From the book
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordTertullian is named at p. 151 for the distinction between knowing God from the World's workmanship and recognizing him from the preaching of his Word.
- In KhunrathKhunrath says Tertullian often wrote this; he does not give a title, chapter or exact quotation.
- In this editionKeep the distinction of cognosci and recognosci perceptible as knowing and re-knowing or recognizing.
- A reading distinctionThe absence of a single identified source sentence is an apparatus caution, not evidence that Khunrath intended a false quotation; his own “often wrote” is a reported general teaching.
Meaning
Tertullian is named at p. 151 for the distinction between knowing God from the World's workmanship and recognizing him from the preaching of his Word. The statement joins the natural and verbal sources of theology without making either a mere duplicate of the other.
Use in the book
Khunrath says Tertullian often wrote this; he does not give a title, chapter or exact quotation. The report follows the appeal to Paul's account of what may be known of God from visible created things, and the margin joins biblical and macrocosmic theology. This is the sentence's immediate function.
The supplied editor accordingly treats it as a paraphrase rather than matching it to a single verbatim patristic sentence. An entry should record the reported teaching and its argumentative use instead of manufacturing a precise bibliographical source.
Places to read
- 1599 p. 151Tertullian’s reported distinction supports the coordination of natural and verbal knowledge of God
- 1599 p. 151 · marginThe accompanying gloss joins biblical and macrocosmic theology
Translation in this edition
Keep the distinction of cognosci and recognosci perceptible as knowing and re-knowing or recognizing. “Both reveal God” would erase the phrasing Khunrath has chosen.
Source note
The absence of a single identified source sentence is an apparatus caution, not evidence that Khunrath intended a false quotation; his own “often wrote” is a reported general teaching.