Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Platonist/Neoplatonist interests or influences. Their main works, and especially those relevant
to the topic of Christian Platonism, are also shown.
"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.
• Part 1: 60 AD – 700 AD
o Apostolic age
o Patristic era
o Alexandrian
o Latin tradition
o Late Greek
o Timeline figure (100 – 700
AD)
• Part 2: 701 AD – present
o Islamic Middle East
o Middle Ages (East)
o Middle Ages (West)
o Renaissance
o Christian mysticism
o Christian esotericism
o Cambridge Platonists
o Transcendentalists and
Unitarians
o 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 of Alexandria?), Epistle of Barnabas
Patristic Era
St. Justin Martyr (100 – 165)
– Dialogue with Trypho
– On the Soul
– Discourse to the Greeks
Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325; North African; student of Arnobius; Platonist, Epicurean,
Stoic influences) [more]
Alexandrian Christianity
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
St. Simplician (Simplicianus; ? – 400; friend/mentor of St. Augustine and St. Ambrose)
Flavius Mallius Theodorus (fl. 399; friend of St. Augustine; Roman consul)
• 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)
Stephen bar Sudaili (fl. 500; Syrian; Origenest; is often associated with Ps.-Dionysius)
School of Baghdad Peripatetics (c. 870 – c. 1023). Muslim and Christian members.
William of Champeaux (c. 1070 – 1122; studied with St. Anselm) [Stanford]
Suger of Saint Denis (1081 – 1151; studied Ps.-Dionysius; influenced Gothic cathedral
architecture)
School of Chartres
Bernard Silvesters (1085 to 1178?; associated with School of Chartres, but is not
Bernard of Chartres)
– Cosmographia
Bl. Isaac of Stella (Isaac D'étoile; c. 1100 – c. 1169; France; Cistercian monk; argued
for synthesis of Neoplatonic and Aristotelian philosophies) [De Wulf]
– De anima
Henry of Ghent (c. 1217 – 1293; active in Paris, studied at Cologne school) [Stanford]
• St. Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus; 1193 – 1280; bishop) [Stanford]
• Theoderic of Freiberg (Thierry of Freiburg, Dietrich of Freiberg; c. 1250 – c. 1310)
[Stanford] [De Wulf]
– De Intellectu et Intelligibili
– De visione beatifica
• Meister Eckhart (Johannes Eckhart; c. 1260 – c. 1327) [Stanford]
– Sermons
• Berthold of Moosburg (? – c. 1361)
– Expositio super Elementationem theologicam Procli
• Ulrich of Strasburg (c. 1225 – 1277)
English Mystics
Walter Hilton (c. 1342 – 1396; Augustinian canon regular), The Scale of
Perfection
Renaissance
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; Byzantine; student of Pletho; taught Greek in
Italy [Florence, 1397-1400])
– translated the Republic and many other dialogues
Roberto de' Rossi (?; circle of Salutati; pupil of Chrysoloras; tutor of Cosimo de'
Medici)
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)
Cosimo de' Medici (1389 – 1464; founded Florentine Academy, placing Ficino as
head)
Francesco Filelfo (1398 – 1481; student of John Chrysoloras, the nephew of Manuel)
– translated three of the Letters (1430s)
– translated Euthyphro (1430s)
Denis the Carthusian (Dionysius of Riche; Denys van Leeuwen; 1402 – 1471;
associate of Nicolas of Cusa)
– Commentary on Dionysius Areopagite
Giovanni Andrea Bussi (Johannes Andreas de Buxis; 1417 – 1475; bishop, editor,
publisher)
– with Nicolas of Cusa edited William of Moerbeke's translation of
Proclus' Expositio in Parmenidem
Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (c. 1455 – 1536; French; friend of Ficino and Giovanni
Pico; Platonist interests)
Pietro Pomponazzi (1462 – 1525; Aristotelean with Neoplatonic and Stoic interests)
[Stanford]
Francesco de' Vieri (1474-1541; il Verino; member of the Diacceto's school; continued
the official tradition of Ficinian Platonism; professor of philosophy in Florence/Pisa)
– De pulchritudine et amore
John Colet (ca. 1467 – 1519; priest; brought Italian Platonism to England)
Agostino Nifo (c. 1473 – c. 1540; Aristotelian influenced by Ficino and Neoplatonism)
- De immortalitate animi (1518 and 1524)
- De intellectu et daemonibus
Francesco de' Vieri (1524 – 1591; il Verino secondo; grandson of il Verino; taught
philosophy at University of Pisa from 1553)
– Compendio della dotrina di Platone in quello che elle e conforme con la fede
nostra (Compendium of Platonic Teachings Which are in Conformity with the Christian
Faith; Florence, 1589)
– Discorso del soggetto, del numero, dell'uso et della dignità et ordine degl'habiti
dell'animo (Discourse on the Subject, Number, Use and Dignity and on the Kind of
Vestments of the Spirit; Firenze, 1568)
– Lezzioni d'amore (Lessons on Love; a commentary on Cavalcanti)
– Discorso intorno ai demonii (1576)
Francesco Patrizi (1529 – 1597)
– Nova de universis philosophia (1591)
Jean de Serres (Serranus; 1540 – 1597; Huguenot; anti-Neoplatonist; made new Latin
translation of Plato's works [Stephanus 1578 edition])
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:
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]
• Joseph Mede (1586 – 1639)
• Benjamin Whichcote (1609 – 1683)
• Henry More (1614 – 1687)
• Joseph Beaumont (1616 – 1699)
• Ralph Cudworth (1617 – 1689)
• Peter Sterry (1613 – 1672)
• JOHN SMITH (1618 – 1652)
• John Worthington (1618 – 1671)
• Nathaniel Culverwell (1619 – 1651)
• George Rust (d. 1670; bishop)
• Anne Conway (1630 – 1679)
• John Norris (1657 – 1711)
Jean Nicolas Grou (1731 – 1803; French; Jesuit priest; spiritual writer, translator)
– Republic (1762; 2 vols.) vol 1 vol 2
– Laws (1769; 2 vols.) vol 1 vol 2
– Dialogues (1770; 2 vols.) Theataetus, Protagoras, Hippias 1, Hippias 2, Gorgias,
Ion, Philebus, Meno
Going back even earlier in American history, a plausible argument could be made
that Jonathan Edwards was a Christian Platonist.
Modern Christian Platonists
Acknowledgments
The helpful suggestions of Michael Chase and Dennis Clark are gratefully acknowledged.
Bibliography
Allen, Michael J. B.; Rees, Valery; Davies, Martin (eds.). Marsilio Ficino: His
Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy. Leiden 2002.
Armstrong, A. Hilary. St. Augustine and Christian Platonism. St. Augustine Lecture of
1966, Villanova University.
Armstrong, Arthur H. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval
Philosophy, Cambridge 1967 (repr. with corrections 1970).
Biggs, Charles. The Christian Platonists of Alexandria. Oxford, 1886 (2nd ed. 1913).
Cherniss, Harold Fredrik. The Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa. Berkeley, 1930 (repr.
New York, 1971).
Field, Arthur. The Origins of the Platonic Academy of Florence. Princeton, 1988 (repr.
2014).
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.
Gersh, Stephen. Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: the Latin Tradition. (2 Vols.).
Notre Dame, IN, 1986.
Gersh, Stephen; Hoenen, Maarten J. F. M.(eds.). The Platonic Tradition in the Middle
Ages. Berlin, 2002.
Hankins, James. Plato in the Middle Ages. In: J. Strayer, Dictionary of the Middle Ages,
vol. IX, New York, 1987, pp. 694-704.
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 Ivánka, Endre. Plato Christianus: Übernahme und Umgestaltung des Platonismus
durch die Väter, 1964. (French version: Plato christianus: la réception critique du
platonisme chez les Pères de l'Église, Elisabeth Kessler-Slotta, Rémi Brague, Jean-Yves
Lacoste, trs., 2005)
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].
Khoury, George. The Arabic Christian Literature. Accessed 20 December 2014 from <
http://www.al-bushra.org/arbhrtg/arbxtn01.htm >.
Kretzmann, Norman; Kenny, Anthony; Pinborg, Jan (eds.), The Cambridge History of
Later Medieval Philosophy: 1100–1600. Cambridge, 1982 (repr. 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.
Louth, Andrew. The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys.
Oxford, 1983 (repr. 2003).
Macy, Gary. A Guide to Thirteenth Century Theologians. Accessed 23 July 2009 from
< http://home.sandiego.edu/~macy/>. (Site down as of 2014; see archived pages.)
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.
Nelson, John Charles. Platonism in the Renaissance In: Philip P. Wiener (ed.), The
Dictionary of the History of Ideas, vol. 3. New York, 1973-74.
O'Meara, Dominic J. (ed.). Neoplatonism and Christian Thought. Albany, 1982.
Rabil Jr., Albert. Humanism 1: An Outline. Accessed 20 December 2014 from <
http://www.globaled.org > .
Scholem, Gershom. The Beginnings of the Christian Kabbalah. In: Joseph Dan
(ed.), The Christian Kabbalah: Jewish Mystical Books and Their Christian Interpreters.
Cambridge, MA, 1997.
Southern, Richard W. The Schools of Paris and the School of Chartres. In: Robert L.
Benson and Giles Constable (eds.), Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century,
Cambridge, MA, 1982, pp. 173–200;
Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism. 12th ed. New York: Dutton, 1930 (1st ed. 1911).
Walker, Daniel Pickering. The Ancient Theology: Studies in Christian Platonism from
the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Century. Ithaca, 1972.
Wilson, Nigel G. From Byzantium to Italy: Greek Studies in the Italian Renaissance.
Baltimore, 1992.
Yates, Frances A. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. London, 1972 (repr. 1999, 2013).
Yates, Frances A. The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. London, 1979 (repr.
1999, 2003).
Home > Psychology and Religion > Religion > This article