عنوان

Greco-Roman Ethical-Philosophical Influences in Bardaisan's "Book of the Laws of Countries"

Number

LA129101

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Greco-Roman Ethical-Philosophical Influences in Bardaisan's "Book of the Laws of Countries"

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Paul Robertson

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

Bardaisan of Edessa's Book of the Laws of Countries contains many elements of Greco-Roman ethical philosophy, ranging from loose allusions to fairly clear instances of direct borrowing. The influences from Greco-Roman philosophy are diverse, including Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, and the nebulously-defined "Middle Platonic" material that drew and innovated from both Platonic and Stoic sources. Specifically, we see in Laws several ethical concepts derived from Greco-Roman philosophy: the ideal human attitude to external forces, particularly the evils of society; the link between divinity, inner moral character, and proper ethics; the innate goodness of human character that can be improved and perfected based on an ideal of nature; and (closely aligned with the first concept) an understanding that moral virtue is determined by one's individual, free will decisions, implying an innate valuation of the internal at the expense of the external. Bardaisan of Edessa's Book of the Laws of Countries contains many elements of Greco-Roman ethical philosophy, ranging from loose allusions to fairly clear instances of direct borrowing. The influences from Greco-Roman philosophy are diverse, including Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, and the nebulously-defined "Middle Platonic" material that drew and innovated from both Platonic and Stoic sources. Specifically, we see in Laws several ethical concepts derived from Greco-Roman philosophy: the ideal human attitude to external forces, particularly the evils of society; the link between divinity, inner moral character, and proper ethics; the innate goodness of human character that can be improved and perfected based on an ideal of nature; and (closely aligned with the first concept) an understanding that moral virtue is determined by one's individual, free will decisions, implying an innate valuation of the internal at the expense of the external.

Date of Publication

2017

Physical description

511-540

Title

Vigiliae Christianae

Volume Number

71/5

International Standard Serial Number

1570-0720

Subject Term

Bardaisan of Edessa

Subject Term

Book of the Laws of Countries

Subject Term

Early Syriac Christianity

Subject Term

Greco-Roman ethics

Subject Term

Greco-Roman philosophy in the Near East in Late Antiquity

Paul Robertson

Call Number

10.1163/15700720-12341319

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y