SUMMARY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY
SUMMARY OF EARLY CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY
Christian
Philosophy could be seen as an attempt to respond to the existential problems
of human kind.
There is no
discipline that is built on a vacuum. For it must be built on a pre-existing
one. It must begin from some way. It must have a starting point. Just like the
ancient Greek philosophers before they began to philosophise, they took some
pre-existing knowledge such as that there is an existing world characterised
with nature, multiplicity and intelligibility, for granted as a point of departure. Thus, we can say that for
the early Christians, their faith was the bases and foundation of their
philosophy.
The Early Christians’ Need for Philosophy
Among the
immediate concerns that made the early church fathers to engage in philosophy
are first, the urgent need for evangelisation of the world. Second, how to
combat heresies that were prevalent. Then, there were many alternative versions
of Christian teaching, each claiming to be the authentic version of Christian truth.
Some of these were really Greek religious philosophies. In a bid to comply with Jesus’ mandate to
them to preach the Good news to the ends of the world, the early Christian
fathers saw the great need for philosophy. Basically, their motive towards
philosophy was to Christianise it and to employ it as a tool for
evangelisation. When the upper class Greeks were converted, they used what they
were at home with- philosophy in making the faith more articulated and
intelligible. This gave rise to apologetics, who defended the faith by
employing the weapon of philosophy for logical arguments and a greater
clarification of the true teachings.
Things that the Christians Rejected and Accepted from
Greek Philosophy
For Plato,
polytheism, fulfilment in life is through exercising of their autonomous
reason, believe in reincarnation, transmigration. For Aristotle, no place for
individual immortality. Epicureans choice for pleasure as the goal of life and
not obedience to God, the disintegration of the body and the denial of
afterlife. Yet Christians found much to admire in Greek Philosophy. Socrates
and Plato belief in the soul as being immortal, spiritual entity identical with
the real person and that eternal, spiritual realities were more important than
the transitory, physical world. Aristotle’s postulation of the existence of God
and the final cause of all things. for them, adjusting one’s life to the will
of God was the key to the good life. Despite St Paul’s seeming condemnation of
philosophy in Colossians 2:8, he proffers a connection between philosophical
reason and faith when he spoke to a group of Epicureans and Stoics, that he was
providing fuller knowledge of the same God they were already worshiping. He
further, quoted stoic writers to support his theology-Acts17:28. Furthermore, St
Paul affirms that although the Greeks had no revelation, they knew God through
his effect- creation and had the moral law ‘engraved on their hearts”
JUSTIN MARTYR’S View of Philosophy( born
in Samaria around A.D. 100 to pagan parents)
He was optimistic
about the harmony between Christianity and Greek philosophy. For him, the best
of philosophy is “the greatest possession, and most honourable before God, to
whom it leads us and alone commends us; and these are truly holy men who have bestowed
attention on philosophy.” More so, he asserts that the Christian gospel and the
best in pagan philosophy do not compete, but point to the same truth. Justin
illustrates his claim by pointing out that Plato and the Scriptures agree that
our souls have a special affinity to God, that we are morally responsible for
our actions, and that there is a time of reckoning in the world to come. Again,
he avers that the Good in Plato’s Republic is clearly the same as the God of
the Bible. Justin assumes that Socrates and Plato had so much of the truth
because they were acquainted with the Pentateuch. Furthermore, John’s Gospel
tells us that the Logos (Christ) gives light to all humankind. That is why,
Justin argues that both the Greeks and non-Greeks were able to discover
fragments of God’s truth apart from the Bible, because they possessed “seeds”
of the Divine Reason (the “Spermatic Logos”). Thus, he asserts Socrates and
Plato, along with Abraham, were “Christians before Christ,” because they followed
the Divine Reason within them. Therefore, both Greek philosophy and the Old
Testament were preparatory phases that found their culmination in Christianity.
Hence, to the intellectuals, he advises that there is no need to choose between
Christianity or their intellectual heritage, because all truth is God’s
revealed truth whether it comes through the mouth of the prophets or is
implanted in pagan philosophers by the Divine Logos.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Born of pagan
parents around A.D. 150, he became a Christian through the influence of his
teacher Pantaenus, a converted Stoic. In his work The Stromata, he makes an impassioned argument for Christians to
respect the treasures of Greek thought. Quoting Psalms 29: 3, “The Lord is on
many waters,” Clement speculates that this includes the waters of Greek
philosophy and not just those of the biblical tradition. thus, he argues that
all truth is one and all wisdom is from the Lord. If we find words of wisdom in
Plato, then this is from God no less than the words of the prophets. Hence, fragments
of God’s eternal truth have found their way even into pagan philosophy. If
Plato has good arguments for the immortality of the soul, then we can use his
work and do not need to duplicate his efforts. Clement sees philosophy as a gift
of divine providence and compares the Old Testament law with philosophy. The
first was given to the Jews and the second to the Greeks, and God used both
sources of wisdom to prepare hearts and minds for receiving the message of
Jesus.
Philosophy,
clement says, can even be a helpful tool for understanding Scripture.
Philosophy teaches us the skills of logic, the value of clear definitions, the
analysis of language, and the ability to formulate demonstrations, all of which
will lead us to truth. To diminish the impact of Paul’s warning against £empty,
rational philosophy,” Clement emphasises Paul’s qualification that he is
referring to philosophies that are “based on the principles of this world
instead of Christ.” Clement concludes, then that Paul was not branding all
philosophy as alien to Christianity, but only those schools such as
Epicureanism that abolished providence and deified pleasure.
Despite his claims
that Greek philosophy is a kind of divine revelation, Clement does make some
negative comments about it. As with many of the early Christian writers, he
believes the Greeks stole many ethical and theological ideas from the Hebrews.
Furthermore, he always insists that Greek philosophy gave us only fragmentary
and partial truths, whereas the Christian revelation gives us the fuller
picture. Finally, too much attention to philosophy can entangle us in
irrelevant quarrels. However, philosophy pursued for its own sake can be
enjoyable and profitable for the Christian, but only if we see it as a dessert
that tops off the main meal. Despite some of these negative comments, the
portions of Clements’s position that had the most lasting influence can be summed
up in these words of his: philosophy is not, then the product of vice, since it
makes men virtuous; it follows, then, that it is the work of God, whose work it
is solely to do good. And all things given by God are given and received well.
NB: Clement is highly celebrated by Historians and scholars as the first to
provide a true harmony between philosophy and of Christian faith.
TERTULLIAN born around A.D. 160 to pagan parents in
the North African city of Carthage.
He was hostile to
Philosophy. however, he relunctantly, admits that sometimes philosophers found the truth. For instance,
he points out that the philosophers agree with the Christians that the Logos,
the divine Word and Reason, created the universe. But, while philosophers
became inflated with pride in their own reason, their truths are not the result
of spiritual insight but rather of dumb luck, much like a sailor happening to
find his way in a storm.
Generally,
Tertullian has a little use for philosophy. Christ tells us, “Seek and ye shall
find.” However, rather than thins sanctioning the sort of seeking that
characterises philosophy, it tells us that when we have found the truth (the
Gospel of Christ) “nothing else is to be believed, and therefore nothing else
is to be sought.” He sees philosophy as the cause of heresy through curious
questions. He argues that “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What
concord is there between heretics and Christians?” hence, he despised
philosophy. for “we want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus,
no inquisition after enjouing the gospel! With our faith, we desire no further
belief.”
In the history of Christian theology, philosophy
has sometimes been seen as a natural complement to theological reflection,
whereas at other times practitioners of the two disciplines have regarded each
other as mortal enemies. Some early Christian thinkers such as Tertullian were
of the view that any intrusion of secular philosophical reason into theological
reflection was out of order. On the other hand, St. Augustine of Hippo, argued that
philosophical reflection complemented theology, but only when these
philosophical reflections were firmly grounded in a prior intellectual
commitment to the underlying truth of the Christian faith. Thus, the legitimacy
of philosophy was derived from the legitimacy of the underlying faith commitments.
According to the Thomistic model, philosophy and theology are distinct
enterprises, differing primarily in their intellectual starting points.
Philosophy takes as its data the deliverances of our natural mental faculties:
what we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. These data can be accepted on the
basis of the reliability of our natural faculties with respect to the natural
world. Theology, on the other hand takes as its starting point the divine
revelations contained in the Bible. These data can be accepted on the basis of
divine authority. God both created the world which is accessible to philosophy
and revealed the texts accessible to theologians, the claims yielded by one
cannot conflict with the claims yielded by another unless the philosopher or theologian
has made some prior error. Since the deliverances of the two disciplines must
then coincide, philosophy can be put to the service of theology First,
philosophical reasoning might persuade some who do not accept the authority of
purported divine revelation of the claims contained in religious texts. Thus,
an atheist who is unwilling to accept the authority of religious texts might
come to believe that God exists on the basis of purely philosophical arguments.
Second, distinctively philosophical techniques might be brought to bear in
helping the theologian clear up imprecise or ambiguous theological claims.
Thus, for example, theology might provide us with information sufficient to
conclude that Jesus Christ was a single person with two natures, one human and
one divine, but leave us in the dark about exactly how this relationship
between divine and human natures is to be understood. The philosopher can
provide some assistance here, since, among other things, he or she can help the
theologian discern which models are logically inconsistent and thus not viable
candidates for understanding the relationship between the divine and human
natures in Christ.
The Importance of
Philosophy for Believers
Being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) means that human beings have
unique intellectual abilities. And the Bible teaches that followers of Christ
should use the gift of their mind in their love and service to God (Matthew 22:37). Furthermore, intellectual
virtues such as discernment, reflection, testing, analysis, and renewal of the
mind are biblical imperatives (Acts 17:11; Roman
12:2; 1 Corinthians 14:29; Colossians 2:8; 1Thessalonians 5:21).
The study of philosophy, like no other discipline,
exposes a person to the important areas of critical thinking and the principles
of argumentation. Thinking clearly, carefully, and reflectively are the
benefits of studying logic–one of the critical fields of philosophy.
If Christians hope to engage in evangelisation and
apologetics, then they will inevitably encounter people's objections to the
faith. Many, if not most, of those objections involve direct philosophical
connotations. When it comes to philosophy of religion, questions about God's
existence, his attributes, and the relationship between faith and reason
immediately come to the fore. This area of study also focuses upon the issue of
theodicy (the justification of God's goodness in light of evil in the
world). Some of the very best Christian responses to the challenge that evil
poses to the truth of the faith have come from philosophers. As the great
medieval Christian philosophers recognized, good philosophy seeks to critically
analyze life's most important questions. It can also serve as a useful handmaid
to the study of theology and in the apologetics enterprise as well.
Pursuing the "life of the mind" to the
glory of God is an important component in the Christian's overall devotion. And
the study of philosophy can uniquely serve to prepare the believer for
intellectual engagement.
At the same time,
the Church considers philosophy an indispensable help for a deeper
understanding of faith and for communicating the truth of the Gospel to those
who do not yet know it. (fides et ratio -5-)
St. John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio
“Faith and reason
are like two wings upon which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of
truth.” Philosophical
knowledge depends upon sense perception and experience advancing by the light
of the intellect alone; whereas faith recognizes in the message of salvation
the “fullness of grace and truth” in Christ. Aquinas says “Just as grace builds
on nature and brings it to fulfillment, so faith builds upon and perfects
reason.” Since
faith without reason is fanaticism and reason without faith is scepticism and
atheism, both ought to be synthesized for a holistic development
AUGUSTINE’S THEORY
OF KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is sought to gain happiness
which is the greatest good. “This happiness all desire, this alone which is
happiness all desire, for all desire to have joy in truth”[1] For Augustine, knowledge
cannot be attained through the intellect alone without revelation. He sought
for a possible confluence between faith and reason. Thus, his philosophical and
knowledge doctrine tends to revolve around God. He expressed that knowledge
comes from the light and inspiration of God.
Responding to the sceptic’s belief that
you cannot know anything for certain, Augustine on the other hand shows that
man knows some truths with certainty. First, he employs the principle of
contradiction to show that we can be certain that a thing cannot both be and
not be at the same time. By this means, we know that both alternatives cannot
be true.[2]More so, Augustine states
that no one can doubt his own existence because the doubt of one’s own
existence is a proof of one’s existence (si fallor sum). According to him, even
if I am deceived to believe that I exist, the fact that I can be deceived means
that I am, I exist.[3]
Any conscious person is certain of three things; that he exists, that he is
alive and that he thinks. It is pertinent to note here that this si fallor sum forms the basis for
Descartes’ cogito ergo sum, the
foundation for his philosophy. Thus, Augustine’s problem was no longer, whether
people can attain certainty, but rather how they can attain it.[4]
Attempting to proffer solution to question
of attaining the certainty of knowledge, Augustine argues that the act of
knowing is an activity of the soul, he thereby distinguishes three cognitive
operations of the soul: the senses (sensus), inferior reason (ratio inferior)
and superior reason (ratio superior). Sensitive knowledge comes through the
qualities and activities of the body. However, these activities are actually
exercised by the soul through the body. He adds that when a person senses
objects, he or she derives some knowledge from this act of sensation even
though it is at the lowest level of knowledge and gives us the least amount of
certainty. Because the objects of the sense are always changing and the organs
of sense change, there is sense knowledge but it cannot be relied on because of
its limitations.[5]
Furthermore, Augustine adds that inferior
reason is another source of knowledge. This is knowledge of science and
physical world through the process of abstraction. Bodies, that is, physical
things are not known immediately but through mediation. He asserts that physical
bodies are known through the images they make on us. Rational knowledge is
attained through comparative judgement in which the mind judges corporeal
objects according to eternal and incorporeal standards peculiar to man.[6] The knowledge acquired by
ratio inferior is directed towards the universal world; that is physical
things. Therefore such knowledge is contingent, mutable and temporal. However,
such knowledge has proved not to be trusted, connected to the senses and is
sometimes deceptive and unstable. Thus, inferior reason cannot provide
certainty of knowledge.
Knowledge of eternal Truths, that is, such
knowledge that is certain, reliable and endures are obtained through divine
illumination. Augustine maintained from platonic influence that the objects of
true knowledge are not material things but eternal Truths or ideas, which are
immutable and are in the mind of God as the exemplars or pattern of creation.
Since the soul is imbued with the nature to acquire knowledge of things, it is
only when our mind grasped these immutable ideas in the mind of God that we
acquire knowledge. But the question
arises, if all the elements needed for knowledge are mutable, finite and not
eternal (sense objects, bodily organs and the mind), how can mutable things
with such imperfections comprehend immutable and eternal truths about which the
mind has no doubt? How can one grasps these Truths so certain and superior to
the knowledge produced by the human mind.[7] Augustine answers that we
are able to do so through divine illumination. This he calls the superior
knowledge. Thus, superior knowledge is necessary, immutable and eternal.
Divine
illumination enables the mind to grasp eternal truths and thereby acquire true
and certain knowledge. It could be argued that Augustine uses this theory of
illumination to replace Plato’s theory of reminiscence because of Plato’s
insistence on the pre-existence of the soul, which is contrary to the Christian
faith. Furthermore, divine truth and illumination make certain ideas more visible
and exposes the truth of judgement.[8] It does not necessarily
mean that divine illumination infuses ideas into our minds but the illumination
of our judgement whereby we are able to discern that certain ideas contain
necessary and eternal truth. Subsequently, human soul knows truth through
divine illumination, which is a superior reason.
Finally,
it is important to note that Augustine’s theory of knowledge is based on faith
and reason which when well harmonised, offer us complete true knowledge that
would set the world free both spiritually and physically. For Augustine,
knowledge serves both practical and religious purposes. A good understanding of
the levels of knowledge uproots false notion of knowledge that subvert the
soul’s journey to God, and guides us in the search for truth. Thus, the
possession of truth is essential for a happy life and brings us closer to the
Author of all truth.[9] Furthermore, Augustine’s theory of knowledge shows that faith and reason
complement each other. For him, faith and reason are not two independent and
alternative routes to the truth. Hence, where reasoning stops owing to its
weakness and insufficiency, faith comes in to perfect our true knowledge.
However, the major weakness of Augustine’s epistemology is that he did not define the method of Divine
illumination of the intellect. The highest level of knowledge for Augustine is
the knowledge of God. Sensation plays its part in attaining this knowledge in
that it directs the mind upward. He says that we move toward God “from the
exterior to the interior and from the inferior to the superior”.
[1] Augustine, Bk 16,
Ch xvii
[3] Cf. Battista
Mondin, op.cit., p. 88.
[4] Cf. Ibid.,
p.89.
[5] Cf. Samuel Enoch Stumpf, Philosophy: History and Problems, 5th
ed. (New York: McGraw- Hill Book
Co. 1994), p. 138.
[6] Cf. Frederick
Copleston, S.J. A History of Medieval
Philosophy (New York: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990), p.33.
[7] Cf. Joseph Omoroegbe, A Simplified History of Western Philosophy (Lagos:
Joja Press Limited, 1990), p100.
[8] Cf. Ibid., p.90.
[9] Cf. William F. Lawhead, The Voyage of Discovery: A Historical
Introduction to Philosophy (Belmont: Wadsworth, 2004), p. 125.
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