John Philoponus: A Study and Translation of the Arbiter

The Alexandrian polymath John Philoponus (c. 490-575 AD) is best known to scholars as the outstanding philosopher from the Neoplatonic school of Ammonius Hermeiou and prolific commentator on Aristotle who launched an overall attack on the dominant Aristotelian scientific world-view of his day. Among historians of ancient thought his reputation as one of the most original thinkers of late antiquity has been establish for some time. Philoponus the Christian theologian, however, has not attracted such scholarly enthusiasm. Patristic research often concentrated on the intricacies of the Trinitarian and Christological debates of the fourth and fifth centuries, and was inclined to underestimate the gravity of the controversies in the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. This has changed in recent years and considerable attention is now given to post-Chalcedonian Christology. It is a major achievement of monumental work to have gathered the highly specialised research needed from the various departments of academia. Still only a few far from comprehensive studies have been devoted to the specifically Christian doctrines of the Alexandrian philosopher and lay-theologian Philoponus.