Arnobius | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Died | c. 330 |
| Nationality | Roman |
| Other names | Arnobius the Elder, Arnobius Afer, Arnobius of Sicca |
| Occupation(s) | Theologian,writer |
| Notable work | Adversus nationes |
| Era | Roman philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
Main interests | |
Notable ideas | Early form of thePascal's Wager |
Arnobius[a] (died c. 330) was an earlyChristian apologist ofBerber origin[1] during the reign ofDiocletian (284–305).
According toJerome'sChronicle, Arnobius, before his conversion, was a distinguishedNumidian rhetorician atSicca Veneria (El Kef, Tunisia), a major Christian center in ProconsularAfrica, and owed his conversion to a premonitory dream.[2] However, Arnobius writes dismissively of dreams in his surviving book.
According to Jerome, to overcome the doubts of the localbishop as to the earnestness of his Christian belief he wrote (c. 303, from evidence in IV:36) an apologetic work in seven books, which St. Jerome calls[3]Adversus gentes but which is entitledAdversus nationes in the only (9th-century) manuscript that has survived. Jerome's reference, his remark thatLactantius was a pupil of Arnobius[4] and the surviving treatise are all the surviving facts about Arnobius.
Adversus nationes was composed in response to arguments justifyingDiocletian's persecution of Christians by claiming that Christians had brought the wrath of the gods onAncient Rome.[5]
Arnobius, whom Revilo P. Oliver describes as "a practitioner of the turgid and coarse style that is called African",[6] is a vigorous apologist for Christianity. He holds the heathen gods to be real beings, but subordinate to the supreme ChristianGod. He also affirms that the humansoul (Book II, 14 - 62) is not the work of God, but of an intermediate being, and is not immortal by nature, but capable of putting on immortality as agrace. Arnobius argues that a belief in the soul's immortality would tend to remove moral restraint, and have a prejudicial effect on human life.[2]
Never specifically identifying his pagan adversaries, some of whom may bestraw men, set up to be demolished,[7] Arnobius argues in defence ofmonotheism,Christianity (deus princeps, deus summus), and the divinity of Christ. He praises Christianity's rapid diffusion, credits it with civilizingbarbarians, and describes it as being in consonance withPlatonism.
In order to argue againstpagan andidolatry, Arnobius goes into significant detail about pagan worship, drawing on sources such asCornelius Labeo. In books III through V, he describestemples,idols, and theGraeco-Romancult practice of his time; in books VI and VII, sacrifices and the worship of images.[2]
In book 2 section 4 ofAdversus nationes, Arnobius gives the first known version of the argument later calledPascal's Wager,[8] that in case of doubt about religion one should commit to it because of the rewards of doing so and risks of not doing so. He argues:
Since, then, the nature of the future is such that it cannot be grasped and comprehended by any anticipation, is it not more rational, of two things uncertain and hanging in doubtful suspense, rather to believe that which carries with it some hopes, than that which brings none at all? For in the one case there is no danger, if that which is said to be at hand should prove vain and groundless; in the other there is the greatest loss, even the loss of salvation, if, when the time has come, it be shown that there was nothing false in what was declared.
The work of Arnobius appears to have been written when he was a recent convert, for he does not possess a very extensive knowledge of Scripture. He knows nothing of theOld Testament, and only the life of Christ in theNew, while he does not quote directly from theGospels. He was much influenced byLucretius and had readPlato. His statements concerning Greek and Roman mythology are based respectively on theProtrepticus ofClement of Alexandria, and onCornelius Labeo, who belonged to the preceding generation and attempted to restoreNeoplatonism.[2]
Adversus nationes survived in a single ninth-century manuscript in Paris (and a bad copy of it in Brussels).[9] The French manuscript also contains theOctavius ofMarcus Minucius Felix.[10]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Arnobius".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 632. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Arnobius".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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