Christian philosophy

Christian philosophy includes philosophies carried out by Christians or in relation to the religion of Christianity. Christian philosophy emerged with the aim of reconciling science and faith, starting from natural rational explanations with the help of Christian revelation. Several thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas believed that there was a harmonious relationship between science and faith, others such as Tertullian claimed that there was contradiction; others tried to differentiate them. Quotes about Those who remain in the realm of faith can undoubtedly in some way repeat the question [why there is therefore being rather than nothingness], they can participate in it, but they cannot truly question themselves seriously without betraying their faith. [...] He can only behave "as if"; he cannot really formulate the question to the full extent of his capacity for questioning, nor can he participate in the anguish that is inseparable from it; his faith in the Creator saves him from the vertigo of metaphysical restlessness. In conclusion, the idea of a Christian philosophy can only be a misunderstanding Martin Heidegger, Einführung in die Metaphysik, Tubinghen 1953, p. 6. As quoted in Father Battista Mondin, O.P., Il sistema filosofico di Tommaso d'Aquino. Per una lettura attuale della filosofia tomista, Editrice Massimo, Milan February 1985, 1st edition, ISBN 88-7030-462-0, p. 11 (in Italian). The scholar of medieval philosophy needs only a minimum of objectivity to recognise that in authors such as Augustine, Thomas, Bonaventure and Scotus we are faced with philosophical systems [...] for intrinsic, essential reasons. In fact, these are systems in which the Christian authors are not content simply to repeat the doctrines of the great Greek philosophers, but develop new systems in which the form remains that specific to philosophy, while some content is derived directly from Christianity, for example the uniqueness of God, creation, freedom, the person, history, contingency, the goodness of matter and the human body, providence, etc. Taking these truths one by one, even historians of secular faith recognise that they owe their origin to Christianity, but they do not want to admit that it was the thinkers of the Middle Ages who gave them a rational, philosophical expression. This would be a merit of modern philosophy. But here we are faced with a blatant falsification of history, as Étienne Gilson irrefutably demonstrated in his masterful work The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy. The merit of having constructed a very rich philosophical heritage with truths that are in themselves accessible to human reason, but which in fact were made known to it for the first time by the Word of God, belongs to the Fathers of the Church and the Scholastics, to talented Christian thinkers who bear the names of Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil, Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Bonaventure, Thomas and Scotus. The synthesis between Hellenic thought and Christian truths is by no means a "wooden iron", as Heidegger stated, but a harmonious construction, the result of an intelligent operation that, on the one hand, allowed Christianity itself to take on a rational expression that it did not have before, and on the other, allowed philosophy to gain new and very valuable content that the Greek philosophers had not been able or had not known how to give it. Father Battista Mondin, O.P., Il sistema filosofico di Tommaso d'Aquino. Per una lettura attuale della filosofia tomista, Editrice Massimo, Milan February 1985, 1st edition, ISBN 88-7030-462-0, pp. 12-13 (in Italian). See also Faith Philosophy Reason Relationship between religion and science External links Category:Philosophy Category:Christianity