Folia Theologica 18. (2007)
László Perendy: The Outlines of Systematic Theology in the Ad Autolycum of Theophilus of Antioch
THE OUTLINES OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY 175 think it goes without saying that Theophilus categorically denied the coeternity with God of any being, which was also observed already by Otto Gross.22 As to the relationship between God and the world, Arno Pommrich observes that in Theophilus' mind God not only created the world, but he also constantly gives life to the universe and everything is governed by divine providence.23 As the world bears the traces of God's hands, Theophilus follows St. Paul's steps when saying that God can be recognized through his works. As to his ideas about the Trinity (he is the first Christian author to use the word Tpidç), we can observe the great importance he attaches to the role of the Logos in creation. R. M. Grant says that Theophilus identifies the Logos with the dpxrj of Gn 1: 1. It is obvious from the quotations above that the Logos had a crucial role in creation. It is momentous that Theophilus distinguishes between two states of the Logos. But what is the relationship between Logos and God's Sophia, who also helped God in creation? Already Georg Kretschmar noticed that Theophilus distinguishes between the Pneuma and the Logos.24 The terms Logos and Sophia characterize only God's activities and not his essence. I think Nicole Zeegers-Vander Vorst points out most clearly what kind of role this enigmatic Sophia has in Theophilus' system. She says that Theophilus associates the Sophia with the function of the Logos in the event of creation, and he describes the Pneuma as the life-giving principle of the world. She also says that when talking about the Logos and the Sophia, Theophilus is thinking in a triadic formula. The Logos has also another function: he is the connecting link between creation and redemption.25 If we try to find references to various elements of other branches of theology, we must admit that we cannot find many of them to 22 O. GROSS, Die Weltentstehungs-Lehre des Theophilus v. Antioch, Jena, 1895, 7-8. 23 A. POMMRICH, Des Apologeten Theophilus von Antiochia Gottes- und Logoslehre, Leipzig, 1904, 10. 24 G. KRETSCHMAR, Studien zur frühchristlichen Trinitätstheologie (Beiträge zur historischen Theologie, 20), Tübingen 1956, 29. 25 N. ZEEGERS-VANDER VORST, Théophile d’Antioche, in Dictionnaire de spiritualité 15, Paris, 1990, 530-542, 536.
