Order tuned to chaos

Abstract

Stanley Jaki recently contended that Athanasius' concept of a fully ordered universe in the Contra Gentes—De Incarnatione was conducive to a cultural climate favourable to the birth of Newtonian science. In response to Jaki, this article will try to heed Kannengiesser's warning that, with the neglect of literary criticism—a familiarity with Athanasius' language—we will not be able to make explicit the inner logic proper to each of his writings. An aspect of the Athanasian concepts of order and disorder will be scrutinized from a socio-linguistic and socio-semiotic perspective. A concluding remark will be made about a possible dialogue between an emerging understanding of the concept of order in modern science (popularly known as chaos theory) and the concept of order in Athanasius.