Christus in natura

Abstract

This article gives an insight into the theoretical approach to and the practical application of natural knowledge by Latin Christians in Late Antiquity. Based on the only explicit reference of a church father to the Physiologus, by Rufin of Aquileia, and on theoretical considerations in Augustine’s De doctrina christiana and De civitate dei, the two basic functions of natural history - exegesis and apologetics - are presented in their respective historical and conceptual contexts. In a second part, concrete applications of natural knowledge in various Latin Christian authors, for whom the Physiologus may have served as a kind of handbook, are examined. These examples illustrate the increasing argumentative significance of nature for Latin Christians, and the simultaneous diversity in concrete implementation. The paper thus forms the bridge from the original Hellenistic context of the Physiologus to its reception in the Latin cultural area - and thus also to the Bernese Physiologus.