Acknowledgements
The texts gathered in this volume investigate the ancient sources of cosmological developments at the end of antiquity and the particular relationship between philosophy and Christian theology in the first millennium. The strong interest throughout this period in Platonic cosmology and, at the same time, the renewed attention to the Aristotelian corpus as interpreted by the commentary tradition, had a powerful impact on the understanding and expression of Christian cosmology. The confluence of philosophy and theology in Byzantine writings is not just a matter of borrowing argumentative models; it always took place in two directions. As much as theological formulations were reflected in the history of philosophy, philosophical writings influenced theological debates. Aristotelian commentaries and Neoplatonic writings strongly and lastingly inspired late antique exegetical methods. We thus face textual sources that exist in a structural relationship with multiple traditions, Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Gnostic, and Patristic. The texts collected in this volume contribute substantially to this problematic, establishing the range of questions addressed and exploring the manner in which these texts should be approached.
While the Aristotelian commentaries provided a framework to Late Antique exegesis, they were never perceived as monolithic. Aristotelian and Platonic traditions were themselves subject to internal tensions, some of which find their expression in the distinctly Athenian and Alexandrian Neoplatonisms of the fifth and sixth centuries. These tensions produced a sense of erudite excitement in later readers, but more importantly, they sharpened issues by setting interpretative standards, being transmitted by Proclus, Simplicius or Philoponus to Maximus the Confessor, Anastasius of Sinai or Photius. Among the topics these authors analysed, we find the relationship of divine freedom and providence, the doctrine of substance and the universals as well as questions about time and divine causality.
The texts composing the present volume investigate the terms in which these questions were framed at the end of antiquity cross-examining the relationships between ritual practices, the importance of the exegetical tradition of Timaeus, the Aristotelian commentaries and Gnostic debates in late ancient cosmologies.
This volume owes everything to its authors. Many of them accompanied us from the beginning of the project, but some kindly agreed to add their contributions at a later stage. It is a privilege to thank them all for their confidence and patience over the years. We are grateful to Profs. George Boys-Stones and George van Kooten for accepting the book into their series. We would also like to thank Nathan Wallace and Jonathan Young for their editorial work on the manuscript, and the Brill editors, in particular Marjolein van Zuylen, for their interest in this volume and their constant encouragement of its preparation.
Ana Schiavoni-Palanciuc, Johannes Zachhuber
Paris/Oxford, January 2022