Sárospataki Füzetek 14. (2010)
2010 / 2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Kaiser, Christopher Barina: "Isten bölcsességének jelei" Comenius Panorthosia c. művében: egy bibliai téma a modern tudomány alapjaiban
Christopher kaiser The context would seem to indicate that these three points correspond to the three Books of God described in section 8. But how? The first two points clearly correspond to the first two books: the external, natural world; and the human Mind, guided by the internal light of reason. But what about the reference to the “marks of [God’s] Wisdom”? We would expect to find something here that is related to the third Book of God, God’s written word. The clue we are looking for is found in Comenius’s deliberate reference to the “marks of God’s Wisdom” as “numbers, weights, and measurements.” This is a reference to a (deutero-) canonical book of the Old Testament, called the “Wisdom of Solomon.” The deutero-canonical texts of the Bible are not so widely read today, particularly not in Protestant circles, but they were included in early Protestant Bibles (as well as the Vulgate) and were well known in the time of Co- menius. When God created the world, according to Wisdom 11:20, God “arranged all things by measure and number and weight.” These are the exact words that Co- menius states twice in our passage (although number is moved up to the first place in the sequence), so there can be no doubt as to the ultimate source of this text. But the Wisdom of Solomon uses the idea to explain God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. So how did Comenius come by his interpretation of Wisdom 11:20? The best way to answer the question of Comenius’s sources is to look backward at earlier citations of the text. Looking Backward: The Biblical and Patristic Tradition This use of Wisdom 11:20 did not come to Comenius directly from the Old Testament, however. Comenius benefited from a long, complex history of interpretation. The first place to look is the writings of Augustine of Hippo—the writer most frequendy cited by Comenius in the ConsultatioP Augustine frequentiy cited Wisdom 11:20 in order to uphold the rationality of God’s creation against its detractors (particularly Manicheans). Let us look at just one of his better known passages, found in the Civitas Dei (“The City of God”). In chapter XII, Augustine cited Wisdom 11 in association with Plato’s account of creation in the Timaeus-. Plato emphasizes that God constructed the world by the use of numbers, while we [Christians] have the authority of Scripture where God is thus addressed, “You have set in order all things by measure, number, and weight”13 14 13 According to Dobbie, “Translator’s Preface” to John Amos Comenius: Panorthosiaf 21, the four most frequently cited are Augustine, (Francis) Bacon, Campanella, and Plato, in that order. 14 Augustine, City of God XII.19; ed. David Knowles (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1967), 496. Augustine appears to be arguing against the followers of Origen here; cf. Kaiser, Creational Theology, 25n.54. 26 Sárospataki füzetek
