Physicalist soteriology in Hilary of Poitiers / by Ellen Scully.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scully, Ellen, author.

Series:

Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae ; v. 130.

Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hilary, Saint, Bishop of Poitiers, -367?.

Hilary.

Salvation--Christianity--History of doctrines--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Salvation.

Salvation--Christianity--History of doctrines.

Salvation--Christianity--History of doctrines--Early church.

Incarnation--History of doctrines--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Incarnation.

Incarnation--History of doctrines.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

x, 299 pages; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2015]

Summary:

In Physicalist Soteriology in Hilary of Poitiers, Ellen, Scully presents Hilary as a representative of the 'mystical' or 'physical' trajectory of patristic soteriology most often associated with the Greek fathers. Scully shows that Hilary's physicalism is unique, both in its Latin non-Platonic provenance and its conceptual foundation, namely that the incarnation has salvific effects for all humanity because Christ's body contains every human individual. Hilary's soteriological conviction that all humans are present in Christ's body has theological ramifications that expand beyond soteriology to include Christology, eschatology, ecclesiology, and Trinitarian theology. In detailing these ramifications, Scully illumines the pervasive centrality of physicalism in Hilary's theology while connecting standard soteriological presentations of physicalism as an exclusively Greek phenomenon. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Hilary a Latin Non-Platonic Physicalist

1 Revising the Lens through which Hilary is Read 11

The Scholarly Controversy Surrounding Physicalism in Hilary 11

The Waxing and Waning of Hamack's Influence on Hilary Scholarship 14

Excursus: Poor Scholarship has Fueled the Fire 18

Incorrect Reading of Erasmus Sets the Stage 18

Misinterpretations and Inaccuracies Regarding the Critique of Hamack and the German Liberal Protestants of the Nineteenth Century 21

The Dominant Paradigm of Accepting Hilary's Physicalism Lacks an Argued Rationale for Its Rejection of Harnack 23

2 Hilary's Use of Language and Rhetoric 25

What Does Hilary Mean by the Assumption of All Humanity? 26

Hilary's Use of Non-Metaphorical Rhetoric to Speak of Christ's Assumption of All Humanity 29

Case Study: Hilary vs. Tertullian 37

Does Hilary's Insistence on "Physicality" Make the Assumption of All Humanity Impossible? 40

Conclusion 42

3 The Context of, and Influences upon, Hilary's Soteriology 43

Hilary's Appropriation of Greek Philosophy 44

Prior to His Exile 44

After His Exile 51

Hilary's Relationship with Greek Theology 52

Irenaeus and Athanasius 52

Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea 54

Stoic Contributions to Hilary's Soteriology 62

The Stoic Conception of Human Unity 63

Stoic Anthropology and Psychology 70

The Complementarity of Body and Soul 70

Pain vs. Suffering 71

Stoic Physics and Mixture Theory 73

The Transmission of Plato's Theory of the Forms via Latin Stoicism 79

Latin Theological Context for Hilary's Physicalist Model of Redemption 83

Conclusion 90

4 Proof of Hilary's Physicalism 92

Problems of Terminology 94

The Definition of Physicalism 95

The Physicalist Model in the In Matthaeum: Refutation of Platonic Influence 100

The Physicalist Model in the Tractatus super Psalmos 105

Latin Atonement Theory? The Importance of the Suffering and Death of Christ in Hilary's Redemption Model 107

Conclusion 115

Part 2 The Ramifications of Physicalism on Hilary's Theological System

5 Christological Ramifications: Sublimation of Christology into Soteriology 119

"Christology" as a Double Category 121

Hilary's Three-Stage Christology in the Framework of Philippians 2:6-11 124

Hilary's Use o/Forma to Mean Both Nature and Condition 128

Stage 1 The Son of the Father 130

Stage 2 The Incarnate Christ's Reception of All Humanity 130

Stage 3 The Glorification of Christ and All Humanity in Him 132

Conclusion 134

6 The Assumption of All Humanity as Definitive of Hilary's Physicalist Soteriology 135

The Prerequisite: The Anterior Unity of Humanity 136

The Pauline Adam-Christ Parallel 138

Birth from a Virgin 145

The Conditional Universality of Salvation: Given to All but Rejected by Many 147

Christ the Mediator and the Double Creation of Man 154

Conclusion 163

7 Eschatological Ramifications: Eternal Life in Christ 165

Hilary's Use of Adsumere Manifests the Connection between Soteriology and Eschatology 165

The Contours of Hilary's Eschatology 166

Christ's Inheritance 173

1 Corinthians 15:21-28 as the Scriptural Frame for Hilary's Eschatology 174

The Eternal Priesthood of Christ 179

The Resurrection of the Body: From Corruption to Incorruption 180

Salvation is of Both Body and Soul 183

The Heavenly City of Jerusalem: The Celestial Zion 186

Heaven and the Divine Indwelling 189

Conclusion 191

8 Ecclesiological Ramifications: The Church is the Body of Christ 193

The Development of Hilary's Ecclesiology and Its Dependence on the Assumption of All Humanity 193

The Relationship of Soteriology and Ecclesiology in the In Matthaeum 195

Ecclesial Images in the In Matthaeum 196

The Younger Supplants the Elder in the Tractatus super Psalmos: The Universality of the Church 200

The Creation of Eve as Prefigurement of the Church in the Tractatus mysteriorum and the Tractatus super Psalmos 203

The Church as Body of Christ in the Tractatus super Psalmos 207

The Expansion of Hilary's Christocentric Soteriology to Include the Holy Spirit 215

Conclusion 220

9 Hilary's Patercentric Theology: The Relationship between Physicalism and Trinitarian Theology 222

Hilary's Trinitarian Vocabulary: Persona, Nomen, and Natura 226

The Place of the Holy Spirit in Hilary's Trinitarian Theology 237

The Eternal Relationship of the Father and the Son in the De Trinitate and the Tractatus super Psalmos 239

The Temporal Mediation of the Son 249

The Implications of the Assumption of All Humanity in Hilary's Trinitarian Theology: Seeing God 256

Hilary's Patercentric Theology 262

Conclusion 267.

Notes:

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Marquette University, 2011.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [279]-293) and index.

ISBN:

9789004290204

9004290206

OCLC:

904036819