The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Philosophy

This volume offers the most comprehensive survey available of the philosophical background to the works of early Christian writers and the development of early Christian doctrine. It examines how the same philosophical questions were approached by Christian and pagan thinkers; the philosophical element in Christian doctrines; the interaction of particular philosophies with Christian thought; and the constructive use of existing philosophies by all Christian thinkers of late antiquity. While most studies of ancient Christian writers and the development of early Christian doctrine make some reference to the philosophic background, this is often of an anecdotal character, and does not enable the reader to determine whether the likenesses are deep or superficial, or how pervasively one particular philosopher may have influenced Christian thought. This volume is designed to provide not only a body of facts more compendious than can be found elsewhere, but the contextual information which will enable readers to judge or clarify the statements that they encounter in works of more limited scope. With contributions by an international group of experts in both philosophy and Christian thought, this is an invaluable resource for scholars of early Christianity, Late Antiquity and ancient philosophy alike.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction Section 1: Themes 2. Sources of Divine Knowledge 3. Nature 4. Time and Eternity 5. Creation in Early Christianity 6. Providence and Evil 7. Logic and Religious Language 8. Ethics 9. The Mystical Element Section 2: Doctrines 10. The Trinity 11. The Philosophy of the Incarnation 12. The Philosophy of the Resurrection in Early Christianity 13. Biblical Hermeneutics Section 3. Schools 14. The Presocratics 15. Socrates and Plato 16. Aristotle and his School 17. Stoics and Christians 18. Epicureans 19. Cynics and Christians 20. Sceptics 21. Philo of Alexandria 22. Orpheus, Mithras, Hermes 23. Middle Platonists and Pythagoreans 24. Pagan and Christian Philosophy: Plotinus, Iamblichus and Christian Philosophical Practice 25. The Philosophy of the Later Neoplatonists: An Interaction with Christian Thought Section 4. Individuals 26. Justin and Athenagoras 27. Tatian, Theophilus and Irenaeus of Lyon 28. Clement of Alexandria 29. Tertullian and Cyprian 30. "Hippolytus" and Epiphanius of Salamis 31. Origen and Philosophy 32. The Sethians and the Gnostics of Plotinus 33. Arnobius and Lactantius 34. Philosophy in Eusebius and Marcellus 35. Arius and Athanasius 36. Marius Victorinus 37. Philosophy in Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan 38. Eunomius of Cyzicus and Gregory of Nyssa 39. Didymus the Blind and Evagrius of Pontus 40. Synesius of Cyrene: Philosophy and Poetry "Sharing the same Temple" 41. Augustine of Hippo 42. Cyril of Alexandria 42. Theodoret of Cyrrhus 43. Boethius: The First Christian Philosopher in the Latin West? 44. John Philoponus 45. Dionysius the Areopagite 46. Christian Philosophynin Severus of Antioch and Leontius of Byzantium

About the Author :
Mark Edwards has been Tutor in Theology at Christ Church, Oxford, and University Lecturer/Associate Professor in Patristics in the Faculty of Theology and Religion in the University of Oxford since 1993. Since 2014, he has held the title of Professor of Early Christian Studies. His books include Origen against Plato (2002), Catholicity and Heresy in the Early Church (2009), Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries (2012), Religions of the Constantinian Empire (2015), and Aristotle and Early Christian Thought (2019).

Review :
"For a modern intellectual culture that distrusts trust and prefers analysis to exegesis, the very notion of early Christian philosophy is apt to be an uncomfortable stretch. But Mark Edwards and company do not retreat to the safe, if vacuous, conjunction: early Christianity and philosophy, as if one were a prosthesis for the other. This volume’s concise forays into a still surprisingly unfamiliar intellectual landscape bring ancient philosophy into the heart of early Christian exegesis. The introduction by Edwards brilliantly articulates the stakes of following along." - James Wetzel, Villanova University, USA "This well-conceived collection of studies makes a powerful case that ancient Christians took philosophy seriously and historians of ancient philosophy need to take Christians seriously." – George Boys-Stones, University of Toronto, Canada "The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Philosophy is a much welcome tool for students and researchers alike. Thanks to the excellent work of an international scholarly team of the highest calibre, the volume rightly moves away from the simplistic dualism of 'reason versus faith' that still hinders a sophisticated understanding of Early Christianity’s complex ties to pagan philosophy, and it showcases, in a truly comprehensive fashion, their substantial areas of intersection in the first centuries of our era. The contributors demonstrate that the Christians’ engagement with the tools, tropes, and themes of pagan philosophy was not just considerably more constructive and dynamic than is often recognized, but that this very engagement was also a necessary enterprise for Christians." - Alberto Rigolio, University of Durham, UK "This handbook is an important contribution to scholarship on early Christian thought. But that is only half its contribution. It is in equal measure a formidable argument for situating what is usually called ‘early Christian theology’ within the larger domain of ‘ancient philosophy’, most broadly conceived... Edwards is to be commended for bringing together such a substantial collection (in both size and importance) and for producing an edited handbook that sustains a particular (and much needed) thesis about Christianity and ancient philosophy across the whole of the volume." - The Classical Review