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The Truth of the Matter: Observations on Inclusivism and Exclusivism

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Inexcusabiles: Salvation and the Virtues of the Pagans in the Early Modern Period

Abstract

This article discusses the concept of religious inclusivism, which is the theoretical requisite for all doctrines of pagan salvation. By considering a series of antique and early modern examples, two main conceptions of religious truth are analyzed. These can be distinguished from each other according to the tendency to reject or to accept the idea that ‘false creeds’, understood as sets of imperfect beliefs, could be considered nonetheless ‘true’ as opposed to ‘untrue’. Inclusivist and exclusivist choices in the field of religion are thus explained as resulting from different doctrines of truth. As a consequence, the traditional connection between inclusivism and polytheism, on the one hand, and exclusivism and monotheism, on the other, is partially rejected.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As mentioned in the Introduction, the conference that is at the origin of this book was hosted at the Warburg Institute.

  2. 2.

    Momigliano 1963, 79–99 and Momigliano 1977, 107–126.

  3. 3.

    Romans 2:14: ‘ὅταν [...] ἔθνη τὰ μὴ νόμον ἔχοντα φύσει τὰ τοῦ νόμου ποιῶσιν, οὗτοι νόμον μὴ ἔχοντες ἑαυτοῖς εἰσιν νόμος’. All translations are by the author except where otherwise noted.

  4. 4.

    See in particular Assmann 1993; Assmann 1997; Assmann 2003; Assmann 2006; Assmann 2008; Assmann 2015.

  5. 5.

    Assmann 2010, 2.

  6. 6.

    Assmann 2010, 3. Cf. also 23. In order to further clarify the exclusivist character of this conception of the truth, Assmann compares it to the parallel Greek notion of scientific truth: ‘[J]ust as monotheistic religion rests on the Mosaic distinction, so science rests on the “Parmenidean” distinction. One distinguishes between true and false religion, the other between true and false cognition’ (Assmann 2010, 12).

  7. 7.

    Assmann 2010, 15. On cosmotheism Assmann remarks: ‘[T]he opposite of monotheism is not polytheism [...], but cosmotheism, the religion of an immanent god and a veiled truth that shows and conceals itself in a thousand images that illuminate and complement, rather than logically exclude, one another’ (Assmann 2010, 43).

  8. 8.

    Assmann 2010, 35.

  9. 9.

    Momigliano 1963, 83.

  10. 10.

    Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, I, 1: ‘Τὰς τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων διαδοχὰς [...], ὅσα τε καὶ πηλίκα πραγματευθῆναι κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν ἱστορίαν λέγεται, καὶ [...] ὅσοι τε κατὰ γενεὰν ἑκάστην ἀγράφωςἢ καὶ διὰ συγγραμμάτων τὸν θεῖον ἐπρέσβευσαν λόγον’.

  11. 11.

    Cf. inter alia: Orosius, Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII, II, i, 1; II, iii, 5–7; VI, xxii, 6–8; VII, iii, 7–8. On this premise, it is interesting to notice that, while Orosius extensively uses Latin historians as sources, he believes that they could not understand the true significance of the pieces of information they preserved, which speak clearly instead to the Christian historian (cf. Historiarum adversum paganos, I, 5).

  12. 12.

    See inter alia: Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V, iv, 19–21; Justin, First Apology, XL, 8–10; Second Apology, X, 2–3; XIII, 2–5.

  13. 13.

    Cf. inter alia: Lactantius. Divinae institutiones, IV, iv, 24.

  14. 14.

    Momigliano 1990, 139.

  15. 15.

    Orosius , Historiarum adversum paganos, VI, i, 3.

  16. 16.

    Cf. Iamblichus, De mysteriis, VIII, 4; Justin, First Apology, XI, 1; XXII, 1–2; Porphyry, Epistula ad Anebonem, II, 10a; Porphyry, Περί ἀγαλμάτων, 9. Concerning the relationship between cosmotheistic inclusivism and translatability of divine names, see Assmann 1997, 45–54.

  17. 17.

    See, among others, Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae, q. 14, a. 11; Summa theologiae, IIa IIae, q. 2.

  18. 18.

    See, among others, Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones disputatae, q. 14, a. 11; Summa theologiae, IIa IIae, q. 2; Augustine, Epistulae, 102, 15; Suárez 1858, 344–357. Concerning these texts and their approach to the question of pagan salvation, cf. Marenbon , 2015, chaps 2, 9, 13, 14.

  19. 19.

    See Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, I, 22.

  20. 20.

    See Walbank 1972, 45.

  21. 21.

    See Plato, Republic, 377d–e. Concerning Plato’s criticism of Hesiod and Homer, cf. in particular: Belfiore 1995, 52–57.

  22. 22.

    With regard to the notion of ‘fiction’, it should be remarked, following Gill, that ‘our own inclination to regard the fact–fiction distinction as one which carries substantial theoretical weight derives from certain specifically modern concerns’ (Gill 1993, 41).

  23. 23.

    Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On the Character of Thucydides , 39–40: ‘Βασιλεῦσι γὰρ βαρβάροις ταῦτα πρὸς Ἕλληνας ἥρμοττε λέγειν· Ἀθηναίοις δὲ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, οὓς ἠλευθέρωσαν ἀπὸ τῶν Μήδων, οὐκ ἦν προσήκοντα εἰρῆσθαι, ὅτι τὰ δίκαια τοῖς ἴσοις ἐστὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους, τὰ δὲ βίαια τοῖς ἰσχυροῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς. [...] Ταῦτ᾿ οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ἄν τις ἐπαινέσειεν ὡς προσήκοντα εἰρῆσθαι στρατηγοῖς Ἀθηναίων’.

  24. 24.

    See Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On the Character of Thucydides , 41; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, I, 22.

  25. 25.

    Origen, Against Celsus , II, 26.

  26. 26.

    Origen, Against Celsus, I, 32; II, 47; II, 55; IV, 33. In this regard, see in particular Bowersock 1994, 2–4; 74–75; 114–115.

  27. 27.

    Origen, Against Celsus, I, 24.

  28. 28.

    Origen, Against Celsus, Preface, 5.

  29. 29.

    See Origen, Against Celsus, II, 55.

  30. 30.

    See Speyer 1971, 32ff.; Speyer 1972, 340–341. The later literature on this point is extremely rich. See, among others, Baum 2001, 167–170; 177; Beatrice 2002, 44; Ehrman 2013, 36–38; 130–131; Metzger 1972, 18–19.

  31. 31.

    See Athanasius, Epistola heortastica 39 (Migne PG 26.1435b–1440b).

  32. 32.

    See Epiphanius, Adversus Haereses, XXX, 15; XXX, 23; XXXVIII, 2; XXXIX, 5.

  33. 33.

    Cf. among others: Harnack 1909–1910, II, 433; Murphy and Sherwood 1974, 206–207; Speyer 1971, 97; Wessel 2006, 38, 44, 48, 52.

  34. 34.

    Salvianus, Epistola 9 (Migne PL 53.169a–b): ‘[N]e scripta quae in se habent plurimum salubritatis, minora forsitan fierent per nomen auctoris’ and 169a–174b.

  35. 35.

    Cusa 1962, III, VIv: ‘Unum Christum ita diversis sacrificiis tempore et loco congruis exprimi. Sicut in vfarietate linguarum idem pronunciatur. Et haec varietas pro hominum salute a deo facta et praecepta extitit [...] . Aliis enim tunc moribus et signis, aliis nunc, ut prius occultius et postea manifestius, et prius a paucioribua postea a pluribus, una et eadem religio sanctificatur et observatur’. Cf. also: Cusa 1962, III, Vv.

  36. 36.

    Cf. Cusa 1962, I, XXXIVr.

  37. 37.

    On the continuity between the De concordantia catholica and the De docta ignorantia, cf. in particular Bond 2011; Cranz 2000, 1–18; McDermott 1998: 267ff.; Miroy 2008.

  38. 38.

    Cf. Cusa 1962, I, CXVr (De pace fidei).

  39. 39.

    On this point, cf. among others: Santinello 1987, 15; Vasoli 1964, 27–28.

  40. 40.

    Watanabe 2001, 223.

  41. 41.

    Cf. Cusa 1962, I, CXXIv (De pace fidei).

  42. 42.

    See especially: Kircher 1650; Kircher 1652–1654.

  43. 43.

    Concerning the political dimension of Kircher’s works and their role in the context of the post–Westphalian historiographical debate, cf. among others: Mori 2016, 11–44.

  44. 44.

    Cusa 1962, I: CXVr (De pace fidei): ‘Non potest esse nisi una sapientia. Si enim possibile foret plures esse sapientias, illas ab una esse necesse esset’.

  45. 45.

    See Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, 1652–1654, I, 241.

  46. 46.

    See Evans 1979, 435, 440.

  47. 47.

    Evans 1979, 437.

  48. 48.

    On the relationship between Christianity and Confucianism and on the possibility that the image of Confucius himself, so as we have become accustomed to think of it, might have been shaped by the Jesuit preaching in China, cf. Jensen 1998; Standaert 1999.

  49. 49.

    Cf. among others: Kors 1990, 161–162; Witek 1994, 201–202.

  50. 50.

    Cf. Bartoli 1663, 124; Kircher 1667, 99; Semmedo 1642, 118–119.

  51. 51.

    Cf. Bartoli 1663, 383; Ricci 2000, 84.

  52. 52.

    Cf. Ricci 2000, 94. Cf. also: Mungello 1989, 61. This notion was not abandoned by Ricci’s successors; cf., among others: Intorcetta et al. 1687, lix–lx; Lundbaek 1983, 19.

  53. 53.

    Cf. Intorcetta et al. 1687, xvi, lxi. This theory was also embraced by Le Comte 1696–1697, II, 148, 183–184.

  54. 54.

    Cf. Ricci 2000, 90, 98.

  55. 55.

    This cultural shift, which was gradually moving the discussion on Confucius from the area of natural theology to that ancient theology, was not due to accidental features. Approaching the middle of the seventeenth century, libertines of all flavours, and Deists in particular, were burgeoning in France and England, threatening the Catholic and Protestant establishments alike. Since the years of Mersenne’s and Garasse’s anti–libertine production, it had became increasingly clear that perhaps the most important argument for the Deist doctrine was their revolutionary interpretation of natural theology in a naturalistic sense – that is, by interpreting ‘natural’ in ‘natural theology’ in the way which was to become commonplace in the eighteenth century, that is, as concerning a purely human aspect. As a consequence, the features of the early Confucian culture that in Ricci were more or less indisputably an indication that the pagans had imperfectly known God thanks to the law of reason and nature, risked becoming, according to the Deist interpretation, an example of the preposterous character of established religions and of their unnecessary role in the advancement of morality (as in Bayle’s argument).

  56. 56.

    Martini 1658, 60–61, 131. Cf. in this regard Chang 1995; Collani 1995, 249; Pinot 1932, 290.

  57. 57.

    Cf. Beurrier 1672, 163; Thomassin 1693, 21, 36, 61, 107–108. Cf. in this regard: Pinot 1932, 290, 349; Walker 1972, 206–208.

  58. 58.

    Cf. Mungello 1989, 249.

  59. 59.

    Cf. Thierry Meynard’s introduction to Confucius 2011, 68.

  60. 60.

    Cf. Thierry Meynard’s introduction to Confucius 2015, 62.

  61. 61.

    Intorcetta et al. 1687, lxxvii: ‘[D]e Deo multa recte senserunt’.

  62. 62.

    Confucius 2015, 245 (Analects, 7,1): ‘[P]raeco sum, seu relator, et non author doctrinae, quam palam facio. Credo, et amo antiquitatem, ex qua studiose suffuror, et excerpo quae ad rem meam sunt’. Original: ‘子曰: 述而不作, 信而好古, 竊比於我老彭’

  63. 63.

    Cf. Spinoza 1999, 114–116.

  64. 64.

    Huet 1679, 12: ‘[O]mnis historia est verax, quae res gestas ita narrant, uti narrantur in multis libris coaetaneis, vel aetati proximis qua res gestae sunt’.

  65. 65.

    It is to be remembered that Spinoza is for Huet mostly a symbol, the emblem of a whole philosophical and exegetical tradition grounded in Cartesian rationalism, which he deeply despises and which also encompasses Protestant (e.g. Jean Le Clerc) and even Catholic (e.g. Richard Simon) theologians.

  66. 66.

    Huet 1679, 42: ‘[I]n multis libris coaetaneis, vel aetati proximis’. Cf. also Vernière 1954, 129.

  67. 67.

    Cf. Huet 1679, 38–39.

  68. 68.

    Huet 1679, 42.

  69. 69.

    Cf. Huet 1679, 38, 85.

  70. 70.

    Cf. Huet 1679, 58–61, 72–73, 115. By the same token, all the female divinities of the ancient pantheons were to be identified with Moses’s wife, Sephora (cf. Huet 1679, 117–118, 120).

  71. 71.

    Cf. Bossuet 1961, 948–952, 990, 1025 (Discours sur l’histoire universelle).

  72. 72.

    Cf. Toland 1709, 103–106. In this regard, cf. among others: Champion 2003, 173–176.

  73. 73.

    According to most Jesuits in China (and to them alone), the Confucian names for ‘God’ – T’ien and Shangdi (literally ‘Heaven’ and ‘Supreme Deity’) – needed not be substituted by Deus or by some Chinese neologism, since they did not imply anything that was contrary to the true notion of God. Cf., among others: Bartoli 1663, 116–118; Martini 1658, 35; Intorcetta et al. 1687, xxv, lxxxix, xciii.

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    Giuliano Mori

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Mori, G. (2020). The Truth of the Matter: Observations on Inclusivism and Exclusivism. In: Frigo, A. (eds) Inexcusabiles: Salvation and the Virtues of the Pagans in the Early Modern Period. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 229. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40017-0_11

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