Long Platonism

The impact of Platonism in shaping all Abrahamic traditions is yet to be fully explored. The papers in this volume examine the influence of Plato and his commentators in the conception and articulation of theological issues in late antique and medieval Christianity, but also in Islamic and Jewish traditions. The contributions are arranged chronologically and address key authors and themes in the reception of Platonic thought from the third to the sixteenth century. Neoplatonic debates on the Demiurgic Intellect (Gerson, Benedetto), imagination (Corrigan), and contemplation (Astorino, Anagnostou-Laoutides and Woo) informed Christian ideas about our ability to grasp God. Gregory of Nyssa played a key role in the reception of Platonic ideas about the nature of God in Christian and Jewish thinkers (Ramelli, Goren, Işik), while Neoplatonic schools and philosophers like Hermias and Philoponus, trained both commentators and theologians (Seferoglu, Cervato, Kakavelaki). Plotinus and Proclus offer examples of the uneasy and even polemical reception of Neoplatonic concepts both in eastern and western Christianity (Hannan, Vasilakis, Kiosoglou, and Alexidze). The importance of Platonic themes in Islamic thought and Jewish mysticism are explored in two groundbreaking readings of the Quran and John Damascene (Holbrook, Adrahtas). Plato’s reception by Eriugena (Mainoldi), Dante (Stockdale), and Thomas Aquinas is also revisited (Boland, Anzalone, Ventimiglia). Finally, the editors explore the concept of the Platonic city in Medieval Islamic culture and Christian Florence (Steiris, Anagnostou-Laoutides). Our volume is a holistic examination of themes (which often intersect) across authors, times, and places which is bound to make it a reference work for years to come across several disciplines.