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Elements of Theology

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Elements of Theology
Latin translation of Elements of Theology by Franciscus Patricius, 1583
AuthorProclus
LanguageGreek

The Elements of Theology (Greek: Στοιχείωσις θεολογική, translit. Stoicheiōses Theologikē) is a work on Neoplatonic philosophy written by Proclus (c. 412–485).[1] Conceived of as a systematic summary of Neoplatonic metaphysics, it has often served as a general introduction to this subject.[2]

It was widely influential during the Middle Ages, especially through its 9th-century Arabic adaptation Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fī al-khayr al-maḥḍ ("The Book on the Explanation of the Pure Good"), known in Latin as Liber de causis or "Book of Causes", which was falsely attributed to Aristotle. Proclus' work itself was first translated into Latin in 1268 by William of Moerbeke as Elementatio Theologica.

Contents

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The Elements of Theology is a compendium of 211 propositions that presents a concise systematization of Neoplatonic philosophy, with no attempt at radical innovation.[3] Proclus uses the term 'theology' as in the study of the 'first principles' of all things. The propositions can be informally halved into dual parts, the first, establish the unity of the many in the One, causality, participation, gradiation, procession, infinitude and eternity. The second half; on the henads, intelligences and souls.[2]

Legacy

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An Arabic adaptation of the Elements of Theology was made in the 9th century, called the Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fī al-khayr al-maḥḍ ("The Book on the Explanation of the Pure Good").[4] Falsely attributed to Aristotle, this work was in turn translated into Latin in the 12th century by Gerhard of Cremona under the name Liber de causis. Translations of the Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fī al-khayr al-maḥḍ into Armenian and Hebrew also exist.[5] Another way in which the Elements of Theology found its way into medieval Aristotelian philosophy is through the portions of the book that were interspersed in Arabic translations of works by the Peripatetic philosopher Alexander of Aphrodisias.[6]

In the Byzantine world, the Elements of Theology was studied in its original Greek by Michael Psellos (11th century) and translated into Georgian by Psellos' pupil Ioanne Petritsi, who also wrote a commentary on it. A Christian refutation of the work was written by the bishop Nicolaus of Methone in the 12th century.[2]

More widely influential, however, was the Liber de causis (the Latin version of the Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fī al-khayr al-maḥḍ), which due to its attribution to Aristotle was regarded by medieval philosophers as a kind of appendix to Aristotle's Metaphysics. As such, it had also become a standard part of the university curriculum in the 13th century. This ended only when Thomas Aquinas, with the help of William of Moerbeke's 1268 translation of the Elements of Theology (Latin: Elementatio Theologica),[7] was able to show that the Liber de causis was not a work written by Aristotle, but was actually based upon Proclus' work.[2]

William of Moerbeke's Latin translations of Proclus' works were not widely read in the Middle Ages, though in the 14th century a Latin commentary on the Elements of Theology was written by Berthold of Moosburg.[8] The Liber de causis was also still used by Dante (c. 1265–1321), who probably drew upon this work for the Neoplatonic ideas in his Divine Comedy.[9]

See also

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  • Theology of Aristotle, another Arabic adaptation of a Neoplatonic work (Plotinus' Enneads) falsely attributed to Aristotle

References

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  1. ^ Edition and English translation by Dodds 1963.
  2. ^ a b c d Helmig & Steel 2015.
  3. ^ Dodds 1963, p. xxv.
  4. ^ Edited by Badawī 1977, pp. 1–33. An older edition of the Arabic text with German translation is found in Bardenhewer 1882, pp. 58–118.
  5. ^ Dodds 1963, p. xxx.
  6. ^ Edited by Endress 1973 and Zimmermann 1994.
  7. ^ Edited by Boese 1987.
  8. ^ Helmig & Steel 2015. Editions (some of them partial) of other Latin commentaries on the Elements of Theology, as well as on the Liber de causis, may be found in Calma 2016.
  9. ^ Dodds 1963, p. xxx.

Sources cited

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  • Badawī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (1977). al-Iflāṭūniyya al-muḥdatha ʿinda al-ʿArab (2nd ed.). al-Kuwayt: Wakkālat al-Maṭbūʿāt.
  • Bardenhewer, Otto (1882). Die pseudo-aristotelische Schrift ueber das reine Gute bekannt unter dem Namen Liber de Causis. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder'sche Verlagschandlung. OCLC 6394425.
  • Boese, Helmut (1987). Elementatio Theologica. Translata a Guillelmo de Morbecca. Leuven: Leuven University Press. ISBN 9789061862444.
  • Dodds, E. R. (1963). Proclus: The Elements of Theology. A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction, and Commentary (2nd ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814097-5.
  • Calma, Dragos, ed. (2016). Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages: New Commentaries on 'Liber de Causis' and 'Elementatio Theologica'. Studia Artistarum. Vol. 42. Turnhout: Brepols. doi:10.1484/M.SA-EB.5.111556. ISBN 978-2-503-55474-7. (in 2 volumes)
  • Calma, Dragos, ed. (2019). Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, Volume 1: Western Scholarly Networks and Debates. Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition. Vol. 22. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004395114. ISBN 978-90-04-34510-2.
  • Calma, Dragos, ed. (2020). Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, Volume 2: Translations and Acculturations. Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition. Vol. 26. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004440685. ISBN 978-90-04-34511-9.
  • Calma, Dragos, ed. (2022). Reading Proclus and the Book of Causes, Volume 3: On Causes and the Noetic Triad. Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition. Vol. 28. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004501331. ISBN 978-90-04-50132-4.
  • Endress, Gerhard (1973). Proclus Arabus. Zwanzig Abschnitte aus der Institutio Theologica in arabischer Übersetzung. Beiruter Texte und Studien. Vol. 10. Wiesbaden and Beirut: Steiner and Orient-Institut der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. OCLC 841196.
  • Helmig, Christoph; Steel, Carlos (2015). "Proclus". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • Zimmermann, Fritz (1994). "Proclus Arabus Rides Again". Arabic Sciences and Philosophy. 4: 9–51. doi:10.1017/S0957423900001855.
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