Overview
This study offers an in-depth examination of Porphyrian soteriology, or the concept of the salvation of the soul, in the thought of Porphyry of Tyre, whose significance for late antique thought is immense. Porphyry's concept of salvation is important for an understanding of those cataclysmic forces, not always theological, that helped convert the Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity. Porphyry, a disciple of Plotinus, was the last and greatest anti-Christian writer to vehemently attack the Church before the Constantinian revolution. His contribution to the pagan-Christian debate on universalism can thus shed light on the failure of paganism and the triumph of Christianity in late antiquity. In a broader historical and cultural context this study will address some of the issues central to the debate on universalism, in which Porphyry was passionately involved and which was becoming increasingly significant during the unprecedented series of economic, cultural, political, and military crises of the third century. As the author will argue, Porphyry may have failed to find one way of salvation for all humanity, he nonetheless arrived a hierarchical soteriology, something natural for a Neoplatonist, which resulted in an integrative religious and philosophical system. His system is examined in the context of other developing ideologies of universalism, during a period of unprecedented imperial crises, which were used by the emperors as an agent of political and religious unification. Christianity finally triumphed over its competitors owing to its being perceived to be the only universal salvation cult that was capable of bringing about this unification. In short, it won due to its unique universalist soteriology. By examining a rival to Christianity's concept of universal salvation, this book will be valuable to students and scholars of ancient philosophy, patristics, church history, and late antiquity.
Full Product Details
Author: Bishop Michael Bland Simmons (Distinguished Research Professor, Department of History, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of History, Auburn University Montgomery)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 24.10cm
, Height: 3.80cm
, Length: 16.50cm
Weight: 0.816kg
ISBN: 9780190202392
ISBN 10: 0190202394
Pages: 536
Publication Date: 25 June 2015
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Simmons demonstrates command of sources in Greek, Latin and Syriac...for those interested in Porphyry's response to Christianity, this will likely be the volume of choice for some considerable time. -- The Classical Review
We have a new work 'definitive for its time' on the mysterious transition of Christianity from an object of persecution under Diocletian (303-305) to the official cult of the empire under Constantine (312), and finally to the banning of paganism under Theodosius (380). The culmination of close to 30 years' work, Simmons' chef d'oeuvre is all the more impressive in that he had to reconstruct the last, desperate counter-offensive by Porphyry almost entirely from fragments quoted by his enemies, the Christian apologists responding to his vitriolic charges - which were all the more serious and incisive in that Porphyry as a youth had studied under Origen in Caesarea and was most likely a former Christian himself. In short, unlike Celsus, he had 'insider information'. --Patrick Madigan, <em>The Heythrop Journal</em> Simmons demonstrates command of sources in Greek, Latin and Syriac...for those interested in Porphyry's response to Christianity, this will likely be the volume of choice for some considerable time. -- <em>The Classical Review</em>
We have a new work 'definitive for its time' on the mysterious transition of Christianity from an object of persecution under Diocletian (303-305) to the official cult of the empire under Constantine (312), and finally to the banning of paganism under Theodosius (380). The culmination of close to 30 years' work, Simmons' chef d'oeuvre is all the more impressive in that he had to reconstruct the last, desperate counter-offensive by Porphyry almost entirely from fragments quoted by his enemies, the Christian apologists responding to his vitriolic charges - which were all the more serious and incisive in that Porphyry as a youth had studied under Origen in Caesarea and was most likely a former Christian himself. In short, unlike Celsus, he had 'insider information'. --Patrick Madigan, The Heythrop Journal Simmons demonstrates command of sources in Greek, Latin and Syriac...for those interested in Porphyry's response to Christianity, this will likely be the volume of choice for some considerable time. -- The Classical Review
Author Information
Archbishop Michael Bland Simmons is Distinguished Research Professor, Department of History, Auburn University Montgomery and Archbishop, the Anglican Church of the Americas.
