Logos (Reason / Cosmic Principle)
The rational principle that orders the cosmos — reason, word, and law woven into reality itself.
Logos means word, account, reason, or ratio, and in philosophy it names the rational principle that orders the universe. Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 500 BCE) first gave it cosmic weight, calling the Logos the law by which all things happen; the Stoics (from 3rd c. BCE) developed it into a divine rational fire pervading nature. It later entered Hellenistic Jewish thought through Philo of Alexandria and Christian theology through the Gospel of John.
How it traveled
- Ad Se IpsumVindobona (Vienna) · 170explains
- EnneadesRome · 270explains
- Guide for the PerplexedCairo · 1190
- Yalkut Shimoni on NachTiberias · 1250
- Sha'arei OrahGuadalajara · 1260
- Sha'arei TzedekCastile · 1265
- ZoharGuadalajara · 1280
- Tikkunei ZoharGuadalajara · 1280
- Zohar ChadashGuadalajara · 1290
- Sefer HaKanahCastile · 1380
- Abarbanel on TorahNaples · 1505
- Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)Cairo · 1523
- Pardes RimmonimTzfat · 1548
- Ketem Paz on ZoharTzfat · 1561
- Sha'ar HaKavanotTzfat · 1570
- Sha'ar HaPesukimTzfat · 1570
- Sha'ar Ma'amarei RashbiTzfat · 1570
- Pri Etz ChaimTzfat · 1572
- Reshit ChokhmahTzfat · 1575
- Sha'ar HaHakdamotTzfat · 1610
- Sha'ar Ruach HaKodeshDamascus · 1610
- Ohr HaChammah on ZoharTzfat · 1620
- Mikdash Melekh, RaMaZ Commentary on ZoharTzfat · 1680
- Kalach Pitchei ChokhmahPadua · 1730
- Da'at TevunotPadua · 1735
- Mikdash Melekh on ZoharTzfat · 1750
- Yahel Ohr on ZoharVilna (Vilnius) · 1790
- TanyaLiadi · 1797
- Maor VaShemeshKrakow (Cracow) · 1817
- Sha'arei HaYichud VeEmunahStrashelye · 1820
- Sha'arei AvodahStrashelye · 1820
- Malbim on PsalmsBucharest · 1860
- BePardes HaChasidut VeHakabbalahWarsaw · 1910
- Talmud Eser HaSefirotJerusalem · 1939
- Sulam on ZoharJerusalem · 1945
- Ohr Penimi on Talmud Eser HaSefirotJerusalem · 1948
- De Ecclesiastica Theologia—explains
- Commentarii In Evangelium Joannis—explains
- Demonstratio Evangelica—explains
- De Somniis (lib. i-ii)—explains
Key passages(20)
Exhortation to the Heathen · Clement of Alexandria
Let poetry also approach to us (for philosophy alone will not suffice): poetry which is wholly occupied with falsehood—which scarcely will make confession of the truth, but will rather own to God its
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For I myself, when I discovered the wicked disguise which the evil spirits had thrown around the divine doctrines of the Christians, to turn aside others from joining them, laughed both at those who f
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Fragmenta In Evangelium Joannis (In Catenis) · Origen
Oratio I contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio I contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio II contra Arianos · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio quarta contra Arianos [Sp.] · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio quarta contra Arianos [Sp.] · Athanasius of Alexandria
Oratio quarta contra Arianos [Sp.] · Athanasius of Alexandria
Catena In Epistulam Ad Hebraeos (E Cod. Paris. Coislin. 204) · Catenae (Novum Testamentum)
Catena In Joannem (Catena Integra) (e codd. Paris. Coislin. 23 + Oxon. Bodl. Auct. T.1.4) · Catenae (Novum Testamentum)
Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus