Christian Platonists and Neoplatonists

"Platonic influence" is broadly defined here; a writer may be both influenced by Plato and at the same time very critical of specific Platonic or Neoplatonic tenets.

Note the literal explosion of interest in Christian Platonism during the Renaissance, followed by a striking absence from 1700 until the 20th century. The latter reflects several factors: the Reformation, the Age of Reason, the Industrial Revolution, and the modern empiricist-materialistic worldview. In a post-modern world we may expect to see Renaissance humanism and mysticism re-emerge, and along with them Platonism and Christian Platonism.

Contents

• Part 1: 60 AD - 800 AD
  • Apostolic age
  • Patristic era
  • Alexandrian
  • Latin tradition
  • Late Greek
• Part 2: 801 AD - present
  • Middle Ages (East)
  • Middle Ages (West)
  • Renaissance
  • Christian mysticism
  • Cambridge Platonists
  • Modern
• Timeline figure (100 - 700 AD)
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography

Part 1: 60 AD - 800 AD

Apostolic Age

Patristic Era

Marcus Minucius Felix? (3rd century)

St. Methodius of Olympus (d. c. 311)

St. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263 - c. 339)

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?)

Didymus the Blind (Didymus Caecus; c. 313 - c.398)

Cappadocian Fathers

ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA (c. 335 - c. 394)
     - Life of Moses
     - Commentary on the Song of Songs

St. Basil of Caesarea (c. 329 - 379)
     - On the Hexaemeron (the Six Days of Creation)

St. Gregory of Nazianzus (the Theologian; c. 330 - c. 389)

Evagrius Ponticus (345 - 399) [Dysinger] [Prodromos]
     - 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)

Latin Christian Neoplatonists

Calcidius/Chalcidius? (4th century)
     - Translated the Timaeus

Marius Victorinus (c.300 - c.370) [Migne Patrologia Latina]

St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 338 - 397)
     - De Spiritu Sancto (On the Holy Spirit)
     - De mysteriis (On the Mysteries)
     - On Virginity

ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354 - 430) [Stanford]
     - Confessions
     - De Trinitate (On the Trinity)
     - De civitate Dei (The City of God)
     - De doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine)

Boethius (St. Severinus Boethius; c. 470 - 524)
     - Consolation of Philosophy
     - Commentary on the Isagoge

Late Greek Christian Neoplatonists

[Note: compare with Proclus (412 - 485; not Christian)]

School of Gaza

• Aeneas of Gaza (d. c. 518; student of Neoplatonist Hierocles; founder of Gaza school)
       - Theophrastus (On the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection
         of the Body; PG 85)

• Procopius of Gaza (c. 465 - c. 538; sophist)
       - Commentary on Genesis
       - lost work against Proclus

• Zacharias Scholasticus ('of Rhetor'; c. 465 - c. 536; bishop; brother of Procopius; student of Neoplatonist Ammonius)
       - Ammonius (On the Creation of the World)

• Choricius of Gaza (fl. c. 510)

Leontius of Byzantium ('the Hermit'; 475 - 543)

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (450? - 530?; Syrian?) [Stanford]
     - On the Divine Names
     - Mystical Theology
     - On the Celestial Hierarchy

John Of Scythopolis (fl. 540; bishop; early commentator on Pseudo-Dionysius)

John Philoponus (490 - c. 570; Alexandrian/Byzantine; pupil of Neoplatonist Ammonius) [Stanford] [UVA]
     - De opificio mundi
     - De Aeternitate Mundi

Elias (fl. 575?; Alexandrian; pupil of Neoplatonist Olympiodorus)

David (fl. 575?; Alexandrian)

Stephanus of Alexandria (fl. 630?)

St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580 - 662; influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius)

Theodorus of Raithu (7th century; friend of St. Maximus)

Anastasius Sinaita (7th century)

Dark Ages

Part 2: 801 AD - present

Middle Ages (East)

Michael Psellus (11th century; Byzantine; re-introduced Plato)

John Italus (student of Psellus)

Eustratius of Nicaea (12th century; Neoplatonic commentary on Aristotle)

Michael of Ephesus (12th century; Neoplatonic commentary on Aristotle)

Nicephoros Gregoras (c. 1295 - 1360; Byzantine)

St. Gregory Palamas (1296 - 1359)

Middle Ages (West)

John Scotus Eriugena (c. 815 - 877; translated Pseudo-Dionysius) [Stanford]

St. Anselm of Canterbury (Augustinian; 1033 - 1109) [Stanford] [Hopkins]

Hugh of Balma (12th century) [Hopkins]
     - Mystical Theology

School of Chartres

• Bernard of Chartres (Bernardus Sylvestris; d. before 1124?; Neoplatonist)
       - studied the Timaeus
       - De Mundi Universitate

• Thierry of Chartres (d. c. 1150; brother of Bernard?)
       - In Hexaemeron (a Genesis commentary with reference to the Timaeus)

• Gilbert of Poitiers (Gilbert de la Porrée; 1070 – 1154; student of Bernard)

• William of Conches (c. 1090 – after 1154)

• John of Salisbury (c. 1115 - 1176; bishop; student of Gilbert of Poitiers) [Stanford]

Henry Aristippus (fl. 1150; Italian)
     - translated Phaedo and Meno into Latin

Richard of St. Victor (? - 1173)
     - On the Trinity
     - Benjamin Minor
     - Benjamin Major
     - Treatise on the Tabernacle
     - Treatise on Ezekiel

Alain de Lille (c. 1128 - 1202; French)

Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175 - 1253)

Roger Bacon (1214 - 1294)

St. Bonaventure (1221 - 1274) [Stanford]
     - Journey of the Mind to God (Itinerarium mentis in Deum)

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274) [Stanford]
     - Summa Theologica
     - Commentary on Liber de causis

Ramon Llull (1232 - 1315; Spanish; Neoplatonist ideas; syncretic)

Meister Eckhart (1260 - c. 1328)
     - Sermons

Renaissance

Petrarch (1304 - 1374)

Coluccio Salutati (1331 - 1406; Florentine; encouraged Platonic revival; recruited Chrysoloras)

George Gemistus Pletho (or Plethon; c. 1355 - 1450; Greek monk; visited Florence in 1439)
     - De differentiis Platonis et Aristotelis (c. 1440)
     - countered by anti-Platonist George Scholarius (Patriarch Gennadios II), Antilepseis hyper
       Aristotelous (Defence of Aristotle; 1444 [Hankins, p. 208])

Manuel Chrysoloras (c. 1355 - 1415; student of Pletho; taught in Florence, 1397-1400)

Leonardo Bruni (c. 1369 - 1444; Florentine; studied with Chrysoloras)
     - translated some of Plato's works

Ambrogio Traversari (1386 – 1439; Florentine; taught or influenced by Chrysoloras)

George of Trebizond (1395 – 1486; anti-Platonist)
     - Comparatio Aristotelis et Platonis (1450)

Cardinal Basilios Bessarion (1403 - 1472)
     - countered George of Trebizond with In Calumniatorem Platonis (Against the Slanderer
        of Plato; 1459)

Nicolas of Cusa (1401 - 1464; cardinal; German) [Hopkins]
     - De Sapientia (On Wisdom)
     - De Mente (On the Mind)
     - De Docta Ignorantia (Of Learned Ignorance)
     - De Visione Dei (On the Vision of God)

MARSILIO FICINO (1433 - 1499; translated Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Pseudo-Dionysius, Hermetica, Chaldean Oracles; priest; headed Florentine Platonic Academy)
     - Platonic Theology
     - De Amore (Commentary on the Symposium)
     - Commentary on Phaedrus
     - The Christian Religion
     - The Book of the Sun (De Sole)

Girolamo Benivieni (1453 - 1542; poet)

Angelo Poliziano (1454 - 1494; Florentine)
     - Translator of Plato

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463 - 1494)
     - Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486)
     - 900 Theses

Desiderius Erasmus? (1466 - 1536)

Francesco Cattani da Diacceto (1466 - 1522)

John Doget (c. 1430? - 1501; English; priest)
     - Commentary on Phaedrus

John Colet (ca. 1467 - 1519; priest; brought Italian Platonism to England)

Symphorien Champier (1471 - 1539; brought Italian Platonism to France)

Pietro Bembo (1470 - 1547; Italian cardinal; literary reformer)

Agostino Nifo (c. 1473 - c. 1540; Aristotelian influenced by Ficino and Neoplatonism)
     - De immortalitate animi (1518 and 1524)
     - De intellectu et daemonibus

Baldassare Castiglione (1478 - 1529)

Agostino Steuco (1497 - 1548; priest)
     - De perenni philosophia (The Perennial Philosophy)

Philipp Melanchthon (1497 - 1560; Lutheran)

Francesco Patrizi (1529 - 1597)
     - Nova de universis philosophia (1591)

Giordano Bruno (1548 - 1600)

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:

• Rhineland mystics (Eckhart, Suso, Tauler)
• Victorines (12th century; Hugh and Richard of St. Victor)
• Flemish mystics (Jan van Ruysbroeck)
• English mystics (Richard Rolle; Julian of Norwich; Walter Hilton)
• Jan Geerson, devotio moderna
• Spanish mystics (16th century; St. Teresa of Jesus; St. John of the Cross; Franciso Osuna)

For an excellent summary of these traditions see this article.

The Christian mystical writings of Jacob Boehme, the early Rosicrucians (Yates, 1972), and Christian Cabalists (Scholem, 1997; Yates, 1979) 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)
• George Rust (d. 1670)
• Anne Conway (1630 - 1679)
• John Norris (1657-1711)

Modern Christian Platonists

William Ralph Inge (1860 - 1954)
     - Platonic Tradition in English Religious Thought

Paul Elmer More (1864 - 1937)
     - The Religion of Plato (1921)

Alfred Edward Taylor (1869 - 1945)

Jacques Maritain (1882 - 1973) [Stanford]
     - The Degrees of Knowledge

Simone Weil (1909 - 1943)

Vladimir Lossky? (1903 - 1958)
     - The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church

Karl Rahner, S.J. (1904 - 1984)

Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905 - 1988)

Joseph Pieper (1904 - 1997)

A. H. Armstrong (1909 - 1997)

20th Century French Neoplatonism

• André-Jean Festugière (1898 - 1982; Domincan priest)
        - Personal Religion Among the Greeks
        - Contemplation et vie contemplative selon Platon

• Cardinal Jean Daniélou, S.J. (1905 – 1974)

• Maurice Blondel (1861 - 1949) [ IEP]

• Émile Bréhier (1876 - 1952)

• Cardinal Henri de Lubac, S.J. (1896 - 1991)

• Jean-Luc Marion (1946 - )

Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger; 1927 - )
      - doctoral research on St. Augustine, Plotinus, and Porphyry

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

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Bitton-Ashkelony, Bruria; Kofsky, Arieh (eds.). Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill, 2004.

Cherniss, Harold Fredrik. The Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa. New York: Lenox Hill Publishers, 1971.

Egan, Harvey D. An Anthology of Christian Mysticism. Liturgical Press, 1991.

Geoghegan, William D. Platonism in Recent Religious Thought. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958.

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