Religion and Identity in Porphyry of Tyre
The Limits of Hellenism in Late Antiquity

Examines Porphyry of Tyre's critical engagement with Hellenism in late antiquity, emphasizing philosophical translation as the key to his thought.

Aaron P. Johnson (Author)

9781107012738, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 March 2013

386 pages, 1 table
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.74 kg

'This is a fine work … It will be useful for students of Hellenistic philosophy … Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.' P. W. Wakefield, Choice

Porphyry, a native of Phoenicia educated in Athens and Rome during the third century AD, was one of the most important Platonic philosophers of his age. In this book, Professor Johnson rejects the prevailing modern approach to his thought, which has posited an early stage dominated by 'Oriental' superstition and irrationality followed by a second rationalizing or Hellenizing phase consequent upon his move west and exposure to Neoplatonism. Based on a careful treatment of all the relevant remains of Porphyry's originally vast corpus (much of which now survives only in fragments), he argues for a complex unity of thought in terms of philosophical translation. The book explores this philosopher's critical engagement with the processes of Hellenism in late antiquity. It provides the first comprehensive examination of all the strands of Porphyry's thought that lie at the intersection of religion, theology, ethnicity and culture.

1. At the limits of Hellenism: an introduction
Part I. A World Full of Gods: Porphyry the Theologian: 2. Porphyry's taxonomy of the divine
3. Salvation, translation, and the limits of cult
4. The master reader: contexts of translation
Part II. A World Full of Nations: Porphyry the Ethnographer: 5. Knowledge and nations: Porphyry's ethnic argumentation
6. Ethnic particularism and the limits of Hellenism
7. The way home: transcending particularism
Epilogue: translation after Porphyry.

Subject Areas: Theology [HRLB], Church history [HRCC2], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]