Christian philosophy
Christian philosophy includes all philosophy 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 Origen of Alexandria and Augustine believed that there was a harmonious relationship between science and faith, others such as Tertullian claimed that there was contradiction and others tried to differentiate them.[1]
For the branch of theology which uses philosophical methods to analyze theological concepts, see Philosophical theology. For the branch of theology which aims to present a rational defense for the Christian faith, often using philosophical methods, see Christian apologetics.
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. Thus, Christian philosophy would protect philosophical thought, which would already be definitively elaborated by Greek philosophy.[2]
However, Boehner and Gilson claim that Christian philosophy is not a simple repetition of ancient philosophy, although they owe to Greek science the knowledge developed by Plato, Aristotle and the Neo-Platonists. They even claim that in Christian philosophy, Greek culture survives in organic form.[3]
Christian philosophy began around the 3rd century. It arises through the movement of the Christian community called Patristics,[4] 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 Origen of Alexandria 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 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. This is the period of 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: