Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Christian Platonists and Christian Neoplatonists
Christian Platonists and Christian Neoplatonists
Christian Platonists and Christian Neoplatonists
Contents
Part 1: 60 AD - 700 AD
Apostolic age
Patristic era
Alexandrian
Latin tradition
Late Greek
Timeline figure (100 - 700 AD)
Part 2: 701 AD - present
Islamic Middle East
Middle Ages (East)
Middle Ages (West)
Renaissance
Christian mysticism
Christian esotericism
Cambridge Platonists
Transcendentalists and Unitarians
Modern
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Part 1: 60 AD - 700 AD
Apostolic Age
Possible Platonic influence on St. Paul, Gospel of John (e.g., John 1), James, Hebrews (influenced by
Philo Judaeus?), Epistle of Barnabas
Patristic Era
St. Justin Martyr (100 - 165)
- Dialogue with Trypho
- On the Soul
- Discourse to the Greeks
St. Theophilus of Antioch (? - c. 185)
- Apologia ad Autolycum
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (d. c. 200)
- Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies)
St. Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235)
- Refutation of all Heresies
Marcus Minucius Felix? (3rd century)
St. Methodius of Olympus (d. c. 311)
St. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263 - c. 339)
Arnobius of Sicca (fl. c. 300; North African)
Lactantius (c. 250 -c. 325; North African; student of Arnobius; Platonist, Epicurean, Stoic influences)
[more]
Alexander of Lycopolis (fl. c. 300; Egyptian)
- Against the Manicheans (PG 18 409-448)
Alexandrian Christianity
Athenagoras of Athens (c. 133 - 190)
- Apology or Embassy for the Christians
- Treatise on the Resurrection
St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 - c. 215)
- Stromata (Miscellanies)
- Protrepticus (Exhortation to the Greeks)
Ammonius Saccas? (d. c. 240; possible Christian; see St. Jerome, On Illustrious Men 55)
Origen (c. 185 - 254; heard Ammonius Saccas?; knew Plotinus?) [IEP]
- On First Principles (de Principiis)
- Against Celsus (Contra Celsum)
- Commentary on the Song of Songs
Heraclas (associate of Origen; auditor of Ammonius Saccas?)
St. Athanasius (c. 293 - 373; Bishop of Alexandria)
- Contra Gentes (Against the Heathen)
- De Incarnatione Verbe (On the Incarnation)
- Orationes contra Arianos (Against the Arians)
Didymus the Blind (Didymus Caecus; c. 313 - c.398)
- On the Thoughts
- Praktikos
- Gnostikos
- Kephalaia Gnostica
Synesius of Cyrene (c. 373 - c. 414; bishop; pupil of Hypatia)
- The Egyptian Tale (Aegyptus sive de providentia)
- On Dreams
Nemesius of Emesa (4th century)
- De Natura Hominis (On Human Nature)
St. Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393 - c. 457; bishop)
- Consolation of Philosophy
- Commentary on the Isagoge
Note: y-axis does not correspond strictly to pagan/Christian distinction; e.g., Origen (Christian) is
placed amongst other Alexandrians; Macrobius (non-Christian?) with other Latins, etc.
Renaissance
- Letters (1411)
- part of the Phaedrus (1424)
- Crito and the Apology (two redactions, both before 1427)
- Alcibiades' speech (215a-222a) from Symposium (c. 1435)
Niccol de' Niccoli (1364 - 1437; Florentine intellectual; friend/patron of Bruni)
Giovanni Aurispa (1376 - 1459; brought numerous Greek works from Constantinople to Italy [1423]
including all of Plato, all of Plotinus, all of Proclus, and much of Iamblichus)
Ambrogio Traversari (1386 - 1439; taught by Chrysoloras; twice prior of the Camaldolese
community of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence, twice vicar general of the Camaldolese order)
- translated Diogenes Laertius' Lives, including Vita Platonis...
- (this was the first biography of Plato in Western Europe)
- translated Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Aeneas of Gaza, Pseudo-Dionysius
Traversari's students showed varying degrees of Platonic interest/influence:
Matteo Palmieri (1406 - 1475; Citta di vita)
Lorenzo Pisano
Giannozzo Manetti (1396 - 1459; Vita Socratis)
Leonardo Dati (1360 - 1425; Master General of Dominican Order; Commentaria)
Girolamo Aliotti (1412 - 1480)
Piero Pazzi (patron of Ficino)
Bartolomeo Valori (patron of Ficino)
Cosimo de' Medici (1389 - 1464; founded Florentine Academy, placing Ficino as head)
George of Trebizond (1395 - 1486; anti-Platonist)
- Comparatio Aristotelis et Platonis (1450)
Francesco Filelfo (1398 - 1481; student of John Chrysoloras, the nephew of Manuel)
- translated three of the Letters (1430s)
- translated Euthyphro (1430s)
Julian Cesarini (1398 - 1444; cardinal; friend Traversari [and Plethon?])
Pietro Candido Decembrio (1399 - 1477; Milan; son of Uberto)
- revised translation of the Republic (late 1430s)
- translated Lysis (1456)
Nicolas of Cusa (1401 - 1464; cardinal; German) [Hopkins]
- De Sapientia (On Wisdom)
Christian Mysticism
Most medieval, Renaissance, and later Christian mysticism was strongly influenced by Platonism via
Pseudo-Dionysius [Figure]. Major traditions and representatives include the following:
Christian Esotericism
Jacob Boehme (1575 1624), Christian theosophists (Faivre 2006 gives extensive discussion),
Christian Cabalists (Scholem, 1997; Yates, 1979) and esotericists, and the early Rosicrucians
(Yates, 1972), show clear Neoplatonic/Neopythagorean influences.
Cambridge Platonists
[Stanford]
Benjamin Whichcote (1609 - 1683)
Henry More (1614 - 1687)
Ralph Cudworth (1617 - 1689)
Peter Sterry (1613 - 1672)
John Smith (1618 - 1652)
Nathaniel Culverwell (1619 - 1651)
John Worthington (1618 - 1671)
Acknowledgments
The helpful suggestions of Michael Chase and Dennis Clark are gratefully acknowledged.
Bibliography
Allen, Michael J. B.; Rees, Valery; Davies, Martin. Marsilio Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His
Legacy. Leiden 2002.
Armstrong, A. Hilary. "St. Augustine and Christian Platonism".
Armstrong, Arthur H. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy,
Cambridge 1967, repr. with corrections 1970.
Biggs, Charles. Christian Platonists of Alexandria. Oxford, 1886.
Bitton-Ashkelony; Bruria; Kofsky, Arieh (eds.). Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
Cassirer, Ernst. The Platonic Renaissance in England, 1953.
Cherniss, Harold Fredrik. The Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa. New York: Lenox Hill Publishers, 1971.
Celenza, Christopher S. "The revival of Platonic philosophy". In: James Hankins (ed.), The Cambridge
Companion to Renaissance Philosophy. Cambridge 2007, pp. 72 - 96.
De Wulf, Maurice. History of Medieval Philosophy. Longmans, 1909.
Egan, Harvey D. An Anthology of Christian Mysticism. Liturgical Press, 1991.
Faivre, Antoine. "Christian Theosophy". In: Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.). Dictionary of Gnosis and
Western Esotericism. Leiden 2006, pp. 258 - 267.
Field, Arthur. The Origins of the Platonic Academy of Florence. Princeton 1988.
Field, Arthur. "The Platonic Academy of Florence". In: Michael J. B. Allen, Valery Rees, Martin Davies
(eds.), Marsilio Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy. Leiden 2002, pp. 359-376.
Frothingham, Octavius B. Transcendentalism in New England. New York: Putnam, 1876.
Garin, Eugenio. History of Italian philosophy, Volume 1. (Giorgio A. Pinton, tr.). Rodopi, 2008.
Gaul, Leopold. Alberts des Grossen Verhaltnis zu Plato. Munster, 1913.
Geoghegan, William D. Platonism in Recent Religious Thought. New York: Columbia University Press,
1958.
Gersh, Stephen. Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: the Latin Tradition. (2 Vols.). Notre Dame,
Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986.
Gersh, Stephen. From Iamblichus to Eriugena. Leiden: Brill, 1978.
Gersh, Stephen; Hoenen, Maarten J. F. M.(eds.). The Platonic Tradition in the Middle Ages, Berlin
2002.
Gerson, Lloyd (ed.) The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity. Cambridge University
Press, 2010.
Hankey, Wayne J. "Neoplatonism and Contemporary French Philosophy". Dionysius 23 (2005): 161190.
Hankins, James (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy. Cambridge 2007.
Hankins, James. Plato in the Italian Renaissance, 2 vols., Leiden 1990.
Hankins, James. "Plato in the Middle Ages". In: J. Strayer, Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol. IX, New
York 1987, pp. 694-704.
Hooker, Richard. "Renaissance Neoplatonism". 1996.
Howe, Daniel Walker. The Cambridge Platonists of Old and New England. Church History, Vol. 57,
No. 4 (Dec., 1988), pp. 470-485. (Reprinted as Ch. 7, 'The Platonic Quest in New England' in: Daniel
Walker Howe, Making the American Self, Oxford University Press, 1997 [repr. 2009]; pp. 189-211.)
von Ivnka, Endre. Plato Christianus: bernahme und Umgestaltung des Platonismus durch die
Vter, 1964. (French version: Plato christianus: la rception critique du platonisme chez les Pres de
l'glise, Elisabeth Kessler-Slotta, Rmi Brague, Jean-Yves Lacoste, trs., 2005)
Jayne, Sears Reynolds. Plato in Renaissance England. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1995.
Kessler, Eckhard. "The Intellective Soul". In: Charles B. Schmitt; Quentin Skinner; Eckhard Kessler;
Jill Kraye (eds.), The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy, Ch. 15 (pp. 485-534). Cambridge
1988.
Klibanski, Raymond. The Continuity of the Platonic Tradition during the Middle Ages, 1939
[reprinted 1950/1984].
Klibansky, Raymond. "The School of Chartres". M. Clagett, G. Post and R. Reynolds (eds.), Twelfthcentury Europe and the Foundations of Modern Society, 1961 (repr. 1966, idem, Platos Parmenides in
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies, I, ii, 1943.
Khoury, George. 'The Arabic Christian Literature'. Available online at: http://www.al-
bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm.
Kraye, Jill (ed.). Cambridge Translations of Renaissance Philosophical Texts. Volume 1: Moral
philosophy. Cambridge 1997.
Kretzmann, Norman; Kenny, Anthony; Pinborg, Jan (eds.), The Cambridge History of Later Medieval
Philosophy: 1100-1600. Cambridge 1982/1988.
Kristeller, Paul O. "Byzantine and Western Platonism in the Fifteenth Century". In Paul O. Kristeller,
Renaissance Thought and Its Sources, New York 1979, pp. 150-163.
Lackner, Dennis F., "The Camaldolese Academy: Ambrogio Traversari, Marsilio Ficino and the
Christian Platonic Tradition". In: Michael J. B. Allen, Valery Rees, Martin Davies (eds.), Marsilio
Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy. Leiden 2002, pp. 15-44.
Little, Arthur. The Platonic Heritage of Thomism, Dublin 1949.
Louth, Andrew. The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys. Oxford 1983.
Macy, Gary. A Guide to Thirteenth Century Theologians. <
http://home.sandiego.edu/~macy/Franciscan Masters.html > Accessed 23 July 2009.
Marenbon, John. "Platonism: The Early Middle Ages". In: Stephen Gersh, Maarten J. F. M. Hoenen
(eds.), The Platonic Tradition in the Middle Ages, Berlin 2002, pp. 67 - 92.
Markus, R. A. "Marius Victorinus and Augustine". In A. H. Armstrong (ed.), The Cambridge History of
Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, Chs. 20-27 (pp. 331-424). Cambridge, 1970.
Nelson, John Charles. "Platonism in The Renaissance". In: Philip P. Wiener (ed.), The Dictionary of
the History of Ideas. New York: Scribner, 1973-74.
O'Meara, Dominic J. (ed.) Neoplatonism and Christian Thought. Albany: SUNY Press, 1982.
Pasnau, Robert (ed.). The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy, 2 vols. Cambridge University
Press, forthcoming (available from January 2010).
Pasnau, Robert. Provisionalia - Index Librorum Scholasticorum (Scholastic philosophers and their
works). < http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/provisionalia/ > Accessed: 26 July 2009.
Rabil Jr., Albert. "Humanism 1: An Outline".
Scholem, Gershom. "The Beginnings of the Christian Kabbalah." In: Joseph Dan (ed.), The Christian
Kabbalah: Jewish Mystical Books and Their Christian Interpreters. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard,
1997.