Neoplatonism as a Framework for Christian Theology: Reconsidering the Trinitarian Ontology of Marius Victorinus

Abstract

This essay examines the Trinitarianism of Marius Victorinus in relation to the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Porphyry, and to orthodox understandings of the doctrine. Victorinus always remained a consistent and thorough-going exponent of Neoplatonism. Victorinus' theory is not as far from Plotinus as it might seem; he has essentially the same ontology, but has characterised different components within that ontology as the second and third elements of his triad. Victorinus' doctrine of the Trinity differs from later orthodox formulations of the doctrine such as those found in Augustine and Boethius. He understood consubstantiality in quite different terms to later orthodoxy. His theology, nonetheless, is genuinely Trinitarian; it represents a form of “non-standard Trinitarianism”. Victorinus' theory paves the way for the articulation of Christian theology within a Neoplatonist framework, thus opening it to the possibilities inherent in this rich and mystical philosophical system.