What did dreams mean to Egyptian Christians of the first to the sixth centuries? Alexandrian philosophers, starting with Philo, Clement and Origen, developed a new approach to dreams that was to have profound effects on the spirituality of the medieval West and Byzantium. Their approach, founded on the principles of Platonism, was based on the convictions that God could send prophetic dreams and that these could be interpreted by people of sufficient virtue. In the fourth century, the Alexandrian approach was expanded by Athanasius and Evagrius to include a more holistic psychological understanding of what dreams meant for spiritual progress. The ideas that God could be known in dreams and that dreams were linked to virtue flourished in the context of Egyptian desert monasticism. This volume traces that development and its influence on early Egyptian experiences of the divine in dreams.
About the Author
Bronwen Neil is Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University, Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University and Research Fellow of the University of South Africa. She is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor (2015), Collecting Early Christian Letters (Cambridge, 2015) and A Companion to Gregory the Great (2013).

motw/Dreams, Virtue and Divine Knowl - Bronwen Neil.pdf

Neil, Bronwen, Costache, Doru, Wagner, Kevin

Bronwen Neil,Doru Costache and Kevin Wagner

Cambridge Library Collection

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

producers:
Adobe PDF Library 15.0

Memory of the World Librarian: outernationale

Cover 1
Half-title 3
Title page 5
Copyright information 6
Table of contents 7
List of Figure 8
Acknowledgements 9
List of Abbreviations 11
Chapter 1 An Introduction to Greco-Roman Traditions on Dreams and Virtue 13
Defining Dreams and Visions 14
Christian Condemnation of Dream Divination 16
Greco-Roman Dream Literature 17
Homeric Dreams 17
Dream Key Manuals: Artemidorus of Ephesus 20
The Athenian Philosophical Tradition on Dreams 25
Plato on Dreams 25
Aristotle on Dreams 26
The Stoics on Dreams 27
Galen of Pergamon 27
The Greco-Roman Traditions on Virtue 29
Virtue in Homeric Society 29
Classical Athenian Views on Virtue 31
Stoic Virtues 31
Plato on Virtue 32
Aristotle on Virtue 33
Conclusion 35
Chapter 2 The Development of an Alexandrian Tradition 38
The New Testament Tradition of Divine Visions 39
Philo of Alexandria 41
Philo on Dreams 42
Philo on the Contemplative Life 46
Clement of Alexandria 50
Origen of Alexandria 54
Origen’s Understanding of Ecstatic Visions 57
The Link between Divination and Virtue 59
Plotinus of Alexandria 61
North African Christian Dream Theory 63
Tertullian of Carthage 64
Lactantius 65
Augustine of Hippo 66
Athanasius of Alexandria 68
Evagrius of Pontus 70
Material Things 72
Intelligible Things versus Divine Things 74
Synesius of Cyrene 75
Conclusion 76
Chapter 3 Sleep, Dreams and Soul-Travel 78
Athanasian Sleep Theory 85
Sleep as a Physiological Phenomenon 87
Positive Appraisals of Sleep 87
Negative Appraisals of Sleep 93
Spiritual Perspectives on Sleep 97
Sleep Reduction and its Outcomes 98
Ascetic Variations 102
Athanasian Dream Theory 106
Negative Attitudes to Dreaming 107
Dream Theory, Revelations and Saintly Visionaries 112
Holy Dreamers 117
Soul-Travel 121
Making Sense of Athanasian Sleep and Dream Theory 125
Chapter 4 Synesius of Cyrene and Neoplatonic Dream Theory 128
The Chaldean Oracles 130
The Theurgist and His Art 130
Cosmic Sympathy and the Spark of Intellect 131
The Soul-Vehicle 134
Early Neoplatonism: Dreams, Virtue and Divine Knowledge 137
Plotinus 137
Plotinus on Theurgy and Divination 138
Plotinus on Virtue 139
Porphyry 142
Porphyry on Theurgy and Divination 143
Porphyry on Virtue 146
Iamblichus 147
Iamblichus on Theurgy and Divination 147
Iamblichus on Virtue 151
Synesius: Dreams, Virtue and Divine Knowledge 154
Theurgy and Divination 155
Synesian Anthropology 156
The Purpose and Method of Synesian Dream Divination 160
The Mechanics of Synesian Dream Theory 162
Virtue 164
Phronesis 165
Apatheia 166
Synesius on the Purificatory Virtues and the Role of the Intellect 169
Virtue as a Psychological Good 170
Virtue and the Means for Its Acquisition 172
The Virtues as a Means for Living the Active and Contemplative Life 173
Attentiveness: The Key to Continuous Contemplation in the World 174
Epistle 140 – A Call to Transcendence 177
Conclusion 179
Chapter 5 Expanding beyond the Egyptian Ascetic Tradition 181
The Impact of the Life of Antony 184
Spiritual Sight in John Cassian 187
The Apophthegmata Tradition 191
Women in the Sayings of the Fathers on Dreams 192
Conclusion 195
Bibliography 197
Index of Scripture 217
Index of Sources 218
General Index 221

"What did dreams mean to Egyptian Christians of the first to the sixth centuries? Alexandrian philosophers, starting with Philo, Clement and Origen, developed a new approach to dreams that was to have profound effects on the spirituality of the medieval West and Byzantium. Their approach, founded on the principles of Platonism, was based on the convictions that God could send prophetic dreams and that these could be interpreted by people of sufficient virtue. In the fourth century, the Alexandrian approach was expanded by Athanasius and Evagrius to include a more holistic psychological understanding of what dreams meant for spiritual progress. The ideas that God could be known in dreams and that dreams were linked to virtue flourished in the context of Egyptian desert monasticism. This volume traces that development and its influence on early Egyptian experiences of the divine in dreams"-- Provided by publisher

Uses a range of sources, from Philo, Clement and Origen to Athanasius, Evagrius and early monks, to explore the development in first- to sixth-century Egypt of new ideas about the relationship between dreams, the divine and virtue. These had profound effects on spiritual life in the medieval West and Byzantium.

Explores The Significance Of Dreams In Early Christian Egypt, Using Sources From Philo And Origen To Athanasius And Early Monks.

2025-10-27