Prolegomenon to Irenaeus’ Epistemology: The Source of Adversus haereses 2,13,2 and the Five Powers of the Mind Tradition
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Grayden McCashen
Abstract
In AH 2,13,2 Irenaeus describes the activity of the mind as unfolding in a five-stage process, with each stage having a distinct name: ennoia, enthymēsis, phronēsis, boulē, and dialogismos. His account manifestly draws on philosophical psychology and epistemology, which has led scholars to assume he is using a source written by a member of one of the classical schools, a Stoic, Platonist, etc., whence he also derives his terms for the mind’s activity. This article argues to the contrary that Irenaeus drew the terminology for the five stages of the mind’s movement from his opponents. The terms themselves better fit a Jewish or Christian milieu than as technical terms of philosophical psychology. Such was the milieu of Irenaeus’ opponents, and indeed, nearly identical psychologies appear in cognate Nag Hammadi texts as well as later Christian texts, such as the Acts of Thomas, and as the Manichaean five-powers tradition. It is possible to arrange these sources so as to explain the presence of the five-powers tradition in each, including Irenaeus, without appealing to an unknown philosophical antecedent. Having established this, the article concludes by answering objections to the thesis and offering a prospectus for further research.
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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- Stoische Doxographie in der Ethik des Clemens von Alexandrien
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- Rezensionen
- Aline Pourkier, ed.: Épiphane de Salamine. Panarion. Tome I. Livre I (Hérésies 1 à 25). Introduction, texte grec révisé, traduction et notes, Sources Chrétiennes 631, Paris (Les éditions du Cerf) 2023, S. 662, ISBN 9782204149587, € 59,–.
- Bruce W. Longenecker und David E. Wilhite, Hgg.: The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2023, S. XV + 698, ISBN: 9781108427396, ₤ 140,–.
- Andreas Weckwerth: Casta placent superis. Konzeptionen kultischer Reinheit in der Spätantike, JbAC 42, Münster (Aschendorff) 2022, S. XII + 409, ISBN 978-3-402-10809–3, € 69,–.
- Valentino Gasparini, Maik Patzelt, Rubina Raja, Anna-Katharina Rieger, Jörg Rüpke and Emiliano Urciuoli: Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, Berlin/Boston (De Gruyter) 2020, S. VIII + 597, ISBN 9783110557572, € 129,95.
- Catalin-Stefan Popa: The Making of Syriac Jerusalem: Representations of the Holy City in Syriac Literature of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, London (Routledge) 2023, S. IX + 324, ISBN 9781032470993, £ 125. –.
- Peter Bruns, Thomas Kremer, Andreas Weckwerth (Hgg.): Sterben & Töten für Gott? Das Martyrium in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter. Internationale Tagung in Rom vom 20. bis 23. Februar 2019, Koinonia – Oriens 57, Münster (Aschendorff) 2022, S. XI + 391, ISBN 978-3-402-22524–0, € 49,–.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Artikel
- Prolegomenon to Irenaeus’ Epistemology: The Source of Adversus haereses 2,13,2 and the Five Powers of the Mind Tradition
- Stoische Doxographie in der Ethik des Clemens von Alexandrien
- « L’âme faite à partir des ītyē » : l’essai de reconstruction de la psychologie de Bardesane
- Relational Aspects of Attention in Chrysostom’s hermeneutics
- A Call to Holiness: Baptism, the Church, and Asceticism in Jerome’s Adversus Jovinianum
- Saints in the Latrine: Between Revealing and Relieving in the Late Antique Miracle Collections
- The Legend of Diocletian: “Naming and Framing” Diocletian in Coptic Hagiography
- Diskussion
- Origen of Alexandria, Human Dignity and the History of Racism: A Rejoinder
- Rezensionen
- Aline Pourkier, ed.: Épiphane de Salamine. Panarion. Tome I. Livre I (Hérésies 1 à 25). Introduction, texte grec révisé, traduction et notes, Sources Chrétiennes 631, Paris (Les éditions du Cerf) 2023, S. 662, ISBN 9782204149587, € 59,–.
- Bruce W. Longenecker und David E. Wilhite, Hgg.: The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2023, S. XV + 698, ISBN: 9781108427396, ₤ 140,–.
- Andreas Weckwerth: Casta placent superis. Konzeptionen kultischer Reinheit in der Spätantike, JbAC 42, Münster (Aschendorff) 2022, S. XII + 409, ISBN 978-3-402-10809–3, € 69,–.
- Valentino Gasparini, Maik Patzelt, Rubina Raja, Anna-Katharina Rieger, Jörg Rüpke and Emiliano Urciuoli: Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, Berlin/Boston (De Gruyter) 2020, S. VIII + 597, ISBN 9783110557572, € 129,95.
- Catalin-Stefan Popa: The Making of Syriac Jerusalem: Representations of the Holy City in Syriac Literature of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, London (Routledge) 2023, S. IX + 324, ISBN 9781032470993, £ 125. –.
- Peter Bruns, Thomas Kremer, Andreas Weckwerth (Hgg.): Sterben & Töten für Gott? Das Martyrium in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter. Internationale Tagung in Rom vom 20. bis 23. Februar 2019, Koinonia – Oriens 57, Münster (Aschendorff) 2022, S. XI + 391, ISBN 978-3-402-22524–0, € 49,–.
