Ancient Philosophy and Patristics by Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta
Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts: Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire, 2022
As a good Platonist, Clement of Alexandria knew his Plato well.1 The references to Plato's dialog... more As a good Platonist, Clement of Alexandria knew his Plato well.1 The references to Plato's dialogues are numerous, since they provide support to many a point made by the Alexandrian theologian, be it in theology or cosmology, ethics or epistemology.2 Among them, Plato's reference to the first cause as "maker and father" (Timaeus 28C2-3) occupies a special place in Clement's corpus.3 It is well known that this passage of Plato's Timaeus reverberated throughout all later authors.4 This central statement of Plato's ontology, however, was interpreted quite differently in Late Antiquity. To begin with, there was a general 1 Studies of the first part of the 20th century tend to downplay Clement's positive attitude towards Greek philosophy and the influence he might have received from it. Thus for example A.C. Outler, "The Platonism of Clement of Alexandria,"
En su acercamiento a la filosofía griega, los estudios modernos tienden a destacar, a mi ver de f... more En su acercamiento a la filosofía griega, los estudios modernos tienden a destacar, a mi ver de forma excesiva, el carácter eminentemente racional de la misma. Según una muy extendida opinión, gnosis o "conocimiento" en la antigüedad griega se buscaba sólo a través de medios racionales, pues su objeto era exclusivamente de tipo racional. Plutarco ofrece el más claro ejemplo para desestimar dicha opinión: por un lado, Moralia destaca el papel de la epopteia en la aprehensión de los primeros principios; por otro, los mitos incluidos en tratados como De facie, De genio y De sera presentan la experiencia de diversos visionarios como culminación a discusiones previas de tipo científico y/o empírico. Tras ofrecer un análisis de los diferentes tipos de revelación en estos mitos plutarqueos, mi contribución intentará defender la tesis de que en el mundo antiguo no existía una separación estricta entre razón y revelación, pues una y otra se concebían como medios complementarios de alcanzar el conocimiento.
Up to not so long ago texts were approached with rather rigid_traditional literary methods in whi... more Up to not so long ago texts were approached with rather rigid_traditional literary methods in which author, text, and reader were envisaged in a fixed and unidirectional chronological sequence. In their quest for meaning readers were constrained by the notions of originality, uniqueness, singularity and autonomy of both author and text. A good
example of this approach is the historical method applied to the study of ancient religious texts, the primary goal of which is to try to inderstand as closely as possible the author's original meaning and their intended audience or readership (DeConick 2016: 383).
Intertextuality challenges traditional notions of writing, text and reading. Based on a new vision of meaning, it rejects the idea that the production of meaning is unidirectional, stemmmg from the author who instills into the text and reaching the reader as its final decoder. In fact in the intertextual approach the interest moves away from the author who is to a certain extent dispensable, in order to focus preferably on the reader. Not only is the author dispensable (Barthes 1968); also the notions of uniqueness and originality of texts are questionable. Appealing to the etymological sense of the term "text" as "a tissue, a woven fabric" (Barthes 1977: 159), intertextuality claims that a text does not exist in isolation, but is rather at the same time result of previous texts and beginning of future ones, the so-called intertext. In the words of a well-known scholar, "it is not true that works are created by their authors. Works are created by works, texts are created by texts, all together they speak to each other independently of the intention of their authors" (Eco 1986: 199).
In The Rebel (1951) Albert Camus assigns ancient Gnosticism an important place in the history of ... more In The Rebel (1951) Albert Camus assigns ancient Gnosticism an important place in the history of human revolt. In his interpretation, Gnostics incarnate the spirit of proud re- bellion and protest against a God deemed responsible for human suffering and death. For Camus these are the roots of metaphysical rebellion in Western history that, be- ginning in the eighteenth century, culminated in the fascist and socialist utopian ex- periments in the twentieth century. After assessing Camus’s view of Gnosticism, this article claims that modern cinema shows the impact of The Rebel on the way several recent films conceive of their rebellious protagonists. The controlled character of the revolts they promote shows that modern cinema follows Gnosticism in their analysis both the modern sentiments of alienation in contemporary society and the ways to break free in order to attain a life worthy of its name.
Modern receptions of ancient Gnosticism tend to highlight Gnostic non-con- formism, especially ad... more Modern receptions of ancient Gnosticism tend to highlight Gnostic non-con- formism, especially admiring the alleged gnostic freedom of mind and revolt against standard values and forms. Such an understanding of ancient Gnosticism presents Gnostics as anarchists avant-la-lettre, as rebels who romantically rejected the yoke of the world rulers and a life of alienation. Even if numerous readers will surely trace this analysis back to Hans Jonas’ Gnostic Religion, this conception of Gnosticism predates Jonas (1903-1993) and can be found in different authors of the twentieth century, most notably in the works of Albert Camus (1913-1960). Fascination for ancient Gnosticism accompanied Albert Camus throughout his life, but it is in The Rebel (1951) where the French philosopher gives ancient Gnosticism an important place in the history of human rebellion. This paper will delve into Camus’ work with a view to analyzing his view on Gnosticism, his unders- tanding of the role it places in the history of western thought.
Resumen: El artículo analiza la equiparación de la existencia humana con la violencia en dos trat... more Resumen: El artículo analiza la equiparación de la existencia humana con la violencia en dos tratados del corpus de Nag Hammadi, la Exposición sobre el Alma (NHC II, 6; ExAlma) y la Enseñanza autorizada (NHC VI, 3; EnAut). Se argumenta que ambos textos presentan un dualismo que no es tan extremo como afirman los heresiólogos, sino más bien cercano al de Platón, ya que se ocupan del obstáculo que tanto el cuerpo como el mundo físico suponen para nuestra realización ética y epistemológica. En ambos textos, la violencia es aquello que perpetúa el dualismo, manteniendo al alma separada del Padre, forzándola a vivir en el exilio, en un lugar extraño y agobiante. Con este fin, primero se aborda la condición humana actual y el lugar que, según la EnAut, ocupa en su entorno. Se ofrece, a continuación, un flashback que describe la naturaleza original del alma, su degradación y, finalmente, su encarnación en el testimonio de la Exposición sobre el Alma. Esto crea el contexto para un breve tratamiento de la ética como curación, pues es por medio de la misma que ambos textos intentan superar el sufrimiento del alma e invertir su situación presente. Por último, algunas conclusiones cierran el trabajo. Palabras clave: Nag Hammadiexistencia humanaviolenciadualismoética
BOUND as the endpoint of Jo's WANDERINGS (*PJ7812 847). It also appears in EURIPIDES, not only in... more BOUND as the endpoint of Jo's WANDERINGS (*PJ7812 847). It also appears in EURIPIDES, not only in HELEN, where it is the first word, but also in ANDROMACHE (Andr. 650), not to mention various fragments. JULIE BROWN Nod see GESTURE AND BODY LANGUAGE nomos and physis in Greek Tragedy (vo.toç, fnaç) Even if Hesiod's opposition between HYBRIS and dike in Works and Days (225-86) might be seen as a first approach to the physis-nomos polarity (nature versus law) insofar as it equates the former to the bestiality of animals and the latter to human culture (Guthrie 1969a: 55-6) which is rewarded by the gods (Op. 225-37), it is in the Hippocratic corpus that the concepts account for health and illness, respectively, for the first time (Heinimann 1945: 95-7). Archelaos, the pupil of ANAXAGORAS, who reportedly applied the terms in an ethical context (Al, 2 D-K; Heinimann 1945: 110-14; Pohlenz 1953: 432), might, however, have been the very first to use it explicitly as an antithesis. In any case, for the contrast between physis and nomos in tragedy, we will have to wait for SOPHISTS such as Antiphon (52-61 D-K), or Hippias (Plato, Prot. 337e), who may have
El presente estudio analiza el legado platónico en la noción de Dios de Clemente de Alejandría, e... more El presente estudio analiza el legado platónico en la noción de Dios de Clemente de Alejandría, en especial la influencia de la noción de Dios «como creador y padre». Se organiza en cuatro partes, de las cuales la primera ofrece un primer acercamiento al uso de la filosofía griega por parte de Clemente. La segunda sección ofrece una panorámica del contexto medioplatónico del discurso teológico de la época, mientras que la tercera se centra en la concepción de Dios en Clemente de Alejandría. El cuarto apartado incluye las conclusiones.
Democritus' ethical fragments reveal a serious attempt to neutralise the internal and external... more Democritus' ethical fragments reveal a serious attempt to neutralise the internal and external obstacles that pose a threat to man's happiness in its social (euthumia) and individual (euestw) manifestations. Essential for both is the individual's eustatheia, a “balance” in the constitutive elements of his soul, that he can only reach through an active involvement in his circumstance. Due to the character of his cognitive means and the dynamics of his social environment, the comparison process becomes for the individual the exclusive scale to establish his values and to delimit his existential horizon. His awareness of the functioning of such an evaluative method and his rational reelaboration of its axiological co-ordinates, however, may control impending distortions, avoiding the risk of alienation of the self and providing him with a sound idea both of his own values and of his position in his social universe.
M. Meeussen & L. Van der Stock (eds), Aspects of Plutarch’s Natural Philosophy (Plutarchea Hypomnemata. Leuven, 2015) 179-195, 2015
The present papers claim that the unity of Plutarch’s cosmological views, as expressed in De geni... more The present papers claim that the unity of Plutarch’s cosmological views, as expressed in De genio, De facie and De sera, and the intrinsic relationship of this cosmology with the anthropology behind De animae procreatione, De virtute morali and other works. This relationship is not striking: Plutarch is no exception to the ancient view that sees the human being in the light of the cosmological framework: the Universe and human being are so closely related to one another that they are conceived of as macro-cosmos and microcosmos, large and small examples of the same order.
H. Roisman (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013) s.v., 2013
H. Roisman (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blacwell, 2013) s.v. [2866 words], 2012
In spite of the acrimonious criticism issued against it, Greek philosophy always exerted an irres... more In spite of the acrimonious criticism issued against it, Greek philosophy always exerted an irresistible attraction to Christian writers of the fi rst centuries. Not only did their censure of divine anthropomorphism, mythology, and polytheism rely on Greek philosophical precedents. Surprisingly, also their attacks against Greek philosophy itself often resorted to philosophical interschool polemics. This paper, however, focuses on the positive and creative side of this appropriation: during the second and third centuries Clement of Alexandria and Origen raised the cultural level of Christian theology by their large use of the Greek philosophical discourse. The present study focuses on how they dealt with the problem of the existence of evil in the context of God's creation and traces their approach back to Greek philosophical precedents.
Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta & Israel Muñoz Gallarte (eds), Plutarch in the Religious and Philosophical Discourseof Late Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 2012
Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta & Israel Muñoz Gallarte (eds), Plutarch in the Religious and Philosophical Discourseof Late Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 2012) 137-150, 2012
“Orphic Cosmogonies in the Pseudo-Clementines? Textual Relationship, Character and Sources of Homilies 6.3-13 and Recognitions 10.17-19.30”, in J. Bremmer (ed.), The Pseudo-Clementines. Studies on the Apocryphal Literature (Leuven: Peeters, 2010) 115-141.
Today we are much better equipped than we were some years ago to attempt a new approach to the tw... more Today we are much better equipped than we were some years ago to attempt a new approach to the two so-called ‘Orphic cosmogonies’ included in the Pseudo-Clementines, Homilies VI.3-13 and Recognitions X.17-19; 30. These passages have been dealt with rather extensively on two occasions, but the results of these studies are, in my opinion, unsatisfactory. On the one hand, the influence of the view that these texts are entirely Stoic speculation has dominated the investigation so far; on the other, the Orphic known material was not as rich as it is nowadays, and the lack of parallels impeded a proper textual comparison. Both sections include rather diverging stories of what in both cases are declared to be ‘Orphic’ cosmogonies. Are these accounts compatible with one another? Do both or either of these cosmogonies really include ‘Orphic’ issues? Or do they simply recall the name of Orpheus in order to endow their narration with authority? The first part of the present study addresses the contents and character of the relevant texts in order to determine whether in either case we are dealing with an ‘Orphic’ cosmogony at all. The second part provides a textual analysis that may distinguish original issues, that is issues proceeding from the ‘Orphic’ source, from additions by the authors of the Pseudo-Clementines. The third one attempts to link it with its Orphic model.
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Ancient Philosophy and Patristics by Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta
example of this approach is the historical method applied to the study of ancient religious texts, the primary goal of which is to try to inderstand as closely as possible the author's original meaning and their intended audience or readership (DeConick 2016: 383).
Intertextuality challenges traditional notions of writing, text and reading. Based on a new vision of meaning, it rejects the idea that the production of meaning is unidirectional, stemmmg from the author who instills into the text and reaching the reader as its final decoder. In fact in the intertextual approach the interest moves away from the author who is to a certain extent dispensable, in order to focus preferably on the reader. Not only is the author dispensable (Barthes 1968); also the notions of uniqueness and originality of texts are questionable. Appealing to the etymological sense of the term "text" as "a tissue, a woven fabric" (Barthes 1977: 159), intertextuality claims that a text does not exist in isolation, but is rather at the same time result of previous texts and beginning of future ones, the so-called intertext. In the words of a well-known scholar, "it is not true that works are created by their authors. Works are created by works, texts are created by texts, all together they speak to each other independently of the intention of their authors" (Eco 1986: 199).
example of this approach is the historical method applied to the study of ancient religious texts, the primary goal of which is to try to inderstand as closely as possible the author's original meaning and their intended audience or readership (DeConick 2016: 383).
Intertextuality challenges traditional notions of writing, text and reading. Based on a new vision of meaning, it rejects the idea that the production of meaning is unidirectional, stemmmg from the author who instills into the text and reaching the reader as its final decoder. In fact in the intertextual approach the interest moves away from the author who is to a certain extent dispensable, in order to focus preferably on the reader. Not only is the author dispensable (Barthes 1968); also the notions of uniqueness and originality of texts are questionable. Appealing to the etymological sense of the term "text" as "a tissue, a woven fabric" (Barthes 1977: 159), intertextuality claims that a text does not exist in isolation, but is rather at the same time result of previous texts and beginning of future ones, the so-called intertext. In the words of a well-known scholar, "it is not true that works are created by their authors. Works are created by works, texts are created by texts, all together they speak to each other independently of the intention of their authors" (Eco 1986: 199).
Acts of Andrew are unknown, its literary genre, contents, length, thought and intention are still a matter of conjecture. The author contends that instead of focusing on the questionable reconstruction of Andrew’s apostolic career, one should rather pay head to the message and intention of the primitive text as presented by those textual witnesses that are likely to preserve in their most original state. The paper is organised into five sections: 1. AA’s textual situation and possible reconstruction of the primitive Acts; 2. AA’s fragment in ms Vaticanus graecus 808 (V); 3. Message and intention of AA as presented by V; 4: Exposition of AA’s main lines of thought; 5. AA’s plausible time of composition.