The concept of participation has a long and complex history. It is also inextricably linked to other cognate issues such as the nature of universals, analogy, perfect being theology, or the problem of evil. Elucidating its history and its possible relevance today for both philosophy and theology is the aim of the present work. ‘Participation’ is a central concept in various forms of Thomism, and yet it has become marginal in much post-seventeenth century Western philosophical thought. This volume should furnish a handbook and guide to such a paradigmatic, and yet enigmatic, concept. The last few decades have seen a remarkable upsurge in the study of Neoplatonism, with a flowering of commentaries and translations; this volume builds upon this outstanding development in recent scholarship. Whereas the Victorians and Edwardians were often apt to envisage Neoplatonism and its key concepts as symptoms of an age of decadence, contemporary scholarship has successfully revised this view of Late Antiquity.

Origen’s metaphysical vision hinges upon the notion of participating in God, who is the good. Like many theists, Origen maintains that God is a non-contingent being; created being, on the other hand, is, by definition, contingent upon its creator. The category of participation enables Origen to explain the relationship between contingent and non-contingent being. This chapter, therefore, has four objectives: first, we will establish the distinction between contingent and non-contingent being in Origen’s thought; second, we will consider this distinction in relation to divine being; third, we will consider this distinction in relation to non-divine being; fourth, we will discuss different sorts of participation.

The notion of Platonic Forms as divine thoughts was critical to the theistic interpretation of Plato’s philosophy. This chapter considers the origins and development of the theory of divine ideas. The chapter begins by examining the evidence for this theory in the Old Academy, including Speusippus, Xenocrates and Aristotle. The notion is then traced among subsequent Platonists, including Antiochus of Ascalon, Eudorus of Alexandria, Alcinous, and the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. The reception of the theory of divine ideas in Christianity concludes the chapter, with reference to Origen of Alexandria and Maximus the Confessor.