Church History, Volume 1 (of 3)Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Religion
Church History, Volume 1 (of 3)
Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Church history
3. To the department of =Dogmatics= belongs his four books
Περὶ ἀρχῶν (_De Principiis_), which have come down to
us in a Latin translation of Rufinus with arbitrary
interpolations. His Στρωματεῖς in ten books which
sought to harmonize the Christian doctrine with Greek
philosophy is lost, and also his numerous writings
against the heretics. His comprehensive apologetical
work in eight books, _Contra Celsum_ (§ 23, 3), has
come down to us complete.[76] Gregory of Nazianzus
[Nazianzen] and Basil the Great made a book entirely
from his writings under the title Φιλοκαλία, which
contains many passages from lost treatises, and a
valuable original fragment from his Περὶ ἀρχῶν. His
principal doctrinal characteristics are the following:
There is a twofold revelation, the primitive revelation
in conscience to which the heathen owe their σπέρματα
ἀληθείας, and the historical revelation in holy
scripture; there are three degrees of religious
knowledge, that of the ψιλὴ πίστις, an unreasoned
acceptance of the truth, wrought by God immediately in
the heart of men, that of γνῶσις or ἐπιστήμη to which
the reasoning mind of man can reach by the speculative
development of scripture revelation in his life, and
finally, that of σοφία or θεωρία, the vision of God,
the full enjoyment of which is attained unto only
hereafter. For his doctrine of the Trinity, see § 33, 6.
His cosmological, angelological and anthropological
views represent a mixture of Platonic, Gnostic
and spiritualistic ideas, and run out into various
heterodoxies; thus, he believes in timeless or eternal
creation, an ante-temporal fall of human souls,
their imprisonment in earthly bodies, he denies the
resurrection of the body, he believed in the animation
and the need and capacity of redemption of the stars
and star-spirits, in the restoration of all spirits to
their original, ante-temporal blessedness and holiness,
ἀποκατάστασις τῶν πάντων.
4. Of his =Ascetical Works=, the treatise Περὶ εὐχῆς with
an admirable exposition of the Lord’s prayer, and a
Λόγος προτρεπικὸς εἰς μαρτύριον have been preserved.
Of his numerous epistles, the _Epistola ad Julium
Africanum_ defends against his correspondent the
genuineness of the history of Susannah.
§ 31.6.
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