歷史進入末世：約阿希姆的歷史神學及其「諾斯底性質」的再思

History Entering the Eschaton: Joachim's Theology of History and a Reconsideration of Its ＂Gnosticism＂

吳國安(Kuo-An Wu)

《華神期刊》 12期 (2021/12) Pp. 10-39

並列摘要

Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202) is the most significant apocalyptic theologian in medieval Western Europe. With his creative and insightful theology of history, Joachim not only holds a vital place in the Latin Christian tradition but also is viewed by some as one pivotal role in the development of Gnosticism. This essay has two goals. The first is to provide basic outlines and to clarify the essential feature of Joachim's theology of history. I point out that, exegetically based on the principle of concordance, Joachim constructs a theology of history of three stages with an emphasis on the eschaton of the Holy Spirit that is to come. While it is often argued that this Trinitarian-pneumatological theology of history has as its essential feature the ＂immanentisation of eschaton＂, I register that this feature should be more properly described as ＂the re-divinisation of eschaton＂ or ＂the immanentisation of hope＂ , and that this immanentisation does not arise from history itself (from within), but from a dynamic that is transcendent and beyond (from without) . The second goal is to investigate the relationship between this theology of history and Gnosticism ancient and modern. Although some prominent scholars such as Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) hold the ＂immanentisation＂ in Joachim's theology of history accountable for the ＂fall＂ of what they call the modern Gnosticism, I argue that his theology has continuity as well as discontinuity with both ancient Gnosticism and its modern form: while it anticipates the emphasis on the hope of history entering the eschaton, which is characteristic of the modern Gnosticism, it nonetheless retains some features of the ancient Gnosticism such as an elite mentality and a tendency to retreat from the world. Therefore, it is not Joachim but rather the modern Joachimism, which not only appropriates Joachim's theology of history but further immenantises the dynamic of ＂immenantisation＂ which it keeps transcendent, that constitutes the ＂fall＂ of Gnositicism.