Papers by Isidoros C . Katsos
Reviews in religion and theology, 2017
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Modern Theology, 2024
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Oxford University Press eBooks, Mar 16, 2023
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Ilaria L.E. Ramelli, J.A. McGuckin, Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski, T&T Clark Handbook of the Early Church , 2022
In this chapter, I discuss the early Christian language of divine light by linking it with contem... more In this chapter, I discuss the early Christian language of divine light by linking it with contemporary discussions on the nature of metaphor and analogy. This kind of early Christian talk ('God is light') has been given the strange name: ‘metaphysics of light’. In what follows, I explain what that means. But this chapter does not intend to enquire into the meaning of the light language of the early church, but rather to enquire into the conditions of its meaning. My aim, therefore, is cathartic. In this chapter I show that until we learn how to think properly about the use of the scriptural light language, it is rather futile to enquire into its meaning. This suggests that many approaches to the early Christian language of light have missed its meaning. To show why this is so, I first need to explain what lies beneath the strange term ‘metaphysics of light’.
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Eriugena’s Theory of Light and its Hexaemeral Sources: Rethinking Eriugena’s Knowledge of the Greek Patristic Corpus, in Studia Patristica, 2021
In the hexaemeral part of the Periphyseon, Eriugena reports on two hermeneutical traditions on th... more In the hexaemeral part of the Periphyseon, Eriugena reports on two hermeneutical traditions on the first light of creation. According to the first tradition, attributed to Basil, primordial light is corporeal and of fiery nature. According to the second tradition, attributed to Augustine, primordial light is of intelligible, angelic nature. Based on this report and other passages contemporary scholarship assumes a close acquaintance of Eriugena with Basil’s Hexaemeron. The purpose of this article is to put the latter assumption under scrutiny. My argument proceeds in two steps. First, I compare Eriugena’s report of Basil in the Periphyseon with Basil’s original text in the Hexaemeron. The comparison shows that the corporeal theory of light attributed to Basil deviates significantly from Basil’s own theory, at least in two respects. In a second step, I investigate whether Eriugena’s report of Basil is mediated through other sources. I here compare the Periphyseon with the theory of light defended by Gregory of Nyssa in his Apology to Basil’s Hexaemeron. The comparison now yields positive results: if one reads the Hexaemeron through the mediation of the Apology, one ends up indeed with the report in the Periphyseon. If my argument is correct, the current scholarly assumption about Eriugena’s knowledge of the Greek patristic corpus in general, and of Nyssen’s corpus in particular, needs to be reconsidered. Gregory of Nyssa’s Apology exercises a tremendous influence on Eriugena’s physical thought, a fact that has up to now escaped scholarly attention.
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Scottish Journal of Theology
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ISIS, A Journal of the History of Science, 2019
In the course of contemporary investigations into the history of optics, it is claimed that the s... more In the course of contemporary investigations into the history of optics, it is claimed that the study of light in antiquity was subordinated to the study of sight. Though previous scholarship allowed some conceptual space for an autonomous study of light, such an approach remains a largely unexplored possibility. This essay investigates further the possibility of a luminocentric as opposed to the oculocentric approach to ancient optics. On the basis of evidence from the Platonic Timaeus, it argues for the existence of a proper physics of light in the ancient world. If the argument is correct, the ancient physics of light ought to be part of a comprehensive and systematic history of optics.
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The relation of philosophy to theology is notoriously ambiguous. Reading Philo of Alexandria is a... more The relation of philosophy to theology is notoriously ambiguous. Reading Philo of Alexandria is a case in point. Understanding the dynamics of philosophy and theology in the Philonic corpus is a key to understanding Philo's thought. And yet, few scholars agree as to how to read Philo on this point. In this article I highlight some of the hermeneutical challenges posed by the Philonic corpus, based on two recent publications.
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The aim of this paper is to provide an account of distributive justice from an Orthodox perspecti... more The aim of this paper is to provide an account of distributive justice from an Orthodox perspective. For this purpose, I shall focus on current debates within Orthodox theology, making reference to but not expanding on secular theories of justice. Throughout my paper I shall understand the term 'distributive justice’ as equivalent to ’social justice’, which today comprises two elements: an intra-generational component referring to the inhabitants of planet earth at a given moment in time, and an inter-generational component linking together the current, past and future generations. I shall understand ‘justice' in a theological sense, as the offspring of an ascetic-sacrificial way of life in the image and likeness of Christ, which is opposed to a secular-libertarian understanding of justice as 'fairness’. I shall first illustrate how contemporary Eastern Orthodoxy articulates the question of distributive justice. In a second step, I shall highlight the ambivalence of the Orthodox approach to libertarian principles. Finally, I shall outline, however briefly, a coherent approach to justice inspired by the patristic tradition of the East and articulated in the distinctively Neo-orthodox theological jargon of the ‘theology of the person’.
Key words: distributive justice, Pan-orthodox Synod, human rights, theology of the person, asceticism
I. Introduction
II. On the way to the Pan-orthodox Synod (status questionis)
III. The conundrum: justice and human rights
IV. Justice without rights: Florovsky’s patristic synthesis
V. Conclusions
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Papers by Isidoros C . Katsos
Key words: distributive justice, Pan-orthodox Synod, human rights, theology of the person, asceticism
I. Introduction
II. On the way to the Pan-orthodox Synod (status questionis)
III. The conundrum: justice and human rights
IV. Justice without rights: Florovsky’s patristic synthesis
V. Conclusions
Key words: distributive justice, Pan-orthodox Synod, human rights, theology of the person, asceticism
I. Introduction
II. On the way to the Pan-orthodox Synod (status questionis)
III. The conundrum: justice and human rights
IV. Justice without rights: Florovsky’s patristic synthesis
V. Conclusions