The Origins of Philosophical Theology: Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers by W. Jaeger

Abstract

The publication of W. Jeager’s scientific work Theology of Early Greek Philoso­phers: Gifford Lectures, 1936 (2021) in Russian is relevant. This relevance is dictated by scientism and relativism, which reigned both in society and in sci­ence. This article emphasizes the importance of W. Jeager’s research approach based on classical philology and taking into account the religious context of An­cient Greece. At the same time, the work of W. Jeager serves as an example of historical and philosophical research, where the ideas of early thinkers of Greece are presented as a part of a renewed interest in theology. The philosophical her­itage of the early Greek thinkers is a difficult subject to interpret because of its fragmentary nature. Despite this, outstanding researchers in the field of the his­tory of philosophy consider the first Greek philosophers either as the first natu­ralists or as faithful followers of Orphism. After a while, these approaches ac­quired the status of traditions, firmly entrenched in academic, educational and popular literature, around which scientific discussions are still taking place. In this regard, for readers unfamiliar with early Greek thought, there is no other choice but to recognize one of the mentioned traditions as the truth. W. Jeager’s lectures offer a different way of interpretation, presenting the ancient philoso­phers as the first rational theologians before the formation of the Abrahamic reli­gions. At the same time, the German researcher tried to highlight the relationship between early theogonies, ancient poetics and philosophical reflection.