MICHAEL PSELLUS ON PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY

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dc.coverageSTUDIA UBB THEOL. ORTH., Volume 66 (LXVI), No. 1, June 2021, pp. 81-100, DOI: 10.24193/subbto.2021.1.03en-US
dc.creatorEDWARDS, Mark
dc.date2021-06-30
dc.date.accessioned2026-02-21T23:33:37Z
dc.descriptionThis paper explores the use of the terms theologia and philosophia in the philosophic opuscula of Michael Psellus, especially those which are dedicated to the Chaldaean Oracles. It begins with a review of previous pagan and Christian usage, the conclusion of which is that Christians rejected the pagan distinction between theologoi, as inspired conduits of divine truth, from philosophers who interpreted such revelations under the rubric of theologia. For Christians Greek theologoi were mere purveyors of myth; theologia was not a branch of philosophy but the exposition of truths revealed in scripture. Since the revealers were already theologians, and the interpreters were theologoi in their own right, the terms became synonymous when applied to Christian practice. Psellus is on the whole faithful to this tradition, reserving the term theologia for Christian teaching in contrast to philosophy, except in one passage that speaks of the "philosophy and theology" of the Chaldaeans. The purpose of this phrase, in which the latter term seems to be epexegetic to the former, is to intimate that even the best theology of the pagans, being ignorant of the biblical revelation, can rise no higher than philosophy.en-US
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierhttps://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbtheologiaorthodoxa/article/view/970
dc.identifier10.24193/subbto.2021.1.03
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14637/3205
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherBabeș-Bolyai University / Cluj University Pressen-US
dc.relationhttps://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbtheologiaorthodoxa/article/view/970/933
dc.rightsCopyright (c) 2021 Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxaen-US
dc.rightshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0en-US
dc.sourceStudia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa; Volume 66, No. 1, June 2021; 81-100en-US
dc.source2065-9474
dc.source1224-0869
dc.source10.24193/subbto.2021.1
dc.subjectChaldaean Oracles, Opuscula, philosophy, theology, revelationen-US
dc.titleMICHAEL PSELLUS ON PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGYen-US
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.typePeer-reviewed Articleen-US
dc.typetexten-US

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