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Title: The Interface of Theology and Natural Philosophy in Medieval Armenia
Subtitle: Vardan Arewelc'i's Discourse on Nature
Author(s): COWE, S. Peter
Journal: Revue des Études Arméniennes
Volume: 41    Date: 2022   
Pages: 347-373
DOI: 10.2143/REA.41.0.3291892

Abstract :
In this oeuvre commissioned by an unspecified fellow-cleric the author applies logic to clarify and categorize the different semantic fields in which the term ‘nature’ is employed in the theological, anthropological, cosmological, and physical domains. Its architectonics embody the Ps. Dionysiac worldview, commencing from divine transcendence through the angelic strata to the human, understood as a union of flesh and spirit, which is presented in terms of Salvation History centering on the Incarnation apprehended as another union of divinity and humanity, the different permutations of which are explored. The tract concludes with a more truncated view of the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms that culminates in a paean to nature’s maternal sustenance, steering mankind to attain perfection in divinization in the paradise of the Church.

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