John Locke, the "Paraphrase" and Adam Kadmon

Abstract

The paper focuses on the impact that Locke’s reading of the Adumbratio Kabbalae Christianae had on his considerations about Christ and his pre-existence in the Paraphrase, mainly in his extensive theological note on Eph. 1:10. The note, which presents an Arian notion of the Godhead, has been widely discussed by Victor Nuovo, John Marshall and Diego Lucci. While Nuovo argues that Locke’s engagement with Christ’s pre-existence predates the Paraphrase, Marshall and Lucci highlight the incipience of Locke’s “Arianism” in this work and consider it only incidental, if compared to his prevailing Socinianism. The paper argues that, although a comparison between Locke’s note on Ephesians and the Adumbratio confirms Nuovo’s views and indicates this text as the possible source of Locke’s Arianism, other elements suggest that his opinions in this note were a late and incidental element of his Christology.