Christianity and Western Philosophy

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the rise of Christianity during the time of the Roman Empire, its contributions to western philosophical thought over the last fifteen hundred years, and some significant philosophical issues of the present day that have been "Christianized" and/or deeply influenced by Christianity. In particular, the paper contends that a case can be made that the works of Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine helped popularize Aristotelian and Platonic philosophy and laid the groundwork for the "man-centered" philosophical leanings of the early modern, Renaissance period.

From the Paper:

"Similarly, the philosophical rise of Christianity in the first centuries after the death of Christ was helped immeasurably by the fact that its early adherents went to considerable lengths to defend the "logic" of Christianity and to link it to Neo-Platonism. One Christian theologian and philosopher of the late-second and early-third centuries AD, Origen, became especially influential by showing how Christianity had its philosophical antecedents in not only Neo-Platonism but in Greek and Roman Stoicism, as well. In the end, Christianity came into intellectual acceptance in part because its focus upon the existence of a "unified and perfect being" residing at the center of the transcendent world was comprehensible to educated Romans reared on the dictates of Neo-Platonism (McGill 2005). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Lo Nero, Carolina. (2001). Christiana Dignitas: New Christian criteria for citizenship in the late Roman Empire. Medieval Encounters, 7(2/3): 146-64.
• McGill, Sara Ann. (2005). Ancient roman philosophy. Ancient Roman Philosphy, 1-2. Retrieved October 5, 2006, from Primary Search Database.
• The period of patristic philosophy. (2006). Medieval Philosophy. Retrieved October 5, 2006, from <http://radicalacademy.com/adiphilpatristic2.htm>
• Richards, Stephen A. (2006). Hume's critiques of the argument for design. Retrieved October 5, 2006, from <http://www.faithnet.org.uk/AS%20Subjects/Philosophyofreligion/humedesign.htm>
• The Roman Empire and early Christianity. (n.d.). Christianity. Retrieved October 5, 2006, from <http://www.loyno.edu/~seduffy/christianity.html>

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