The Ethics of The Tripartite Tractate (NHC I, 5)
A Study of Determinism and Early Christian Philosophy of Ethics
Paul Linjamaa, Brill: Leyde, 2019
Description
In The Ethics of The Tripartite Tractate (NHC I, 5) Paul Linjamaa offers the first full length thematical monograph on the longest Valentinian text extant today. By investigating the ethics of The Tripartite Tractate, this study offers in-depth exploration of the text’s ontology, epistemology, theory of will, and passions, as well as the anthropology and social setting of the text. Valentinians have often been associated with determinism, which has been presented as “Gnostic” and then not taken seriously, or been disregarded as an invention of ancient intra-Christian polemics. Linjamaa challenges this conception and presents insights into how early Christian determinism actually worked, and how it effectively sustained viable and functioning ethics.
(Text from the publisher)
Table of contents
Introduction 1-44
Part 1 Theoretical Framework for Ethics 47-155
Chapter 1 The Ontological and Epistemological Foundations for Ethics
Chapter 2 Emotions, Demons, and Moral Ability
Chapter 3 Free Will and the Configuration of the Human Mind
Part 2 Ethics in Practice 159-256
Chapter 4 Natural Human Categories and Moral Progress
Chapter 5 School or Church? Teaching, Learning, and the Community Structure
Chapter 6 Honor and Attitudes toward Social and Political Involvement
Part 3 Conclusions and Implications 259-271
Chapter 7 Summary: the Nature of Early Christian Determinism
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