Porphyry Against the Christians

Porphyry Against the Christians
Author: Robert M. Berchman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2005
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004148116

Porphyry's "Against the Christians" offers an important example of Hellenic Biblical criticism and a critique of Christianity at the close of Late Antiquity, fl. 300 C.E.

The Sentences of Sextus and the Origins of Christian Ascetiscism

The Sentences of Sextus and the Origins of Christian Ascetiscism
Author: Daniele Pevarello
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2013-11-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9783161525797

Daniele Pevarello analyzes the Sentences of Sextus, a second century collection of Greek aphorisms compiled by Sextus, an otherwise unknown Christian author. The specific character of Sextus' collection lies in the fact that the Sentences are a Christian rewriting of Hellenistic sayings, some of which are still preserved in pagan gnomologies and in Porphyry. Pevarello investigates the problem of continuity and discontinuity between the ascetic tendencies of the Christian compiler and aphorisms promoting self-control in his pagan sources. In particular, he shows how some aspects of the Stoic, Cynic, Platonic and Pythagorean moral traditions, such as sexual restraint, voluntary poverty, the practice of silence and of a secluded life were creatively combined with Sextus' ascetic agenda against the background of the biblical tradition. Drawing on this adoption of Hellenistic moral traditions, Pevarello shows how great a part the moral tradition of Greek paideia played in the shaping and development of self-restraint among early Christian ascetics.

Divination and Theurgy in Neoplatonism

Divination and Theurgy in Neoplatonism
Author: Crystal Addey
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2016-05-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1317148991

Why did ancient philosophers consult oracles, write about them, and consider them to be an important part of philosophical thought and practice? This book explores the extensive links between oracles and philosophy in Late Antiquity, particularly focusing on the roles of oracles and other forms of divination in third and fourth century CE Neoplatonism. Examining some of the most significant debates between pagan philosophers and Christian intellectuals on the nature of oracles as a central yet contested element of religious tradition, Addey focuses particularly on Porphyry's Philosophy from Oracles and Iamblichus' De Mysteriis - two works which deal extensively with oracles and other forms of divination. This book argues for the significance of divination within Neoplatonism and offers a substantial reassessment of oracles and philosophical works and their relationship to one another. With a broad interdisciplinary approach, encompassing Classics, Ancient Philosophy, Theology, Religious Studies and Ancient History, Addey draws on recent anthropological and religious studies research which has challenged and re-evaluated the relationship between rationality and ritual.

Historical Dictionary of Ancient Greek Philosophy

Historical Dictionary of Ancient Greek Philosophy
Author: Anthony Preus
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 541
Release: 2015-02-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1442246391

The ancient Greeks were not only the founders of western philosophy, but the actual term "philosophy" is Greek in origin, most likely dating back to the late sixth century BC. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Euclid, and Thales are but a few of the better-known philosophers of ancient Greece. During the amazingly fertile period running from roughly the middle of the first millennium BC to the middle of the first millennium AD, the world saw the rise of science, numerous schools of thought, and—many believe—the birth of modern civilization. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Ancient Greek Philosophy covers the history of Greek philosophy through a chronology, an introductory essay, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1500 cross-referenced entries on important philosophers, concepts, issues, and events. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Greek philosophy.

Porphyry’s On the Cave of the Nymphs in its Intellectual Context

Porphyry’s On the Cave of the Nymphs in its Intellectual Context
Author: K. Nilüfer Akçay
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2019-07-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004408274

Neoplatonic allegorical interpretation expounds how literary texts present philosophical ideas in an enigmatic and coded form, offering an alternative path to the divine truths. The Neoplatonist Porphyry’s On the Cave of the Nymphs is one of the most significant allegorical interpretation handed down to us from Antiquity. This monograph, exclusively dedicated to the analysis of On the Cave of Nymphs, demonstrates that Porphyry interprets Homer’s verse from Odyssey 13.102-112 to convey his philosophical thoughts, particularly on the material world, relationship between soul and body and the salvation of the soul through the doctrines of Plato and Plotinus. The Homeric cave of the nymphs with two gates is a station where the souls descend into genesis and ascend to the intelligible realm. Porphyry associates Odysseus’ long wanderings with the journey of the soul and its salvation from the irrational to rational through escape from all toils of the material world.

Ancient Marriage in Myth and Reality

Ancient Marriage in Myth and Reality
Author: Lena Larsson Lovén
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2010-06-09
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1443822973

The papers in this volume were among the contributions presented at an international symposium, Ancient Marriage in Myth and Reality, which was held at the Swedish Institute in Rome in October 2006. The symposium was held under the aegis of ARACHNE—the Nordic network for women’s history and gender studies in Antiquity. The study of ancient marriage has been largely the province of historians working with texts, and the result of this was an emphasis on elite marriages discussed by the male writers of the upper classes and on laws pertaining to marriage. Neither area has been exhausted, as several essays in this new international collection indicate, but the balance among the papers reveals the shift in focus. Along with innovative readings of authors from Livy to Porphyry, we find examinations of demographic and contractual evidence as well as inscriptions and visual imagery. Among the contributors to the volume are: Pauline Schmitt Pantel, Judith Evans Grubbs, Ray Laurence, Marjatta Nielsen and Mary Harlow.

The Philosophy of Spirituality

The Philosophy of Spirituality
Author: Heather Salazar
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2018-11-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004376313

The essays in The Philosophy of Spirituality explore a new field in philosophy. Until recently, most philosophers in the analytic and continental Western traditions treated spirituality as a religious concept. Any non-religious spirituality tended to be neglected or dismissed as irremediably vague. Here, from various philosophical and cultural perspectives, it is addressed as a subject of independent interest. This is a philosophical response to increasing numbers of spiritual but not religious people inhabiting secular societies and the heightened interaction between a multitude of spiritual traditions in a globalized age. A provocative array of approaches (African, Indigenous, Indian, Stoic, and Sufic perspectives, as well as Western analytic and continental views) offer fresh insights, many articulated by emerging voices. Contributors are Mariapaola Bergomi, Moses Biney, Christopher Braddock, Drew Chastain, Kerem Eksen, Nikolay Milkov, Roderick Nicholls, Jerry Piven, Heather Salazar, Eric Steinhart, Richard White, Mark Wynn and Eric Yang.

Platonic Theories of Prayer

Platonic Theories of Prayer
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2015-12-22
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004309004

Platonic Theories of Prayer is a collection of ten essays on the topic of prayer in the later Platonic tradition. The volume originates from a panel on the topic held at the 2013 ISNS meeting in Cardiff, but is supplemented by a number of invited papers. Together they offer a comprehensive view of the various roles and levels of prayer characteristic of this period. The concept of prayer is shown to include not just formal petitionary or encomiastic prayer, but also theurgical practices and various states of meditation and ecstasy practised by such major figures as Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Damascius or Dionysius the Areopagite.