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Introduction: Christianity and Medieval Philosophy
During
the final stages of Greek philosophy, Christianity made its appearance,
affirming and diffusing itself in the Hellenic world as the one true religion,
revealed by God and announced to men by Jesus Christ, the God-man.
Christianity
indeed has a great history, to which, directly or indirectly, the entire story
of humanity is related. Its value, however, is religious, theological,
dogmatic, and not philosophical. Still Christianity and philosophy, though
moving on different planes -- the former on the plane of revelation and the
latter on that of reason -- cannot be foreign to one another.
We know that the supreme purpose of philosophy is to give a
solution to the problem of life through the full use of human reason. This
solution is present in the content of all those revealed truths which
Christianity offers as the object of faith, truths which are made concrete in
the dogmas of theism, of creation, of the cause of evil, and of the means by
which man can redeem himself from evil and attain happiness. But philosophy,
understood as the science which resolves the question of life, is also faced
with these same problems, which were confronted and in part resolved by Greek philosophy.
It has
been the task of Christian thought to return to these problems and to give a
solution to them in accordance with the content of dogma. But it was not
possible to carry out this work of rational systematization until Christianity
had been promulgated as revealed religion and systematized in dogmas.
Historically
and logically the story of Christian thought is divided into three periods:
The Period of
Evangelization, which occupies the entire first century of the Christian
era, during which Christianity is diffused as revealed religion, hence
containing truth within itself and having no need of rational
justification.
The Patristic Period, which
runs from the beginning of the second century through the eighth century.
During this period Christianity was forced to defend itself against the
errors which threaten it from without (paganism) and from within
(heresies), and the Church Fathers worked out the systematization of the
dogmas of Christianity.
The Scholastic Period,
which runs from the ninth to the sixteenth century. Here Christian
thought, utilizing Greek speculation, created its own philosophy in
harmony with the dogmatic teaching which had been systematized by the
Fathers of the Church.
The
first and second periods have very great value for an understanding of the
Christian religion. This fact, however, does not affect this outline-history of
philosophy, which has as its purpose the recounting of the history of thought.
Therefore the exposition of these periods will be brief and will have in view
the end of placing in relief only those phases which tend to give a solution to
the problem of life which is within the scope of philosophy.
Scholasticism,
on the other hand, which is the philosophical explanation of Christian thought
and one of the most important syntheses in the history of philosophy, will be
expounded in its greatest representatives with a fullness consonant with the
limits of this outline-history.
