Logosn.
/ˈlɒɡɒs/, U.S. /ˈloʊˌɡoʊs/ Theology and Philosophy.
A term used by Greek (esp. Hellenistic and Neo-Platonist) philosophers in certain metaphysical and theological applications developed from one or both of its ordinary senses ‘reason’ and ‘word’; also adopted in three passages of the Johannine writings of the New Testament (where the English versions render it by ‘Word’) as a designation of Jesus Christ; hence employed by Christian theologians, esp. those who were versed in Greek philosophy, as a title of the Second Person of the Trinity. By modern writers the Greek word is used untranslated in historical expositions of ancient philosophical speculation, and in discussions of the doctrine of the Trinity in its philosophical aspects.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > the Trinity > the Son or Christ > [noun] > as word of God
wordOE
Logos1587
speech1587
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > ancient Greek philosophy > [noun] > intellect, reason, or mind
nous1678
Logos1833
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. v. 59 We cal him Logos, which some translate Word or Speech, and othersome Reason.
1647 H. More Philos. Poems ii. i. xxiv. 79 That inward awfull Majestie Hight Logos, whom they term great sonne of God.
1720 D. Waterland 8 Serm. Divinity of Christ 243 Origen..thence draws an Argument for the Eternity of the Logos or Word.
1833 E. Burton Lect. Eccl. Hist. ii. xvii. 115 Plato never imagined this Logos or Mind to be a person in the sense in which Christians believe the Son of God to be a person.
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1838) III. 158 If Christ be that Logos or Word that was in the beginning.
1882 S. D. F. Salmond in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 803/2 Heraclitus holds that nothing material can be thought of without this Logos, but he does not conceive the Logos itself to be immaterial.
1882 S. D. F. Salmond in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 804/1 The Logos of the Stoics is a reason in the world gifted with intelligence, and analogous to the reason in man.
1882 S. D. F. Salmond in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 804/1 His [Philo's] Logos is the representative of the world to God as well as of God to the world.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations.
ΚΠ
1839 I. Taylor Anc. Christianity I. 150 Man..shall..under the conduct of the Logos-Redeemer, reascend to his source.
1865 tr. D. F. Strauss New Life Jesus I. i. vi. 30 They are mere explanations of the Logos-theory.
1874 Supernatural Relig. II. iii. i. 340 The dogmatic system of the Logos Gospel did not admit of more than mere reference to it.
1883 P. Schaff Hist. Christian Church II. lxxii. 555 This extension of the Logos revelation explains the high estimate which some of the Greek fathers..put upon the Hellenic..philosophy.
Derivatives
logos-ship n. the dignity and office of the Logos.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > the Trinity > the Son or Christ > [noun] > as word of God > dignity or office of
logos-ship1895
1895 Expositor Sept. 163 The logos-ship was attributed to Jesus.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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