Light on Creation: Ancient Commentators in Dialogue and Debate on the Origin of the World

Description

The present volume contains the proceedings of an international colloquium held in February 2015 at the Arts Faculty of the KU Leuven that brought together specialists in (late) ancient philosophy and early Christian studies. Contributors were asked to reflect on the reception of two foundational texts dealing with the origin of the world - the third book of Plato's Timaeus and the Genesis account of the creation. The organizers had a double aim: They wished to offer a forum for furthering the dialogue between colleagues working in these respective fields and to do this by studying in a comparative perspective both a crucial topic shared by these traditions and the literary genres through which this topic was developed and transmitted. Preface Table of Contents I. The Middle- and Neoplatonic Tradition Middle Platonists on the Eternity of the Universe • Mauro Bonazzi The Position and Function of the Demiurge in Syrianus’s Cosmos • Sarah Klitenic Wear Proclus, in Timaeum, II, 340.14–341.24 Diehl. Some Textual Remarks • Lorenzo Ferroni How Can the Perceptible World be Perceptible? Proclus on the Causes of Perceptibility • Gerd Van Riel II. The Christian Tradition Basil of Caesarea’s Exegesis of the Heavens in Homiliae in hexaemeron 3 • David C. DeMarco The Use of Scripture in Basil’s Homilies in Hexaemeron • Volker Henning Drecoll Representing the Jews: John Chrysostom’s Use of Exegetical and Theological Traditions for Gen 1:26a (In Gen. hom. 8) • Samuel Pomeroy Judaic Authority in Nemesius of Emesa’s De natura hominis (390 CE) • David L. Dusenbury Christian Apologetics or Confessional Polemics? Context and Motivation of Philoponus’ De opificio mundi • Benjamin Gleede From Nonbeing to Eternal Well-Being: Creation ex nihilo in the Cosmology and Soteriology of Maximus the Confessor • Paul M. Blowers Christ Hero. An Epic Commentary on Creation • Clement Kuehn The Debate on Gen 1:1–3 According to Anastasius Sinaita’s Hexaemeron • Dimitrios Zaganas III. Some Other Voices “The Most Perfect Work”: The Role of Matter in Philo of Alexandria • Gregory E. Sterling Calcidius between Creatio Ex Nihilo and Platonism • Claudio Moreschini Gnostic Views on the Origin and the Nature of the Universe • Gerard P. Luttikhuizen Index of Modern Authors Index of Ancient Texts and Authors Index of Biblical References