Numenius of Apamea - Numenius and Judaism and Christianity

Numenius and Judaism and Christianity

Numenius called Plato the "Atticizing Moses," i.e., that Plato was the Hellenic Moses. However the factuality of this statement is disputed since the quote comes from the Church Fathers who had motive to connect Greek and Biblical wisdom; this would justify the superiority of Christianity over Hellenism because Moses predates Plato - thus the original source of this wisdom is the root of Christianity and not Hellenistic culture.

His chief divergence from Plato is the distinction between the "first god" and the "demiurge." This is probably due to the influence of Jewish-Alexandrian philosophers (especially Philo and his theory of the Logos). According to Proclus, Numenius held that there was a kind of trinity of gods, the members of which he designated as "father," "maker," and "that which is made," i.e. the world. The first is the supreme deity or pure intelligence, the second the creator of the world, the third the world. Numenius also claimed that the three gods, the "Father", the "Creator" and "Creation" were actually one. His works were highly esteemed by the Neoplatonists, and Plotinus' student Amelius (who was critical of Gnosticism, see Neoplatonism and Gnosticism) is said to have composed nearly two books of commentaries upon them. Contrary to orthodox Judeo-Christian teaching (and more in line with the teachings of Gnosticism), like Orpheus and Plato Numenius wrote of the human body as a prison of the soul. Numenius, according to Professor Michael Wagner showed gnostic tendencies in viewing matter as coeval with God.