Arnobius

Arnobius
Arnobius
A Christian apologist, flourished during the reign of Diocletian (284-305)

Catholic Encyclopedia. . 2006.

Arnobius
    Arnobius
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Arnobius
    A Christian apologist, flourished during the reign of Diocletian (284-305). St. Jerome says, in his Chronicle, that before his conversion Arnobius was a distinguished rhetorician at Sicca in Proconsular Africa, and owed the gift of Christian faith to a dream. To overcome the doubts of the local bishop as to the earnestness of his Christian belief he wrote (about 305) an apologetic work in seven books that St. Jerome calls (De Vir. Ill., lxxix) "Adversus Gentes" but is entitled "Adversus Nationes" in the only (ninth-century) manuscript that has reached us. Arnobius is a vigorous apologist for the Christian Faith, defends and expounds its noble monotheism (deus princeps, deus summus), the Divinity of Christ and of the Christian religion, proved by its rapid diffusion, its incredible influence over uncivilized peoples, and its agreement with the views of the best philosophers. Apropos of the Christian tendencies of Plato, he has left us a very remarkable treatise on the nature of the soul (II, 14-62). Heathen idolatry he refutes as filled with contradictions and openly immoral. His work, especially Books III-IV, abounds with curious information gathered from reliable sources (e.g. Cornelius Labeo) concerning the forms of idolatrous worship, temples, idols, and the Graeco-Roman mythology of his time, for which reason it is much esteemed by Latin philologists and antiquarians. Arnobius is more earnest in his defence of Christianity than correct in his tenets. Thus, he holds the heathen gods to be real beings, but subordinate to the supreme Christian God; the human soul is not the work of God, but of an intermediate being, and is not immortal by nature, but capable of putting on immortality as a grace.
    F. SABAEUS (Rome, 1543) is the editio princeps. It is found in P.L., V. The best edition is that of A. REIFFERSCHEID, Corpus script. eccl. Lat., IV (Vienna, 1875). See BARDENHEWER, Gesch. d. altchr. Litt. (Freiburg, 1903), II, 464-72, and his Patrologie (ibid., 1901), 175-77; MOULE in Dict. of Christ. Biogr., 167-69; EBERT, Allg. Gesch. d. lat. Litt. des Mittelalters (2d ed., Leipzig, 1889), I, 64-72.
    THOMAS J. SHAHAN

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


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  • Arnobius — of Sicca (died c. 330 A.D.) was an Early Christian apologist, during the reign of Diocletian (284 305). [To distinguish him from a later Arnobius, of the fifth century, he is sometimes called Arnobius the Elder.] According to Jerome s Chronicle,… …   Wikipedia

  • Arnobius — ist der Name mehrerer Personen: Arnobius der Ältere, Rhetor um 300 Arnobius der Jüngere, Kirchenschriftsteller und Bischof um 450 Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unterscheidung mehrerer mit demselben Wort bezeichneter Begriffe …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arnobĭus — Arnobĭus,) A. der Ältere (A. Afer), Rhetor in seiner Vaterstadt Sicca in Afrika, ward dann Christ; st. um 330 n. Chr. Schr.: Adversus gentes (eine Apologie des Christenthums) herausgegeben Leyd. 1751; von Orelli, Lpz. 1816f., 2 Bde.; Hildebrand,… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Arnobĭus — Arnobĭus, Rhetor zu Sicca in Numidien, schrieb nach seinem Übertritt zum Christentum um 300 n. Chr. eine Apologie desselben: »Adversus nationes libri VII« (hrsg. von Reifferscheid, Wien 1875), eine wichtige Quelle für die Kenntnis des damaligen… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Arnobius — Arnobĭus, um 300 n. Chr. Rhetor zu Sicca in Numidien, wurde Christ und schrieb eine Apologie des Christentums »Adversus nationes« (hg. von Reifferscheid, 1875) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Arnobius — Arnobius, der ältere, Rhetor aus dem afrikan. Sicca, seit 303 Christ, schrieb eine Apologie des Christenthums, »adversus gentes«, die in mancher Beziehung interessant ist, aber auch Zeugniß gibt, daß der kaum bekehrte Philosoph die christl.… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • ARNOBIUS — I. ARNOBIUS cognomine Iunior, disputationem cum Serapione circa Unitatem et Trinitatem divinam, scripsit. Quidam ei attribuunt quoque tractatum de duabus substantiis, i. e. naturis. Item Commentarium in Psalmos qui ab aliis Arnobio Africano, vide …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Arnobius — Arnobe Pour les articles homonymes, voir Arnobe le Jeune. Arnobe (en latin Arnobius), dit l Ancien, est un écrivain latin chrétien né dans la seconde moitié du IIIe siècle à Sicca Veneria en Numidie (Afrique du Nord). Biographie Cette… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Arnobius, S. — S. Arnobius, (13. Juni), ein Martyrer in Aegypten. S. S. Anub3 …   Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon

  • Arnobius der Ältere — Arnobius Arnobius (der Ältere, auch Arnobius Afer; † um 330) war um das Jahr 300 Rhetor in Sicca Veneria in Numidien. Zunächst war Arnobius ein eifriger Bekämpfer des Chri …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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