Logos

, and argued for the divinity of Christ by saying: "(T)here is ... another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things; who is also called an "Angel", because He "announces" to men whatsoever the Maker of all things — above whom there is no other God — wishes to announce to them" ( [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01283.htm Dialogue with Trypho,] 56). For a detailed study of the significance Justin saw in the title of "Angel" given to the Messiah in the Septuagint version of Isaiah 9:6, the then most widely known version of that text, see [http://www.forananswer.org/Top_JW/angel_juncker.pdf Günther Juncker, "Christ As Angel: The Reclamation Of A Primitive Title"] , "Trinity Journal" 15:2 (Fall 1994): 221–250.]

Early Christians who opposed the concept of Jesus as the Logos were known as alogoi.

In Roman Catholicism

On April 1, 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who would become Pope Benedict XVI just over two weeks later) referred to the Christian religion as the religion of the "Logos":

Christianity must always remember that it is the religion of the "Logos." It is faith in the "Creator Spiritus," in the Creator Spirit, from which proceeds everything that exists. Today, this should be precisely its philosophical strength, in so far as the problem is whether the world comes from the irrational, and reason is not, therefore, other than a "sub-product," on occasion even harmful of its development or whether the world comes from reason, and is, as a consequence, its criterion and goal.

The Christian faith inclines toward this second thesis, thus having, from the purely philosophical point of view, really good cards to play, despite the fact that many today consider only the first thesis as the only modern and rational one par excellence. However, a reason that springs from the irrational, and that is, in the final analysis, itself irrational, does not constitute a solution for our problems. Only creative reason, which in the crucified God is manifested as love, can really show us the way. In the so necessary dialogue between secularists and Catholics, we Christians must be very careful to remain faithful to this fundamental line: to live a faith that comes from the "Logos," from creative reason, and that, because of this, is also open to all that is truly rational. [Cardinal Ratzinger on Europe's crisis of culture, retrieved from http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0143.html]

Catholics can use logos to refer to the moral law written in human hearts. This comes from Jeremiah 31:33 (prophecy of new covenant): "I will write my law on their hearts." St. Justin wrote that those who have not accepted Christ but follow the moral law of their hearts (logos) follow God, because it is God who has written the moral law in each person's heart. Though man may not explicitly recognize God, he has the spirit of Christ if he follows Jesus' moral laws, written in his heart. According to Fr. William Most's article for EWTN (Catholic television network), those who have the spirit of Christ belong to the body of Christ. He writes, "Those who follow the Spirit of Christ, the Logos who writes the law on their hearts, are Christians, are members of Christ, are members of His Church. They may lack indeed external adherence; they may never have heard of the Church. But yet, in the substantial sense, without formal adherence, they do belong to Christ, to His Church."

Jung's analytical psychology

In Carl Jung's analytical psychology, the logos is the masculine principle of rationality and consciousness. Its female counterpart, eros (Greek, love), represents interconnectedness.

Similar concepts

In modern philosophy

Early 20th century movements towards specificity of operational definitions have developed an analog to logos in the concept of world view (or worldview) when used as "Weltanschauung" (pronounced|ˈvɛlt.anˌʃaʊ.ʊŋ) meaning a "look "onto" the world." It implies a concept fundamental to German philosophy and epistemology and refers to a "wide world perception". Additionally, it refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts in it. The German word is also in wide use in English, as well as the translated form world outlook. (Compare with ideology). "Weltanschauung" is the conceptualization that all ideology, beliefs and political movements are both limited and defined by this schemata of common linguistic understanding.

Goethe has his Faust translate John's "logos" as "Will".

The idea is similar to Apollinarism.

Contemporary references

Tangerine Dream named their 1982 live album "Logos Live".

Terrence McKenna often used the term Logos to refer to the voice one hears when under the influence of an entheogen.

The Logos was also the name of a ship in "The Matrix".

In the MMORPG Tabula Rasa, Logos refers to a mysterious power.

Anne Sexton refers to the Logos in her poem "When Man Enters Woman."

In the anime Gundam SEED DESTINY, Logos is the name of an organization that manipulates world politics.

The "" episode "Bad Words" featured Logos, a fictitious example of the board game Scrabble.

See also

* Logocracy
* Rhema
* Spirituality
* Nous
* Parmenides
* Christianity
* Sophia
* Shabda

References

* [http://archimedes.fas.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/dict?name=lsj&lang=el&word=lo%2fgos&filter=GreekXlit The entry for "logos"] in the standard work "A Greek-English Lexicon" by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, and H. Stuart Jones
* D. A. Carson (1991). "The Gospel According to John". ISBN 0-85111-749-X
* Leon Morris (1995). "The Gospel According to John (New International Commentary on the New Testament)". ISBN 0-8028-2504-4
* [http://www.forananswer.org/John/Jn1_1.htm The Apologist's Bible Commentary]
* John Robbins (1993). [http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/101a-AnIntroductiontoGordonHClark.pdf "An Introduction to Gordon H. Clark"] in "The Trinity Review", July/August 1993.
* Guenther Witzany (2006). "The Logos of the Bios 1. Contributions to the foundation of a three-levelled biosemiotics". Helsinki, Umweb. ISBN 952-5576-01-9
* Guenther Witzany (2007). "The Logos of the Bios 2. Bio-Communication". Helsinki, Umweb. ISBN 952-5576-04-7
* Chris Leads (1990). "Word Type in Ancient Formats".
* [http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE267.html|The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.: Appendix I: Indo-European Roots: leg-.] (a comprehensive list of the etymological cognates of "logos")

Notes