God and the World

Arnobius' understanding of God takes into account the relationship between the deity and the world, including humanity, man's natural environment, and the great cosmos beyond him. Two main subdivisions are discernible. First, a significant number of passages focuses upon a divine concern for mankind's temporal and nontemporal (eschatological) welfare. Arnobius believed in a God who initiates a beneficial association with mankind which sometimes has spiritual applications, and at others, material. God is depicted as being immanent and approachable in some passages and, indeed, as he who makes the initial step forward to man. This understanding of the divine nature is frequently found in a description about worshipping the Christian God. Second, another set of passages portrays an exalted, quite transcendent deity. His nature and being are mysterious, almost totally unknown and unknowable, and often Arnobius' only recourse is to describe God in apophatic terms. Organically related to this is his affirmation that the High God is not the immediate creator of human souls. This chapter analyzes the concept of God in the Adversus nationes, focusing on the relationship between God and the world.

Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Existence of God · Humanity · Natural (archaeology) · Theism · Theology · Augustinian Studies and Theology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy