Individuality and the theological debate about ‘hypostasis’

Book section : Chapter

The purpose of this chapter is to elucidate ways in which Christian theology in late antiquity contributed to the conceptualisation of the individual. It is often alleged that it did and, more specifically, that the major trinitarian and Christological debates of the Patristic period inspired some of the most significant and lasting innovations theology bequeathed to the Western intellectual tradition. A very different approach to the problem of individuality was taken by the Stoics who held that each individual is characterised by a unique ‘individual quality’. As important as it is to realize that the words commonly used by philosophers for the individual referred to their participation in the species, it is crucial for the further theological debate to realize that hypostasis, when used by philosophers and theologians between the second and mid-fourth century, referred to the actual existence of a given thing.

Authors: Zachhuber, J

• Publisher: Routledge
• Host title: Individuality in Late Antiquity
• Chapter number: 5
• Place of publication: London
• Publication date: 2016-05-23
• Edition: 1st
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315588414-6
• EISBN: 9781315588414
• Language: English
• Subtype: Chapter