Peter P. Moschovis and Spyridon Rangos, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
This paper examines the contributions to theories of creation of three important Platonist thinkers during late antiquity--Philo, a Hellenistic Jew; Plotinus, arguably the last great Greek philosopher; and Augustine, a Latin Christian father. For these writers and their contemporaries, the creation of the universe was of prime philosophical concern, for it provides a foundation for understanding humans and their place in the created order.
In asking questions of their predecessors' theories and examining the philosophical implications of the revelations of Christianity, each of these men viewed his work as a continuation of the truth-seeking enterprise begun by the philosophers of the classical period. Yet despite their tradition-centered approach, important tensions emerged, initially between Jewish orthodoxy and pagan cosmology. Early Christian thinkers added a third perspective to the discussion; and as the church grew in the Greco-Roman world, it was forced to develop a coherent theory of creation.
This attempt to articulate Jewish, pagan, and Christian cosmologies in light of the Platonic tradition led to an unprecedented wave of philosophical activity in the first three centuries AD. Neoplatonism, with its twin motions of progression and regression, shows God as both the First Cause of the universe, something that was obvious to Jews and Christians reading the Genesis account; and, because of his supremely good nature, the Final Cause of all that has being. Drawing from the strengths of Plato, Aristotle, and the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, theories that emerged from this period produced a powerful ideological blend that continues to shape modern discussions of creation.