Anaxagoras:

see Chapter IX, page 311 and above page 386, 392

 

Democritus:

see Chapter V page 177 Chapter IV page 119 Chapter IX, page 311 and above page 385, 392

 

Pascal:

see Chapter I page 42

 

Jansenist:

member of a Catholic theological movement in France, emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace & predestination.  The centre of the movement was Port-Royal-des-Champs Abbey, a haven for many writers (including du Vergier, Arnauld, Pierre Nicole, Pascal & Racine).  Inspired by the posthumous published work of the Dutch theologian Jansen (1585-1638), popularized by Abbot Jean du Vergier de Hauranne; after the latter’s death (1643) it was led by Antoine Arnauld.  Through the 17th century it was a distinct movement away from the Catholic Church.  Papal & French intervention led to it being crushed early 18th century

 

θεωρία:

Greek, being a spectator at the theatre or games, viewing, beholding- to go abroad to see the world, of the mind, contemplation, consideration, theory or speculation

 

Pythagoras (knows God):

(570-495 BC), Ionian Greek philosopher, famous for his mathematical (the Pythagorean theorem) & scientific discoveries.  Religion ran deep in him, mathematics had great mystical meaning: specific numbers were imbued with mystical properties.  All things were made of numbers & each had special significance: 1 (the monad) represented the origin of all things, 2 (the dyad) represented matter, 3 was an "ideal number" with a beginning, middle & end.  Many of his discoveries were devoid of practical application.  Pythagoras's main doctrines appears to have been metempsychosis, the belief that all souls are immortal, after death, a soul is transferred into a new body.  When he travelled to Delos, Sparta, Phlius, Crete, he appears as a priest or lawgiver.  More monastery then school, adherents to the organization he founded at Croton were sworn to secrecy & bound by a vow to Pythagoras & each other, for the purpose of pursuing the religious observances, studying his religious and philosophical theories; they also practised dietary regulations & lived a communal, ascetic lifestyle.

 

Plato (knows God):

Plato learned much from the Pythagorean; both believed in metempsychosis (transmigration of the soul) & were influenced by Orphism.  Plato believed in the immortality of the soul; several of his dialogues end with long speeches imagining the afterlife.  He introduced the concept of the demiurge (in Timaeus); being perfectly good it wishes to communicate its own goodness. Using the Forms as a model, it shapes the initial chaos into the visible world, the best possible image of these eternal and immutable archetypes.  It is the highest god & best of causes YET limited, not the ultimate, since his ontological and axiological status is lower than that of the Forms, especially the Form of the Good.

 

Pascal( knows God):

(1623-1662) famous as a scientist & mathematic in 1654 Pascal had an intense religious experience & immediately wrote a brief note which began: "Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars..." and concluded by quoting Psalm 119:16: "I will not forget thy word. Amen."  He kept this note with him for the rest of his life.  His religious commitment revitalized, he went on a 2 week retreat to Port-Royal 1655 & for the next 4 years regularly travelled between Port-Royal & Paris.  Immediately after his conversion when he began writing his first major literary work on religion, the Provincial Letters, a series of 18 letters.  Using a pseudonym he had them published 1566-67; they were an attack on casuistry (a popular ethical method used by Catholics & especially the Jesuits).  This earned the anger of Louis XIV & hurt the Jansenist cause in France.  Pascal never recanted & refused to back down even against Pope Alexander VII.

 

Leibniz (knows God):

(1646-1716), a rationalist famous for his discovery of Calculus; held reason in his esteem & believed all knowledge was based on logic. He believed in the God of Christianity & worked to reconcile reason and faith; truths of theology (religion) and philosophy cannot contradict each other, since reason and faith are both "gifts of God". In 1709 he attempted to improve the ontological argument for God; in 1710 His Theodicy, or “Vindication of the Justice of God“, attempted to justify the existence of God with the existence of evil.  His claim that the actual world is the best of all possible worlds is the central argument here. His philosophy assimilates elements of the scholastic tradition, notably that conclusions are produced by applying reason to first principles or prior definitions rather than to empirical evidence.

 

Terentius Varro:

(116–27 BC), a Roman scholar & author, his chief work was Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Antiquities of Human and Divine Things) written in the 50s or 40s BC & based on Stoic sources.  Although lost, it was extensively quoted (in particular by Augustine) allowing partial reconstruction; divided into 41 books, the first 25 deal with Res humanae ("human affairs"), the remaining 16 with Res divinae ("divine affairs"). The latter were an account of the cultural & institutional history of Rome and the Roman religion.  Here Varro introduced the division of divinity into 3: mythical theology, natural theology & civil theology.  Books 1–4 were dedicated to priesthood, 5–7 to cult sites, 8–10 to the religious calendar of festivals, 11–13 to rituals and 14–16 to the gods, especially discussing the etymology of their names.

 

theologia civilis: * see EndNote<A>

Latin, meaning the sum of officially-recognized belief, a concept from Varro’s Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum; theologians of civil or political theology are administrators, defining how the gods relate to daily life and the state..

 

theologia mythica: * see EndNote<A>

Latin, meaning the imagination-world of poets and artists, from Varro; mythical theology is practiced by story-tellers, especially poets, based on narratives pertaining to divine matters.  Divine revelation was claimed or implied by some.  Varro labels "mythical theology" as popular superstition & complained that the pure veneration of the divine had been spoiled by the influence of the poets.

 

theologia physica: * see EndNote <A>

Latin, meaning philosophical speculation, taken from Varro; theologians of natural theology are philosophers, inquiring into the nature of the gods, as evidenced by nature and reason.