Interpretation of Christian dogmatics in theological treatises of SeverinusBoethius

The work examines Boethius'interpretation of Christian dogmatics and its relation to Neoplatonic philosophy. The cause of attemptto write this article was a long-standing debate whether Boethius was Christian or not. Since theMiddle Ages to our time this debate has been conducted as if the question of faith was principal toBoethius himself. Such an assumption does not accord with the idea of antique origins of Boethius'philosophical outlook. The antique philosophy never gave much significance to dogmatics: theinterpretation of mythological symbolics served pure philosophical purposes. It was of importance foran antique philosopher not to adhere to an established opinion of God, but to comprehend the divinelaws, to search for the highest good. Therefore it can be said that Boethius was Christian just as muchas it accorded with his philosophy. The question is, does his philosophical interpretation of dogmaticsaccord with the foundations of Christian religion? In the treatise «On the Holy Trinity» («Quomodotrinitas unus deus ac non tres dii») Boethius uses the formal methods and conceptual apparatus ofantique dialectics for solution of the trinitary problem. Such methods were used both by the firstapologetics and by St. Augustine in his book «On the Trinity»; but if the apologetics usedphilosophical tools for substantiation of the religious dogmatics, Boethius used the dogma as a meansof constitution of philosophical concepts.The work examines the linguistic aspect of Boethius' methodology used for solution oftheological problems. This methodology is based on Aristotle's teaching reworked in the spirit ofNeoplatonism. The "grammatical Platonism", which sets the rules of predication in theology, results inmetaphysical Platonism, which defines the philosophical interpretation of Christian dogmatics. Amongthe linguistic conceptions constituting the treatise's conceptual matrix the central place is taken by anoriginal theory of copula, according to which the verb «esse» takes grammatical meaning in existentialsentences and lexical meaning in predicate sentences. Obviously, the linguistic theory of Boethius wasinfluenced by the Neoplatonic idea of the identity of Being and unity. The structure of theologicalstatement misses the subject, therefore the verb must take its function; accordingly, the author'sconception of the meaning of copula expresses the sense that he puts in the concept of God. Thetheology that was explicitly expressed in «The Consolation of Philosophy» is implicitly present in thetreatise on the linguistic level. The conceptualization of dogmatics serves Boethius as a means ofassertion of his own philosophical positions.

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