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Daemons in Hellenic and Christian Antiquity is a groundbreaking analysis of the interplay between Greek and Christian ideas in Late Antiquity, with a focus on how daemons were conceived of by intellectuals in both traditions. Its protagonists are Origen, the great third-century philosopher and theologian, and Porphyry, a philosopher of the next generation whose ideas were strikingly influenced by Origen.
By critical comparative study of Origen's Contra Celsum and Porphyry's De Abstinentia, author Panayiotis Tzamalikos establishes beyond doubt that Porphyry's conception of daemons took its cue overwhelmingly from his predecessor's theories on the subject. Porphyry adopted Origen's ideas (and, at crucial points, his vocabulary) on daemons, at times very closely, thereby setting his daemonology apart from that of other Greek schools, while also he employed terminology interweaving Greek and Christian language. Throughout this inquiry, the author also builds further evidence that there was only one Origen, and that the modern invention of 'two Origens' (one 'Platonist', the other 'Christian') is untenable.
This book is set to revolutionise understanding of the relationship between Greek philosophy and Christianity in Late Antiquity.
List of contents
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Tensions in Late Antiquity
Origen and the Greeks
The figment 'Christian Platonism'
The 'mind that comes from without' (th th ni ni )
Tentative statements for mental exercise' (Gamma mini s ).
Rufinus' translation
Greeks on Philology, Philosophy, and Theology
CHAPTER 1: What is a daemon?
CHAPTER 2: Greeks on daemons
CHAPTER 3: Angels and daemons
The need for a systematic theory
Names and correlative activity
Angels as surrogates of divinity
Daemons and angels
CHAPTER 4: Origen and Porphyry: a tender relationship
Porphyry and 'certain Platonists'
Symmetric and asymmetric bodies
Wickedness as irrationality
Rationality and human conduct
The rational soul and passions
CHAPTER 5: Wrestling against daemons
CHAPTER 6: Names and correlative activity
CHAPTER 7: Philosophical affinities
CONCLUSION
Report
This is without doubt an excellent and groundbreaking study. Author Panayiotis Tzamalikos convincingly portrays the entwined intellectual worlds of Origen and Porphyry, two major intellectual figures of late antiquity, and simultaneously demonstrates the extraordinarily advanced level of philosophical debate in this often-neglected period. This book brings the fields of late antique philosophy and patristics to life. Martin Ilert, Adjunct Professor for Eastern Christian Studies at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
