Ancient Fathers and Tertullian · Lexicon

From the book

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordThe Fathers enter both as authorities to be judged and as precedents for Khunrath's own method.
In KhunrathThe appeal on pp. 140–1412 responds to an anticipated charge of blasphemy.
In this editionRender PATRES as “Fathers,” retaining the patristic context.
A reading distinctionThe p. 140 correction from the misprinted Christncher to Christlicher is listed in the original Errata; it affects the phrase “Christian religion,” not the identity of the Fathers.

Meaning

The Fathers enter both as authorities to be judged and as precedents for Khunrath's own method. PATRES, a one-word gloss at p. 140, specifies who is meant by venerable Antiquity. Tertullian is separately named at p. 151 for the distinction between knowing God through the world's workmanship and recognizing him through the preaching of his Word.

Use in the book

The appeal on pp. 140–1412 responds to an anticipated charge of blasphemy. Theologians praise the ancient use of natural similitudes to explain the articles of Christian religion, and use such comparisons themselves in sermons and books. Khunrath asks them to consider this before condemning his treatment of Magnesia. He further says that he learned the practice from Christ, the prophets and apostles, and could provide examples from the theologians of Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists and others.

This is a defence of a manner of explanation, not proof that every comparison he makes was taught by every Father. No patristic passage is quoted on p. 140, and the promised confessional dossier is not supplied on p. 141. The force is reciprocal: condemning natural similitude as such would expose the opponents' own approved teaching to the same charge. The lexicon should preserve that argumentative limit.

The earlier discussion at pp. 110–1112 prevents treating this appeal as unconditional submission to antiquity. The writings of Fathers and eminent theologians are authoritative insofar as they agree with biblical Scripture. The paired rule for alchemical books is agreement with Nature. At p. 151 Tertullian then supplies a positive model for coordinating the two books. Khunrath reports that he often wrote of God being known from the created World and re-known from his Word. The claim supports physics as a servant of theology while retaining the contribution of verbal revelation.

Together these places show how Khunrath both uses and limits patristic authority. Ancient practice can vindicate the legitimacy of natural comparison; it does not remove the need to test a particular doctrine by its proper source.

Places to read

1599 p. 110The discussion begins to compare philosophical books with patristic and theological writings
1599 p. 111Scriptural agreement is the condition of those writings’ authority
1599 p. 140 · marginPATRES identifies the venerable Antiquity invoked in defence of natural similitudes
1599 p. 141The defence extends to examples from several confessional traditions
1599 p. 151Tertullian is paraphrased on knowing God from works and recognizing him from the Word

Translation in this edition

Render PATRES as “Fathers,” retaining the patristic context. The Tertullian sentence should be called a reported teaching or paraphrase. The modern apparatus notes that no single matching sentence is identified, and Khunrath himself says “often wrote,” not that he is copying one specified passage.

Source note

The p. 140 correction from the misprinted Christncher to Christlicher is listed in the original Errata; it affects the phrase “Christian religion,” not the identity of the Fathers.