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Gnosis, Sophia, and Knowing God in the Great Epistles of Paul

Publication at Catholic Theological Faculty |
2021

Abstract

The study discusses Paul's conceptions of "knowledge" and "wisdom," whose subject matter is God and divine realities. Due to the limitation of the work on the first three great epistles (Rom, 1-2 Cor), the topic focuses on the question of the possibility of natural knowledge of God (Rom) and charismatically shaped knowledge through grace and the gift of faith.

Special attention is paid to the general possibility of knowing God, which is related, among other things, to the universality of Christ's salvation. The knowledge of God is not a narrow intellectual concept in Paul, but it presupposes and includes the ethical and spiritual life of individual subjects.

Although, in the order of grace, the primary knowledge of God is acquired through the "foolishness" of the Cross of Christ, the apostle does not exclude the possibility of knowing God through the creation and the path of human wisdom.