THE FORMATIVE THOUGHT IN NOVACIAN'S ETHICAL WRITINGS

Abstract

The text aims to discuss Novaciano's thoughts (200-257) regarding two central aspects: the first is to present his understanding of the cosmos, which he conceived in an orderly way, like the Pythagoreans; the second, and more important, concerns his moral letters and the conception that may contain formative reflections, although he did not write any text on education. It is in this sense that Novaciano's writings, The Trinity, the three Letters preserved by Cyprian of Carthage and the exhortations (In Praise of Purity, The Spectacles, Jewish Foods) will be problematized: in what way they appear in the Christian tradition, above all, in defense of a moral rigorism? His texts suggest the existence of a natural order that testifies to the existence of God, just as they indicate the ordained condition of a Christian, whose behaviors sedimented in Christian doctrine express faith.