterialism.[2]

Other Christians assimilated Neoplatonist ideas,[3] especially in their

identifying the Neoplatonic One, or God, with Yahweh. The most
influential of these would be Origen, who potentially took classes from
Ammonius Saccas (but this is not certain because there may have been
a different philosopher, now called Origen the Pagan, at the same time),
and the late 5th century author known as Pseudo-Dionysius the
Areopagite.

Neoplatonism also had links with Gnosticism, which Plotinus rebuked

in his ninth tractate of the second Enneads: "Against Those That Affirm
The Creator of The Kosmos and The Kosmos Itself to Be Evil"[a]
(generally known as "Against The Gnostics").[b]

Due to their belief being grounded in Platonic thought, the neoplatonists

rejected Gnosticism's vilification of Plato's demiurge, the creator of the
material world or cosmos discussed in the Timaeus. Although
neoplatonism has been referred to as orthodox Platonic philosophy by
scholars like Professor John D. Turner, this reference may be due in
part to Plotinus' attempt to refute certain interpretations of Platonic
philosophy, through his Enneads. Plotinus believed the followers of
gnosticism had corrupted the original teachings of Plato.

Despite the influence this philosophy had on Christianity, Justinian I

would hurt later neoplatonism by ordering the closure of the refounded
Academy of Athens in 529.[4] Nevertheless, members of the rhetorical
school of Gaza such as Aeneas of Gaza or Procopius of Gaza would
synthesize neoplatonism with early orthodox Christian ideas without
any disturbances.[5]

Middle Ages
Pseudo-Dionysius proved significant for both the Byzantine and Roman
branches of Christianity. His works were translated into Latin by John
Scotus Eriugena in the 9th century.

Neo-Platonism in
Orthodox theology
From the days of the Early Church until the present, the Eastern
Orthodox Church has made positive selective use of ancient Greek
philosophy, particularly Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics.[6] For
example, the term logos (Greek Λόγος) originated with Heraclitus and
meant reason or thought. In the Christian context, Logos takes on a
deeper meaning and becomes a name for the second person of the
Trinity. The writer and theologian Gregory Palamas in the 14th century
gave four distinct meanings for the term.[7] The most important
principle to keep in mind is that early Christianity developed in a Greek
milieu and a common vocabulary was used in philosophical, spiritual
and theological writing. However, the meanings of words sometimes
evolved along different lines. In other cases, philosophical ideas and
concepts were sometimes adapted and changed by Christian writers.
Any exegetical endeavor trying to unravel the influence of neoplatonic
thought on Christian theology needs to keep these principles in mind.
One should also note that philosophy was used quite differently in the
Eastern and Western theological traditions.

The writings attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite are among the most
enigmatic works of late antiquity. Byzantine scholars such as Gregory
Palamas cited Dionysius especially in matters of Mystical Theology
such as theoria, the divine energies and the unknowability of God.[8] At
present, modern theologians and philosophers[9] are still debating
whether Dionysius was a Neoplatonist with Christian influences or a
Christian writer with Neoplatonic influences. Among Orthodox scholars,
the latter view seems to be shared by such writers as Andrew Louth[10]
and Vladimir Lossky.[11] However, other Orthodox scholars such as
John Meyendorff believe that the Neoplatonism of Dionysius exerted
both positive and negative influences on Orthodox theology.[12]
Meyendorff maintains that Dionysius has led to some confusion in the
areas of liturgical and ecclesiological formulations.

Renaissance
Marsilio Ficino, who translated Plotinus, Proclus, as well as Plato's
complete works into Latin, was the central figure of a major
Neoplatonist revival in the Renaissance. His friend, Giovanni Pico della
Mirandola, was also a major figure in this movement. Both were
students of Jewish mystical Kabbalah, which was heavily influenced by
neoplatonism. Renewed interest in Plotinian philosophy contributed to
the rational theology and philosophy of the "Cambridge Platonist" circle
(B. Whichcote, R. Cudworth, J. Smith, H. More, etc.). Renaissance
Neoplatonism also overlapped with or graded into various forms of
Christian esotericism.

See also

Augustine of Hippo
Basil the Great
Cambridge Platonists
Cappadocian Fathers
Christ the Logos
Christian materialism
Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nyssa
Irenaeus
Maximus Confessor
 Neoplatonism and
Gnosticism
Origen
Pseudo-Dionysius
Allegorical interpretations of
Plato

Notes

a. Ancient Greek: Προς τους

κακον τον ∆ημιουργον του
κοσμου και τον κοσμον κακον
ειναι λεγοντας
b. Ancient Greek: Προς τους
Γνωστικους
References

1. Olson, Roger E. (2017-03-14).

The Essentials of Christian
Thought: Seeing Reality
through the Biblical Story (htt
ps://books.google.com/book
s?id=WlhxDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT
85) . Zondervan Academic.
ISBN 978-0-310-52156-3.
2. O'Meara, Dominic J.
(1981-06-30). Neoplatonism
and Christian Thought (http
s://books.google.com/books?
id=HigxLxjK2hgC&pg=PA37) .
SUNY Press.
ISBN 978-1-4384-1511-6.
3. Liebregts, P. Th M. G. (2004).
Ezra Pound and
Neoplatonism (https://books.
google.com/books?id=3FGZ_
gOJIRwC&pg=PA334) .
Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press.
ISBN 978-0-8386-4011-1.
4. See Rainer Thiel, Simplikios
und das Ende der
neuplatonischen Schule in
Athen, and a review by Gerald
Bechtle, University of Berne,
Switzerland, in the Bryn Mawr
Classical Review 2000.04.19
(http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/b
mcr/2000/2000-04-19.html) .
Online version retrieved June
15, 2007.
5. Masalha, Nur (24 February
2022). Palestine Across
Millennia: A History of
Literacy, Learning and
Educational Revolutions (http
s://www.google.es/books/edi
tion/Palestine_Across_Millen
nia/OeRSEAAAQBAJ) .
Bloomsbury Publishing.
pp. 81–88.
ISBN 978-0-7556-4296-0.
Retrieved 8 January 2024.
6. Constantine Cavarnos,
Orthodoxy and Philosophy, The
Institute for Byzantine and
Modern Greek Studies, 2003
pages
 7. Gregory Palamas, 'The One
Hundred and Fifty Chapters', in
The Philokalia, The Complete
Text Volume 4, translated by
Palmer, Sherrand and Ware,
published 1995 Faber and
Faber. pages 360-361
8. Gregory Palamas, The Triads,
edited by John Meyendorff,
Paulist Press 1983.
9. Sarah Coakley and Charles M.
Stang, Re-thinking Dionysius
the Areopagite, John Wiley and
Sons, 2009
10. Andrew Louth, Denys the
Areopagite, Continuum Books,
1989, Pages 20-21
11. Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical
Theology of the Eastern
Church, St. Vladimir's Seminary
Press, page 29
12. John Meyendorff, Byzantine
Theology, Historical Trends
and Doctrinal Themes,
Fordham University Press,
1974, pages 27-28)

Further reading

Edwards, Mark. 2006. Culture

and Philosophy in the Age of
Plotinus. Classical Literature
and Society Series. London:
Duckworth.
Finan, Thomas and Vincent
Twomey. eds. 1992. The
Relationship between
Neoplatonism and
Christianity. Dublin: Four
Courts Press.
Jurdjevic, Mark (2004).
"Prophets and Politicians:
Marsilio Ficino, Savonarola
and the Valori Family". Past &
Present. 183 (183): 41–77.
doi:10.1093/past/183.1.41
(https://doi.org/10.1093%2F
past%2F183.1.41) .
JSTOR 3600860 (https://ww
w.jstor.org/stable/3600860) .
Gertz, Sebastian R. P. 2016.
"Plotinos". In: Reallexikon für
Antike und Christentum Bd.
27 (Lfg. 210/217), 988-1009
Martin, Francis X. and John
A. Richmond. 1991. From
Augustine to Eriugena: Essays
on Neoplatonism and
Christianity in Honor of John
O'Meara.Washington:
Catholic University of
America Press.
Matthews, Alfred Warren.
1980. The Development of St.
Augustine, From
Neoplatonism to Christianity,
386-391 A.D. Washington:
University Press of America.
O'Daly, Gerard. 2001.
Platonism Pagan and
Christian: Studies in Plotinus
and Augustine. Aldershot;
Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Rist, John M. 1994.
Augustine: Ancient Thought
Baptized. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge Univ. Press.
Schott, Jeremy (2013).
"Plotinus's Portrait and
Pamphilus's Prison
Notebook: Neoplatonic and
Early Christian Textualities at
the Turn of the Fourth
Century C.E". Journal of Early
Christian Studies. 21 (3):
329–362.
doi:10.1353/earl.2013.0032
(https://doi.org/10.1353%2F
earl.2013.0032) .
S2CID 170163349 (https://a
pi.semanticscholar.org/Corp
usID:170163349) .
Smith, Andrew. 2004.
Philosophy in Late Antiquity.
London/New York:
Routledge.
Stang, Charles M. 2016. Our
Divine Double. Cambridge,
MA; London: Harvard
University Press.
Trembovler, Larissa. 2000. "A
Sound Mind in a Diseased
Body: A Medical Aspect of
the Soul-Body Relationship in
Later Greek and Early
Christian Philosophy. In From
Athens to Jerusalem:
Medicine in Hellenized Jewish
Lore and in Early Christian
Literature: Papers of the
Symposium in Jerusalem,
9-11 September 1996. Edited
 by Samuel S. Kottek,
171-179. Rotterdam:
Erasmus.

External links

Christian Platonism and

Christian Neoplatonism (htt
p://www.john-uebersax.com
/plato/cp.htm)

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