Folia Theologica 19. (2008)
Perendy László: Judging Philosophers - Theophilus of Antioch on Hellenic inconsistency
JUDGING PHILOSOPHERS 213 "After saying that gods exist, once more they reduced them to nothing. For some said that they were composed of atoms, or on the other hand that they return to atoms [Diels, Dox. 589,8]; and they say that the power of the gods is no greater than that of men. Plato, who said that gods exist, wanted them to consist of matter. And Pythagoras, who went through such great labours over the gods and made his way up and down, finally defines their nature and says that everything was produced spontaneously [ibid., 589,9-10: Epicurus]; the gods do not take thought for men [ibid., 572,6: Epicurus]. Furthermore, Clitomachus the Academic philosopher introduced many arguments for atheism. And what of Critias, and Protagoras the Abderite who said: 'Whether or not there are gods, I cannot say anything about them or explain their nature; for there are many things that hinder me' [cf. Sext. Emp. Adv. Mat. ix. 56]? It would be pointless for us to speak of the theories of the most godless Euhemerus. For after venturing to make many statements about the gods he finally denied their existence entirely [ibid., ix. 53: Diagoras], and held that everything is governed by spontaneity. [...] And whatever the others, though practically a majority, said about God and providence, it is easy to see how they contradicted one another; for some absolutely rejected the existence of God and providence, while others gave proof of God and admitted that everything is governed by providence. [...] One must therefore pay attention and understand what is said, critically examining the remarks of philosophers and of poets as well." (Ill 7) The harsh judgements passed by Theophilus may seem strange for us. He obviously speaks about several schools of philosophy. Why should they share the same doctrines if they belong to various schools? But - as Arthur Darby Nock observes40 - in popular philosophy these differences were not so much accentuated (e.g. Seneca likes quoting Epicurus). For a man in the street these divergent opinions formed a part of the same - supposedly uniform - Weltanschauung, which accentuated its unity and superiority against Christianity. 40 A. D. Nock, Christianisme et hellénisme, Paris, 1973,125.
