The Philosophy of Early Christianity (Ancient Philosophies)

334 Pages·2013·8.494 MB·English

by  George E. Karamanolis

Th e Philosophy of Early Christianity
Ancient Philosophies
Th is series provides fresh and engaging new introductions to the
major schools of philosophy of antiquity. Designed for students of
philosophy and classics, the books off er clear and rigorous presenta-
tion of core ideas and lay the foundation for a thorough understand-
ing of their subjects. Primary texts are handled in translation and the
readers are provided with useful glossaries, chronologies and guides
to the primary source material.
Published
Th e Ancient Commentators on Neoplatonism
Plato and Aristotle Pauliina Remes
Miira Tuominen
Plato
Ancient Scepticism Andrew S. Mason
Harald Th orsrud
Presocratics
Confucianism James Warren
Paul R. Goldin
Stoicism
Cynics John Sellars
William Desmond
Th e Philosophy of Early
Epicureanism Christianity
Tim O’Keefe George Karamanolis
Indian Buddhist Philosophy
Amber Carpenter
Th e Philosophy of Early Christianity
George Karamanolis
R Routledge
O
U
TLED Taylor & Francis Group
G
E
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published in 2013 by Acumen
Published 2014 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© George Karamanolis, 2013
Th is book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Notices
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isbn: 978-1-84465-567-0 (hardcover)
isbn: 978-1-84465-568-7 (paperback)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Typeset in Minion.
To Eri, gratefully
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Contents
Preface ix
Abbreviations xi
Chronology xv
Introduction 1
1. Th e Christian conception of philosophy and Christian
philosophical methodology 29
2. Physics and metaphysics: fi rst principles and the
question of cosmogony 60
3. Logic and epistemology 117
4. Free will and divine providence 144
5. Psychology: the soul and its relation to the body 181
6. Ethics and politics 214
Conclusion 237
Appendix: the protagonists 241
Notes 249
Further reading 285
Bibliography 289
Index 311
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Preface
Th is is an introductory book in two senses; it aims to introduce the
reader to the philosophy of early Christianity and also aims to show
that the philosophy of early Christianity is part of ancient philosophy
as a distinct school of thought, and deserves to be studied as such.
Earlier draft s of the book were presented and discussed at Trinity
College Dublin and at the University of Prague in specially organized
workshops. I also presented material from the book at the University
of Copenhagen, King’s College London and the Excellence Cluster
“Topoi” of Humboldt University of Berlin. I am grateful to the
participants of all these events for stimulating discussions and for
constructive criticism, which made me reconsider or qualify some
of my claims. I am particularly indebted to the organizers of the
above events, John Dillon and Vasilis Politis, Lenka Karfi kova,
Troels Engberg-Pedersen and Niketas Siniossoglou, respectively. I
am grateful also for their comments, oft en critical, on various aspects
of the book and for bibliographical references. I have benefi ted from
discussions with Peter Adamson, Robert Crellin, Filip Karfi k, Chris
Noble, Charlotte Roueché, Mossman Rouché and Karel Th ein. Th e
book has profi ted considerably from comments on individual chap-
ters made by Jonathan Barnes, Averil Cameron, Chris Noble, Ilaria
Ramelli, Johannes Steenbuch, Anna Marmodoro and Vanya Visnjic.
I have learned much from the remarks of three anonymous referees,
ix