What we find, therefore, is a strong tension between two opposed tendencies: on the one hand, a historically/chronologically oriented narrative of ancient wisdom which held considerable revolutionary potential, and, on the other, an essentially conservative doctrine which preaches the futility of change and development by emphasizing the trans-historical continuity and universality of absolute truth.
Still, this is not all. If we further unpack the Renaissance discourse on ancient wisdom, we may even distinguish a third, “prophetic” tendency: this one claims that, due to divine inspiration, the ancient philosophers before Christ had been granted prophetic glimpses into the superior religion of Christianity. Such a third option, which might conveniently be referred to as pia philosophia, introduces an element of “progress”: whereas the prisca theologia combines a narrative of decline with hopes of imminent revival, and philosophia perennis emphasizes continuity, pia philosophia thinks in terms of growth and development, imagining a gradual “education of humanity” to prepare it for the final revelation.
– Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture (2012), pp. 9-10