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Bible Encyclopedias
Antioch, School of
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
a theological seminary which arose at the end of the fourth century, but which had been prepared for a century before by the learned presbyters of the Church of Antioch. It distinguished itself by diffusing a taste for scriptural knowledge, and aimed at a middle course in Biblical Hermeneutics, between a rigorously literal and an allegorical method of interpretation (see Minter, Ueb. d. Antiochien. Schulen, in Staudlin, Archlv. 1, 1, 1). Several other seminaries sprung up from it in the Syrian Church. As distinguished from the school of Alexan. dria, its tendency was logical rather than intuitional or mystical. The term school of Antioch is used also to denote the theological tendencies of the Syrian Church clergy. Nestorianism arose out of the bosom of this school. Gieseler gives the following names as belonging to it: Julius Africanus of Nicopolis (A.D. 232); Dorotheus (A.D. 290); Lucian (A.D. 311). — Neander, Ch. Hist. 2, 150, 352, etc.; Gieseler, Ch. Hist. per. 1, div. 3, § 63; Neander, Hist. of Dogmas, 1, 265; 2, 328.
2. ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA, being a border city, was considered at different times as belonging to different provinces (see Cellar. Ndtit. 2, 187 sq.). Ptolemy (5, 5) places it in Pamphylia, and Strabo (12, 577) in Phrygia (see Smith's Dict. of Class. Geog. s.v.). It was, founded by Seleucus Nicator, and its first inhabitants were from Magnesia on the Maeander. After the defeat of Antiochus (III) the Great by the Romans, it came into the possession of Eumenes, king of Pergamos, and was afterward transferred to Amyntas. On his death the Romans made it the seat of a proconsular government, and invested it with the privileges of a Colonia Juris Italici, which included a freedom from taxes and a municipal constitution similar to that of the Italian towns (Ulpianus, lib. 50). Antioch was noted in early times for the worship of Men Arcaeus, or Lunus. Numerous slaves and extensive estates were annexed to the service of the temple; but it was abolished after the death of Amyntas (Strabo, 12, 8; 3, 72). When Paul and Barnabas visited this city (Acts 13:14), they found a Jewish synagogue and a considerable number of proselytes, and met with great success among the Gentiles (Acts 13:48); but, through the violent opposition of the Jews, were obliged to leave the place, which they did in strict. accordance with their Lord's injunction (Acts 13:51, compared with Matthew 10:14; Luke 9:5). On Paul's return from Lystra he revisited Antioch for the purpose of strengthening the minds of the disciples (Acts 14:21). He probably visited Antioch again at the beginning of his second journey, when Silas was his associate, and Timothy, who was a native of this neighborhood, had just been added to the party (2 Timothy 3:11). (See PAUL).
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