INdifference · The Interpretation of Differentia during Late Antique and Early Christian Thought
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-04-01 → 2022-08-31
- EU contribution
- €187,572
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
The Interpretation of Differentia during Late Antique and Early Christian Thought
“The Interpretation of Differentia during late antique and early Christian Thought” (INdifference) is an interdisciplinary research project dedicated to the conceptual interaction between antique philosophy and early Christianity. The aim of the project is to explore how the concept of difference (Lat. ‘differentia’; Gr. ‘διαφορά’), originally a technical notion in ancient logic, entered into Christian thought and how it has evolved during the 5-7th century Christian doctrinal disputes. These Christian debates under focus in the project concerned the reception of an earlier teaching about the duality of Christ, seen as unique person consisting of one divine and one human nature and was established by the Christian Church through the Council of Chalcedon (451CE). Subsequent interpretations of the Council’s teaching have led to a historical and still ongoing split of the Christians into pro-Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonians which is. The former have advocated the reality of the natures of Christ both before and after Incarnation and asked that the number and the difference of these natures must be always affirmed in order to confirm the orthodoxy of the doctrine. In opposition to this, the anti-Chalcedonians denied the last part of the clause and refrained from talking about differentia after Incarnation for the reason that the human nature of Christ does not exist in difference from the divine nature of Christ anymore. The importance of INdifference thus stems from its focus on a major conceptual rift within Christianity which has contributed to an ongoing contemporaneous doctrinal separation. The hypothesis of this research is that the Christian authors appropriated the notion of differentia from ancient philosophy and transformed it under the pressure of the doctrinal wrangles into a cardinal idea for the determination of orthodoxy during this age. The overall objectives of the action have been to train the fellow in acquiring: 1) Specific methodologies and concepts meant to help him (a) select, and (b) analyze relevant philosophical and Christian sources, (c) identify the means for the potential transmission of the significant philosophical ideas in the relevant Christian literature and (d) evaluate the impact of these philosophical ideas upon the construction of the competing Christian theories under study; 2) Complementary methods and further tools for the study of Christianity and Late Antiquity; 3) New or additional training and improvement of transferable skills relevant for an academic career such as outreach activities, teaching, applying for further research funding and enhancing the applicant’s awareness of gender, human diversity and inclusion. All objectives of the action have been fully achieved.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Logic has often made major progress in historical circumstances that invited fierce debate and confrontation. The development of Christian thought during periods of crisis in the Church is no exception to this rule. This project explores for the first time how the philosophical notion of the differentia, a crucial term in the construction of definition in ancient logic, penetrated Christian thought and became the cardinal idea for the determination of orthodoxy during the theological debates about the nature(s) of Christ in the sixth and seventh centuries of our era, following the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE). The standard account explains these debates in terms of different interpretations of what it means for something to exist. The proposed project argues that the differentia came to be regarded as the condition of the possibility for existence as such, as the theologians improved the sophistication of their controversies by adopting and developing the terms of a logical debate among Neoplatonists in late antiquity. The theological debate on the reality and number of the nature(s) of Christ will be seen to rest on the opposition between interpreting the differentia as a real feature of reality–as the Chalcedonians did, or as merely a concept–which is the anti-Chalcedonian position. Designed as an interdisciplinary study of the interpretations and the evolution of the notion of the differentia, this project will disclose unknown chapters in the history of both theology and philosophy. At the same it will provide further support for the thesis that doctrinal wars outside philosophy were indeed waged, and settled, by adopting and developing the tools of logic. This strategy may well hold a promise for the doctrinal wars of the present, as well as for new developments in philosophy and logic.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN · LeidenCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union