Chapter 4, "Christianity's Assimilation of Greek Cosmology," comprehensively details how early

Christian thought, particularly during the Patristic period and in the formulation of the Nicene
Creed and New Testament interpretations, integrated elements of Greek philosophical
cosmologies while maintaining its distinct theological principles. This assimilation resulted in a
complex harmonization of Hebrew monotheism and Greek philosophical ideas about the
universe.

Patristic Period: Initial Engagement and Subsequent Critiques

During the Patristic period, the early Church initially welcomed the study of nature's basic
structures, viewing the natural world as revealing "traces of the Creator" (vestigia Dei) and
affirming the inherent goodness of creation, especially in contrast to the pessimistic materialism
of Gnosticism. This led to the concept of "two books of theology": the "book of revelation"
(Scripture) and the "book of nature," both offering pathways to understanding God.

Greek cosmology became a vehicle for this understanding. The term "logos," for example,
proved particularly useful, as it referred to the creative Word of God in Jewish wisdom literature
and the all-organizing immanent principle in Stoic Greek thought. Early Christian theologians
like Justin and Clement of Alexandria readily juxtaposed accounts from Genesis and Plato's
Timaeus, admiring the Creator's power to bring order out of chaos in both.

However, this openness was not absolute. A critical stance emerged when some Hellenistic
intellectuals, studying the universe's structures, refused to embrace Christian faith. Christian
apologists then began to challenge core aspects of Greek cosmology:

 Plato's eternal matter: Theophilus of Antioch, in the 2nd century, forcefully refuted
Plato's notion that matter was co-eternal with God. Christian thought insisted on God's
omnipotence and the concept of "creation out of nothing" (creatio ex nihilo), asserting
that God brought all things into existence from a prior non-existence.
 Aristotle's cosmic intelligences: Aristotle's postulation of 55 auxiliary cosmic
intelligences, which moved their respective planetary spheres by seductive lure (as
objects of love), was seen as problematic. This system risked reducing God to a world-
immanent principle of motion rather than a transcendent, personal Creator deeply
concerned with humanity.
 St. Ambrose's protest: St. Ambrose vigorously rejected both Platonic and Aristotelian
principles that posited uncreated principles or eternal matter, seeing them as undermining
God's omnipotence and leading to idolatry by conferring divine honors on creation itself.
He highlighted Moses' Genesis account of God creating heaven and earth "in the
beginning" as a direct counter-narrative.

Despite these early critiques, Christian theology eventually found ways to "inculturate" itself into
the intellectual climate of Greek cosmology, particularly through the synthesis of Plato and
Aristotle developed by Plotinus.
Plotinus and Neoplatonic Emanation

Plotinus (205–270 CE) elaborated a system of emanation that greatly influenced Christian
thought. In his Enneads, the One (to Hen) is the unique, transcendent, and ineffable Cause that
generates all things through a hierarchical outflow. This process involves:

1. Nous (Cosmic Intellect): The first emanation from the One, the seat of the realm of
eternal ideas. The Nous turns back to the One in delight, approaching it as an "object of
knowledge".
2. World Soul (Psyche): The second emanation, emerging through the mediation of Nous.
The World Soul's role is to animate the body of the cosmos, empowering it to receive the
imprint of intelligible forms.

Crucially, Plotinian emanation suggests a "diminishment by degrees" in lower levels, but also
an "unbroken empowerment" from the One. This process includes a natural movement of
"ecstatic return" (reditus) to the Origin, fostering a sense of assurance and participation in the
divine creative power.

While Christian theologians like Origen utilized emanation to explain the relations within the
Trinity, they typically maintained that the material world was created ex nihilo, rather than being
an eternal emanation from God, thus distinguishing it from Plotinus's system. Origen, for
instance, associated the Son (Logos/Wisdom) with the realm of ideas and the World Soul, but
was criticized for subordinating the Son to the Father, reflecting the Plotinian idea that what is
generated is "less than Itself".

The Nicene Creed: Christ as Logos and Mediator in Creation

The Nicene Creed (specifically the longer version from Nicaea-Constantinople in 381)
represents a significant point of assimilation. It restricts the process of emanation to the internal
relations of the Trinity: the Son is "eternally begotten of the Father" and "of one being with the
Father" (homoousion tooi patri), and the Spirit proceeds "from the Father through the Son". This
language of "begotten, not made" clearly points to an emanation in the Plotinian style,
distinguishing the Son's divine generation from the temporal creation of finite entities.

Regarding the creation of the world, the Creed states that the "Father, the Almighty," created the
world "out of nothing" through the mediation of the Son (di’hou ta panta egeneto). This
"through him" formula highlights the Son's mediating role in divine creative activity. While
challenging to visualize in an astrophysical context today, the bishops at Nicaea, familiar with
Greek cosmology, likely identified the Son (the Logos) with Platonic Ideas or the Stoic logos
as the world-immanent ordering principle. They understood the Logos as the divine instrument
or pattern through which the Father structured the universe, similar to how Plato's Demiurge
used eternal ideas to order chaotic matter, or how the Stoic logos organized the world from
within.

Modern theologians like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin have re-imagined Christ's cosmic role in an
evolutionary perspective, seeing him as the Omega Point—the ultimate lure and culmination of
the universe's intrinsic creativity, guiding it towards completion. This re-interpretation suggests
replacing "through him" (di’autou) with "in view of him" (eis auton), emphasizing Christ as the
telos (purpose) of creation.

New Testament Sources: Cosmic Christology

Late layers of the New Testament already laid the groundwork for this assimilation, reflecting on
the Logos's emanation and creative role.

 Gospel of John (1:1-4): "When all things began, the Word already was. The Word dwelt
with God, and what God was, the Word was. The Word, then, was with God at the
beginning, and through him all things came to be (panta di’autou egeneto); no single
thing was created without him". This links the Word to Jewish Wisdom literature and the
Stoic world-immanent ordering principle.
 Deutero-Pauline Letters:
o 1 Corinthians 8:6: States "one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things
came to be (di’hou ta panta), and through whom we exist".
o Colossians 1:15-17: Presents Christ as "the image of the invisible God," "the first
born who has primacy over all created things," and "in whom everything in
heaven and on earth was created... The whole universe has been created through
him (di’autou) and in view of him (eis auton). He exists before everything, and
all things are held together in him (ta panta en autooi synestèken)". This
passage directly subordinates "invisible orders" (cosmic powers or angels, which
Pythagoreans and Jewish angelology associated with celestial spheres) to Christ.
o Hebrews 1:2-3: Describes the Son as "heir to the whole universe" and "through
whom he created all orders of existence (di’hou kai epoièsen tous aioonas): the
Son who is the effulgence of God’s splendor and the stamp of God’s very being,
and sustains the universe (pheroon ta panta) by his word of power".
o Ephesians 1:10: States God's purpose "that the universe, all in heaven and on
earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ, its head (anakephalaioosasthai ta
panta en tooi Christooi)".

These texts, part of the Christian canon, provided the theological logic for asserting Christ's
cosmic creative and sustaining power, essential for his role as mediator of salvation.

Harmonization and Medieval Synthesis

Christian cosmology, as seen in the liturgical practices of East and West, is a harmonization of
Hebrew thought and Greek cosmology. The majestic triune God is enthroned above a
firmament, imparting rotation to transparent concentric rings where planets are attached, with
each owing its motion to an "angelic or cosmic intelligence" (drawing from Aristotle's concept).
Divine energy and grace descend from the highest heaven to Earth, regulating life and animating
human souls. Even choirs of angels incessantly chant God's glory in this "immortal celestial
domain".
This assimilation meant that elements like the "cosmic spheres" came to be seen as
manifestations of God's glory, and the "invisible orders" from Paul's letters were reinterpreted as
hosts of angels guiding the celestial motions, subject to Christ. This blended view held sway for
centuries, with figures like Saint Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas further developing this
synthesis in medieval times. Bonaventure, for instance, placed flaming "empyrean" and
"crystalline" heavens between the Triune God and the firmament, emphasizing divine
transcendence while still integrating cosmic angels in moving planetary spheres. Aquinas, while
emphasizing God as the First Cause and acknowledging creation ex nihilo through revelation,
also integrated Aristotle's necessary (eternal) cosmic intelligences, arguing their causal
dependence on God even if co-eternal in a philosophical sense.

This "cosmic religiosity," where the contemplation of celestial motions evoked ideas of perennial
harmony and divine order, deeply influenced Christian worship and worldview until the
Copernican revolution challenged its underlying geocentric and hierarchical cosmic picture.
Overview of Chapter 4: Christianity's Assimilation of Greek Cosmology

Chapter 4, titled "Christianity's Assimilation of Greek Cosmology," examines how early

Christian thought, particularly during the Patristic Period, integrated and responded to existing
Greek cosmological frameworks, ultimately shaping key Christian doctrines like the Nicene
Creed. This assimilation led to a "symbiosis" between the cosmic God prevalent in Greek
thought and the Christian God, although critical distinctions were always maintained.

The chapter is divided into three main sections:

I. Patristic Period (Early Church Fathers)

During the Patristic Period, two key methodological principles guided the proclamation of the
Gospel to Greek-speaking Gentiles concerning cosmology:

1. Traces of the Creator (Vestigia Dei): It was recognized that the natural world exhibits
"traces of the Creator," suggesting that God's existence could be understood through
the study of nature. This led to the concept of "two books of theology": the "book of
revelation" and the "book of nature," both to be read to understand God's self-
revelation.
2. Goodness of Creation: Church Fathers affirmed the inherent goodness of the created
realm, especially in contrast to Gnostic views that emphasized the sinfulness of material
existence.

Assimilation and Critique of Greek Thought:

 Early Christian theologians, such as Justin, Clement of Alexandria, and the author of the
letter to Diognetus, found common ground between Genesis and Plato's Timaeus,
admiring the Creator's power to bring order out of chaos. The term "logos" served as a
linguistic bridge between Jewish wisdom literature and Greek Stoic thought,
representing both the creative Word of God and the immanent organizing principle in
the world.
 However, a critical stance emerged when some Hellenistic intellectuals, studying the
universe's basic structures, refused to embrace Christian faith. Theophilus of Antioch,
for example, refuted Plato for positing the eternal existence of matter alongside God, as
this undermined God's omnipotence.
 Aristotle's cosmology was also scrutinized. While it offered a "highest God" that lured
the firmament into motion, the existence of 55 auxiliary cosmic intelligences that did
the same for planetary spheres was seen as potentially reducing God to a world-
immanent principle, lacking the deep emotions of a genuine personality concerned with
humankind's plight.
 Saint Ambrose (339–397) vigorously protested against Greek cosmological ideas,
particularly the Platonic notion of three uncreated principles (God, Idea, Matter) and the
idea that God acted as a craftsman rather than a creator ex nihilo (out of nothing). He
also rejected the Aristotelian idea that the world itself was divine or that its eternity
 could be linked with God's. Moses's account in Genesis ("In the beginning God created
heaven and earth") was seen as asserting God's sole, unconditioned act of creation.
 Plotinus's Neoplatonism (205–270) later became influential, offering a nuanced concept
of emanation that safeguarded the transcendence of the "One" (the first cause) while
explaining the outflow of being into Nous (Cosmic Intellect) and then Psyche (World
Soul).
o The One is the "ungraspable fountainhead," beyond being or life, and generates
out of "pure generosity and overfullness".
o Nous is the first emanation, turning to the One as an "object of knowledge".
o Psyche emanates through Nous, animating the cosmos and eventually giving rise
to matter.
o Plotinus's system, characterized by an "atemporal process" of "unbroken
empowerment" and "diminishment by degrees," included a movement of
"ecstatic return (reditus)" to the Origin, which resonated with Christian mystical
traditions. This differed from Gnostic emanations, which were often linked to a
"fall" or sinfulness.

II. The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed, especially its longer version (Nicea-Constantinople 381), reflects an
assimilation of emanation-like concepts, particularly in explaining the relations within the Trinity
and the Son's role in creation.

 The Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father through the Son" (dia tou huiou), suggesting a
cascade of divine energy.
 "through him [the Son] all things were made" (di’hou ta panta egeneto) highlights the
Son's mediating role in creation, a concept that later inspired evolutionary theological
perspectives like Teilhard de Chardin's "Omega Point".
 Many bishops at Nicea were likely familiar with the Stoic logos or Plotinian Nous and
may have associated the Son with these world-immanent ordering principles.

III. New Testament Sources

The chapter points to later layers of the New Testament that prefigured these cosmological
reflections on the Logos (the Word) and its role in creation.

 Gospel of Saint John (Jn 1:1–4) states: "When all things began, the Word already was...
and through him all things came to be (panta di’autou egeneto)". This connects to
Jewish Wisdom literature where Wisdom assists God in creation.
 Deutero-Pauline letters (1 Corinthians, Colossians, Hebrews, Ephesians) further
emphasize Christ's cosmic role.
o 1 Corinthians 8:6 speaks of "one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things
came to be (di’hou ta panta)".
 o Colossians 1:15–17 describes Christ as "the image of the invisible God, the first
born... In him everything in heaven and on earth was created... The whole
universe has been created through him (di’autou) and in view of him (eis
auton)" and "all things are held together in him (ta panta en autooi
synestèken)". This passage also implies Christ's subordination to the "invisible
orders" or cosmic powers (angels) as the head.
o Hebrews 1:2–3 states that God created "all orders of existence (through whom
he created all orders of existence (di’hou kai epoièsen tous aioonas))" and that
the Son "sustains the universe (pheroon ta panta) by his word of power".
o Ephesians 1:10 speaks of bringing "the universe, all in heaven and on earth, into
a unity in Christ, its head".

These New Testament texts became foundational for Christian theology, establishing Christ's
mediating power in both salvation and creation. The Christian milieu gradually integrated Greek
concepts of cosmic spheres and their movers (often reinterpreted as angels) into their
understanding of God's glory descending to Earth and maintaining creation's order.
Chapter 5 of "Imagining the Creator God: From Antiquity to Astrophysics," titled "Medieval
Times," focuses on how two prominent thinkers of the era, Saint Bonaventure and Thomas
Aquinas, engaged with and assimilated Greek cosmology into Christian theology. This period
saw a continued effort to harmonize existing scientific theories with Christian revelation, while
also establishing crucial distinctions regarding God's relationship to creation.

I. Saint Bonaventure (1217–1274)

Saint Bonaventure, an Italian contemporary of Thomas Aquinas, was a Franciscan who lectured
in Paris before becoming minister general of his order. While familiar with Aristotelian ideas, he
leaned towards the mystical orientation of Neoplatonism and was deeply influenced by the
Gospel of Saint John's depiction of Christ as the expressive Word of the Father. For
Bonaventure, Christian revelation held the ultimate truth, into which cosmological insights
needed to be integrated.

Bonaventure's Cosmology In his Breviloquium, II, 3, Bonaventure described the "entire

material world machine" as comprising both heavenly and elementary natures.

 Structure of the Cosmos: The heavenly nature included three major heavens: the
empyrean, the crystalline heaven, and the firmament. Within the firmament (starry
heaven) were the seven planetary spheres: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury,
and the Moon. Below the Moon, the elementary nature was divided into four spheres:
fire, air, water, and earth. This structure, from the highest heaven to the Earth's center,
consisted of ten celestial and four elementary spheres, forming a "distinct, perfect, and
ordered manner".
 Distinction from Aristotle: Bonaventure's account notably omitted the more complex
Aristotelian system that involved 55 spheres around the planets.
 Supplementary Heavens: He introduced two heavens not directly involved in planetary
motion, likely in dialogue with Avicenna:
o The empyrean heaven (coelum empyraeum) is closest to God, shares in His
immobility, and acts like a "Burning Bush" to shield the Triune God's sanctuary.
o The crystalline heaven (coelum cristallinum) is placed between the empyrean
and the firmament, described as "cleansed with water" and reminiscent of the
"waters above" in Genesis.
o These three highest heavens (empyrean, crystalline, and firmament) are
considered exclusively God's domain. God Himself, as the prime mover, directly
moves the firmament, though with the assistance of a class of angels.
 Role of Angels (Cosmic Intelligences): Bonaventure diverged from Avicenna by
asserting that God created "myriads of angels," not just those needed to move planetary
spheres. Angels were primarily created to "behold God" and, secondarily, to "set planets
in motion". This latter task is temporary and will cease at the world's end. He emphasized
that cosmic angels have a limited effect, influencing only the physical realm, and that the
task of illuminating the human mind belongs solely to Christ. He believed the world
would end when enough blessed souls filled the empty seats of fallen angels.
Bonaventure's Trinitarian Theology and Theo-expressivity of Creation

 Source-Deity and Expressive Word: Drawing inspiration from John 1:1, Bonaventure
interpreted "beginning" (principium) as the Father, the source-deity, from whom the
Word (Son) eternally emanates. The Father "speaks to himself the Word" to grasp His
own fecundity, and this Word communicates its expressive force to created things.
 Causa Exemplaris: The Word (Son) serves as the model or exemplar (causa
exemplaris) for all creation, empowering created entities to share in its expressive force
and thus give expression to the hidden God.
 Deontology of Creation: The Son's exemplary relationship with the Father (living in
"amazement and praise" and returning glory to Him) establishes a normative behavior for
all created existence, which brings forth the Holy Spirit.
 Theo-expressivity of the Created Realm: The cosmos is created in the image of the
Son, sharing in His expressive force. Intellectual creatures, including angels, express
themselves and their divine ground, reflecting glory back to God. This also means they
face the temptation of self-adoration, as seen in Lucifer's fall. This religious vision
extends even to the subhuman domain, where animals, plants, and inorganic entities are
seen as echoing the Word's expressive process.
 Neoplatonic Participation: Bonaventure incorporated Neoplatonic theories of
participation (from Plotinus, Proclus, and Dionysius) to explain the unique splendor of
each created entity, which partakes in God's "uniqueness". He also positively appreciated
the senses and the humility associated with earthly existence (humus) as essential for
glorifying the Creator.

II. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

Thomas Aquinas dedicated his mature period to writing his Summa Theologiae and extensive
commentaries on Aristotle's Physics and Metaphysics. His profound study of Aristotle aimed to
counter interpretations by Arab philosophers (Avicenna, Averroes) and to integrate Augustinian
theology within an Aristotelian framework. Aquinas sought to prevent a split between
philosophy and faith, believing that both, when pursued rigorously, would reveal truths that do
not contradict a single God.

The Question of the Eternity of the "World"

 Dispute with Averroists: Aquinas confronted Parisian Averroists who argued for the
eternity of the 55 cosmic intelligences, similar to the Prime Mover. This was part of their
"double truth" theory, which Aquinas vehemently rejected, emphasizing that faith and
reason cannot contradict each other.
 Third Way to Prove God's Existence: In his Summa Theologiae, Aquinas clarified his
argument for God's existence:
1. From Contingent Beings: He observed that sublunary entities (on Earth) are
perishable and contingent, meaning they can either exist or not exist. Their
contingent existence implies a dependency on necessary (eternal) cosmic entities
that guide life on Earth, aligning with Aristotle's reasoning.
 2. From Necessary Beings: He then argued that these necessary substances must, in
turn, derive their necessity from a First Necessary Being that possesses its
necessity to exist of itself. This First Necessary Being is God. To avoid an
infinite regress of causes, an independent initiator is required.
 Causal Dependence (Participation): Aquinas utilized the Plotinian concept of
participation (found in the Liber de Causis) to explain that while eternal cosmic
intelligences might lack a temporal beginning, they remain causally dependent on the
One (God) as the simplest origin. They receive their eternal existence from this First
Cause.
 Revelation and Temporal Beginning: Aquinas maintained that it is only through
revelation that one knows the entire celestial realm, including cosmic intelligences, had a
beginning in time. Natural reason alone cannot conclusively prove a temporal beginning
for the cosmos; this truth is accepted by faith.
 Angels and Time (Aevum): He described angels, as Christianized cosmic intelligences,
as having an everlasting existence that had a beginning in time, a temporal state called
aevum. In contrast, only the Triune God is sempiternus (everlasting Eternal One).

Aristotle or Ptolemy? (Aquinas's Assessment of Cosmological Models)

 Ptolemy's System of the World: Ptolemy's model, described in his Almagest, abandoned
concentric spheres in favor of non-concentric deferents and epicycles to explain the
looping (retrograde) motions of planets. This "eccentric" system was considered superior
to Eudoxus's and Aristotle's for explaining planetary movements.
 Aquinas's Assessment: Initially, Aquinas viewed both Aristotle's and Ptolemy's systems
as "conjectural hypotheses". However, he later strongly favored Aristotle's cosmology,
arguing that Ptolemy's system was "contrary to the truths established in [Aristotle’s]
philosophy of nature".
o Aquinas objected to Ptolemy's eccentric circles and epicycles because they
violated Aristotelian principles of motion and the perfect circularity expected in
the quintessential celestial realm.
o He implicitly held that only theology and philosophy offered necessary truths,
while astronomy provided merely hypothetical assumptions.

III. General Medieval Cosmological Themes

The medieval period's assimilation of Greek cosmology into Christianity led to several key
themes:

 Harmonization of Faith and Reason: Christian theologians sought to reconcile biblical

narratives, particularly Genesis, with accepted Greek scientific theories like Plato's
Timaeus and Aristotle's Metaphysics and De Coelo, creating a "symbiosis" between the
cosmic God of Greek philosophy and the Christian God.
 Secondary Causes: Divine action was often understood through "secondary causes,"
such as celestial spheres and cosmic intelligences (often equated with angels), which God
used as instruments to maintain creation's order.
 Divine Lure and Seduction: Following Aristotle's concept of kinei hoos eroomenon
("moves as being loved"), God and cosmic intelligences were thought to act upon the
world by "exerting a lure," inspiring entities towards perfection rather than through direct
physical command.
 Cosmic Christ: The theology of the Cosmic Christ, present in the New Testament, was
understood by some to represent an immanent ordering principle within the cosmos,
comparable to Plato's World Soul or the Stoic Logos, mediating in creation.
 Ontological Dependency: A core belief was the positive ontological dependency of all
reality on God as the overwhelming Origin, seen as an empowerment and participation in
divine creativity that evoked feelings of marvel and gratitude.
 Religiosity of Cosmic Spheres: The eternal, ordered movements of celestial bodies held
significant symbolic and religious meaning, representing perfection and suggesting
immortality, a sentiment expressed by Ptolemy. This worldview persisted until
challenged by later scientific discoveries like the Copernican turn.