Christian philosophy includes all

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

carried out by

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, or in relation to the religion of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. Christian philosophy emerged with the aim of reconciling science and faith, starting from natural rational explanations with the help of Christian

revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

. Several thinkers such as

Origen of Alexandria Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer who wrote roughly 2,000 treatises i ...

and

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

believed that there was a harmonious relationship between science and faith, others such as

Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

claimed that there was contradiction and others tried to differentiate them. There are scholars who question the existence of a Christian philosophy itself. These claim that there is no originality in Christian thought and its concepts and ideas are inherited from

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysic ...

. Thus, Christian philosophy would protect philosophical thought, which would already be definitively elaborated by Greek philosophy. However,

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

scholars Philotheus Boehner and

Étienne Gilson Étienne Henri Gilson (; 13 June 1884 – 19 September 1978) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes; he also philosophized in the tradition ...

claim that Christian philosophy is not a simple repetition of ancient philosophy, although they owe to Greek science the knowledge developed by

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

and the Neo-Platonists. They even claim that in Christian philosophy, Greek culture survives in organic form.

Historical aspects

Christian philosophy began around the 3rd century. It arises through the movement of the Christian community called

Patristics Patristics, also known as Patrology, is a branch of theological studies focused on the writings and teachings of the Church Fathers, between the 1st to 8th centuries CE. Scholars analyze texts from both orthodox and heretical authors. Patristics e ...

, which initially had as a main objective the defense of Christianity. As Christianity spread, patristic authors increasingly engaged with the philosophical schools of the hellenized Roman Empire, and ultimately learned from some aspects of these surrounding ideas how to better articulate Christianity's own revelation of Jesus Christ as God incarnate and one with God the Father and God the Spirit. Many scholars consider

to be the first Christian teacher to fully present Christian philosophy and metaphysics as a stronger alternative to other schools (especially Platonism). See ''Origen Against Plato'' by Mark J. Edwards and the introduction to ''Origen: On First Principles'' translated and introduced by

John Behr John Behr (born 16 October 1966) is a British Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian. Since 2020, he has served as the Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen. He is the former dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Se ...

as two prominent examples of this history of a specifically Christian philosophy and metaphysics. From the 11th century onwards, Christian philosophy was manifested through

Scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and Ca ...

. This is the period of

medieval philosophy Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...

that extended until the 15th century, as pointed out by T. Adão Lara. From the 16th century onwards, Christian philosophy, with its theories, started to coexist with independent scientific and philosophical theories. The development of Christian ideas represents a break with the philosophy of the Greeks, bearing in mind that the starting point of Christian philosophy is the Christian religious message. Lara divides Christian philosophy into three eras: * Early philosophy:

(2nd–7th centuries) * Medieval philosophy: Scholastics (9th–13th centuries) * Pre-modern philosophy (14th–15th centuries)

Characteristics

Natural demonstration

The philosophical starting point of Christian philosophy is logic, not excluding

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

. Although there is a relationship between theological doctrines and philosophical reflection in Christian philosophy, its reflections are strictly rational. On this way of seeing the two disciplines, if at least one of the premises of an argument is derived from revelation, the argument falls in the domain of theology; otherwise it falls into philosophy's domain.

Justification of truths of faith

Fundamentally, Christian philosophical ideals are to make religious convictions rationally evident through natural reason. The Christian philosopher's attitude is determined by faith in matters relating to cosmology and everyday life. Unlike the Secular philosopher, the Christian philosopher seeks conditions for the identification of eternal truth, being characterized by religiosity There is criticism of Christian philosophy because the Christian religion is hegemonic at this time and centralizes the elaboration of all values. The coexistence of philosophy and religion is questioned, as philosophy itself is critical and religion founded on revelation and established dogmas. Lara believes that there was questioning and writings with philosophical characteristics in the Middle Ages, although religion and theology predominated. In this way it was established by dogmas, in some aspects, which did not prevent significant philosophical constructions.

Tradition

A Christian philosophy developed from predecessor philosophies. Justin is based on Greek philosophy, an academy in Augustine and Patristics. It is in the tradition of Christian philosophical thought or Judaism, from whom it was inherited from the Old Testament and more fundamentally in the Gospel message, which records or at the center of the message advocated by Christianity.

received influence from both

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconc ...

and

Islamic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—''falsafa'' (), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and p ...

. This Christian Europe did not remain exclusively influenced by itself, but it suffered strong influences from other cultures.

Systematizing view

The 'Divine Unity' (attempts) 'intercedes' to systematically and comprehensively systematize the problems of 'global/worldly' reality 'on' a 'cosmic-harmonic-balance' whole. There is a lack of creative 'Divine Spirit', which is compensated by the overall vision. Christian Revelation itself provides the Christian with an overview.Boehner, pg. 12

Citations

References

* Boehner, Philotheus. Gilson, Étienne. ''História da filosofia cristã: desde às origens até Nicolau de Cusa'', 8a edição, Petrópolis, Vozes, 2003. * Lara, Tiago Adão. ''Curso de história da filosofia: A filosofia nos tempos e contratempos da cristandade ocidental'', Petrópolis, Vozes, 1999. * Störig, Hans Joachim. ''História Geral da Filosofia'', Petrópolis, Vozes, 2008.

External links

The Institute for Faithful Research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Philosophy