Numenius of Apamea
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Numenius of Apamea was a Greek philosopher, who lived in Apamea in Syria and flourished during the latter half of the second century AD He was a Neo-Pythagorean and forerunner of the Neo-Platonists.
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[edit] Philosophy
He seems to have taken Pythagoras as his highest authority, while at the same time he chiefly follows Plato. He calls the latter an "Atticizing Moses." In which he comparatively states that Plato was the Hellenic Moses (see Treatise of the Good First book, Practical Questions 13 Plato as a Greek Moses). However the factuality of this statement is disputed since the quote comes from the Church Fathers who had motive to connect Greek and Biblical wisdom; this would justify the superiority of Christianity over Hellenism because Moses predates Plato - thus the original source of this wisdom is the root of Christianity and not Hellenistic culture.[1] His chief divergence from Plato is the distinction between the "first god" and the "demiurge." This is probably due to the influence of Jewish-Alexandrian philosophers (especially Philo and his theory of the Logos). According to Proclus (Comment. in Timaeum, 93), Numenius held that there was a kind of trinity of gods, the members of which he designated as "father," "maker," and "that which is made," i.e. the world. The first is the supreme deity or pure intelligence, the second the creator of the world, the third the world. Numenius also claimed that the gods of the Creator and Creation were actually one.[2] His works were highly esteemed by the Neoplatonists, and Plotinus' student Amelius (who was critical of gnosticism see Neoplatonism and Gnosticism)[3] is said to have composed nearly two books of commentaries upon them. Though not completely inline with Judeo-Christian teaching Numenius wrote of the human body as a prison of the soul. [4] Numenius according to Professor Michael Wagner showed gnostic tendencies in viewing matter as coeval with God.[5]
[edit] Interpretation of Genesis
Much of Numenius’s interpretation of Genesis I:2 is drawn from the philosophy of Plato’s forms. Numenius also draws much from Plato’s Timaeus which presents a story of a great creator called the Demiurge who created everything in the likeness of Platonic Forms.[6] However, Numenius’s interpretation can cause some confusion because according to Genesis, God creates everything and before that moment it did not exist. It is unclear where exactly Numenius stands with this part of Genesis. In the Timaeus, Plato includes in the story that creation had a beginning in time. Numenius may have tried answering this by proposing that the cosmos cycle through destruction and creation. While it is difficult to determine how Numenius would account for these discrepancies, it is possible that he would consider the original creation of the cosmos the beginning of such cycles.[7]
[edit] Works
Fragments of his treatises on the points of divergence between the Academicians and Plato, on the Good (in which according to Origen, Contra Celsum, iv. 51, he makes allusion to Jesus Christ), and on the mystical sayings in Plato, are preserved in the Praeparatio Evangelica of Eusebius. The fragments are collected in F. G. Mullach, Frag. Phil. Gram. iii.; see also F. Thedinga, De Numenio philosopho Platonico (Bonn, 1875); Ritter and Preller, Hist. Phil. Graecae (ed. E. Wellmann, 1898), 624-7; T. Whittaker, The Neo-Platonists (1901), E.-A. Leemans, Studie over den Wijsgeer Numenius van Apamea met Uitgave der Fragmenten, Brussels 1937, and E. Des Places, Numénius, Fragments, Collection Budé, Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1973.
[edit] Sources
'Numenius', 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica [1] This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ God the Creator, God the Creation: Numenius' Interpretation of Genesis 1:2 (frg. 30) by Robbert M. Van Den Berg
- ^ God the Creator, God the Creation: Numenius' Interpretation of Genesis 1:2 (frg. 30) by Robbert M. Van Den Berg
- ^ Professor John D Turner considers Plotinus, Porphyry, and Amelius all to be Neoplatonic philosophers who were critical of Gnosticism. Professor Turner is quoted "In the late third century, Sethianism also became estranged from orthodox (Neo)Platonism under the impetus of attacks and refutations from the circle of Plotinus and other Neoplatonists which were just as effective as those of the Christian heresiologists. At this time, whatever Sethianism was left became increasingly fragmented into various derivative and other sectarian gnostic groups such as the Archontics, Audians, Borborites, Phibionites and others, some of which survived into the Middle Ages."
- ^ Book three the Initiate (or the Hoopoe, the bird of prognostication) pg 43 The soul is retained in the body as in a Prison , by the impulsive passion.The Neoplatonic Writings of Numenius Translated by Kenneth Guthrie Selene Books ISDN 0-933601-03-4
- ^ Introduction to the writing of Numenius by Michael Wagner The Neoplatonic Writings of Numenius Translated by Kenneth Guthrie Selene Books ISDN 0-933601-03-4
- ^ God the Creator, God the Creation: Numenius' Interpretation of Genesis 1:2 (frg. 30) by Robbert M. Van Den Berg
- ^ God the Creator, God the Creation: Numenius' Interpretation of Genesis 1:2 (frg. 30) by Robbert M. Van Den Berg
[edit] Bibliography
- The Neoplatonic Writings of Numenius Translated by Kenneth Guthrie Selene Books ISDN 0-933601-03-4
[edit] External links
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