This groundbreaking monograph on Bardaisan, his relation to Origen, and his Middle Platonic framework has argued, through a painstaking analysis of all evidence, that Bardaisan was a Christian Middle Platonist, a philosophical theologian who built a Logos Christology, possibly the first supporter of apokatastasis, and there is a close relation between Origen, Bardaisan, their thought, and their traditions [further proofs in an edition with essays: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming]. This monograph (and …
Read moreThis groundbreaking monograph on Bardaisan, his relation to Origen, and his Middle Platonic framework has argued, through a painstaking analysis of all evidence, that Bardaisan was a Christian Middle Platonist, a philosophical theologian who built a Logos Christology, possibly the first supporter of apokatastasis, and there is a close relation between Origen, Bardaisan, their thought, and their traditions [further proofs in an edition with essays: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming]. This monograph (and a related HTR essay) was received far beyond the field of patristics, among others by P. Crone (Princeton IAS).
* Dedication Page (page 5)
* Table of Contents (page 7)
* Preface (page 11)
* 1 By way of Introductory Essay: Methodological Guidelines (page 17)
* 2 Critical and Comparative Analysis of the Sources (page 45)
o 1 The Very First Possible Witness: Clement (page 45)
o 2 Two Early Witnesses Close to Origen and Very Appreciative of Bardaisan: Africanus and Didymus (page 46)
+ 2.1 Julius Africanus’ Acquaintance with both Bardaisan and Origen (page 46)
+ 2.2 The Origenian Didymus the Blind: The Most Appreciative Source on Bardaisan (page 56)
o 3 Hippolytus (page 62)
o 4 The Liber Legum Regionum (page 70)
o 5 Porphyry and the Utmost Importance of His Fragments from Bardaisan: The Cosmic Christ, Middle Platonism, and a Christian Reading of the Timaeus (page 107)
+ 5.1 The Fragments from Bardaisan’s De India in Porphyry’s De Styge (page 107)
+ 5.2 Bardaisan’s Work in Porphyry’s De Abstinentia (page 124)
o 6 Achilles Tatius and the Knowledge of Bardaisan in Late-Second-Century Alexandria (page 126)
o 7 The Acts of Thomas (page 127)
o 8 A Very Positive Witness: the Origenian Eusebius (page 131)
o 9 The Origenian Gregory of Nyssa and His Own Work Against Fate (page 138)
o 10 Diodore of Tarsus and His Closeness to Origens Eschatology and Refutation of Fate (page 142)
o 11 Bardaisan’s Fight Against Marcionism (page 161)
o 12 Jerome’s Parallel Turn: From Admirer to Criticizer of both Origen and Bardaisan (page 164)
o 13 The Dialogue of Adamantius and the Portrait of a Bardaisanite (page 168)
o 14 Ephrem between Documentation and Misunderstandings (page 172)
o 15 Transition: The Transformation and Worsening of Bardaisan’s Image (page 254)
o 16 Epiphanius’ Information: A ‘Mixed Bag’ (page 255)
o 17 Two Heresiological Accounts Deriving from Epiphanius’ (page 261)
o 18 Sozomen (page 262)
o 19 Theodoret’s Account (page 266)
o 20 Interesting Clues in a Very Appreciative Armenian Witness: Moses of Chorene (page 269)
o 21 Philoxenus of Mabbug, an Anonymous, Isho’dad, and the Assimilation of Bardaisan to Valentinus or Mani (page 303)
o 22 Rabbula and Theodoret (page 307)
o 23 Appreciation of Bardaisan in a Local Source: the Chronicon of Edessa (page 312)
o 24 The So-Called Cosmological Traditions: Importance and Methodological Guidelines. Barhadbshabba ‘Arbaya, Plus Comparisons with (Ps.) Maruta and Jacob of Edessa (page 314)
o 25 Theodore Bar Konai (page 328)
o 26 Theodore Abû Qurra (page 338)
o 27 Moses Bar Kepha (page 339)
o 28 (Ps.) John of Dara (page 347)
o 29 Agapius and the So-Called Third Cosmological Tradition (page 352)
o 30 Michael the Syrian’s Cosmological Testimony (page 353)
o 31 Barhebraeus’ Cosmological Account (page 354)
o 32 Mutaman ad-Dawla (page 355)
o 33 From the “Cosmological Traditions'' to Other Doxographies and the Biographical Accounts. Masudi’s Biographical Information (page 355)
o 34 The Fihrist and Arabic Sources on Bardaisan’s Anti-Dualism (page 358)
o 35 Michael the Syrian’s Biographical Account (page 366)
o 36 Barhebraeus (page 374)
o 3 Conclusions and Contribution to Research (page 379)
o Essential Bibliographical References on Bardaisan (page 381)
o Index (page 389)
