Philosophy in Christianity appears in the integral system of human values as one of the most unique spiritual phenomena of culture. Christianity, having entered the historical arena in the second half of the 1st century AD, for a long time chained free human thought (mind) to itself, subordinating almost all known ancient philosophical teachings to its interests. Christian thought, itself claiming the role of spiritual philosophy, presented moral and ethical subjects regarding orthodox religion. Therefore, it is equally important for both a sincere believer and a secular person, if he aspires to culture and enlightenment. This, of course, is only about new (but necessarily religious) views on the Universe, society and man himself. In modern Christianity, the world of human thought is presented in a completely different way. It, as before, being entirely and completely mediated by revelation from the Holy Scriptures, strives for freedom of interpretation of the latter.
Christian philosophy has been closely linked with theology from the very beginning. Its subject covered existential relations (God - man), that is, all traditional philosophical disciplines - ontology, epistemology, logic, ethics, aesthetics, etc. It took shape historically gradually and difficultly, crystallizing out of the chaos of various ancient teachings, contradictory conjectures that arose in individual Christian societies. The first systematic philosophizing associated with Christianity (but not yet Christian philosophy) is considered to be the works of the so-called Gnostics. Gnostics were those who did not want to be content with blind faith in God, but sought to understand and deepen their faith in him. However, they were divided into two classes. The first was made up of the Gnostics belonging to the church, who sought to logically and consistently substantiate the Christian faith. The Gnostics, who were not connected with the official church, wanted to link their teachings with the ideals of ancient Eastern mythical ideas about the world and ancient Greek mystical philosophy.
Gnosticism became the first rather critical current of philosophical thought in early Christianity, where the teachings of Christ and the secular wisdom of ancient philosophers were combined in a very original way. But the most important thing was that the Gnostics boldly opposed the "enlightened" knowledge of God to ignorant faith. However, they were not without reason called mystics, since they taught that God himself can only be known through revelation or direct (personal) communication with him. The most famous representatives of Christian Gnosticism were Clement (end of the 2nd-beginning of the 3rd century) and Origen of Alexandria.
However, the ancient Roman apologetics initially became the main mode of existence of philosophical and religious thought in Christianity. Philosophical and religious apologists (Greek apologetes - protector), defending the spiritual interests of early Christianity, appealed to the authorities - the Roman emperors, governors, convincing them of the need for loyalty to the new religion. At the same time, they put forward as intellectual supports the philosophical principles of the main ancient Greek philosophical systems - Platonism, and much later - Aristotelianism. Without creating their own philosophical trends, they, nevertheless, outlined a range of worldview problems, which later became the main ones for all Christian philosophers. These were questions about God, about the creation of the world, about the nature of man and the meaning of his life, and some others. In the Middle Ages, Christian philosophers created a powerful system for the protection of Holy Scripture and Tradition, designed to protect the truths of faith.
And in I-II centuries, during the formation and beginning of the functioning of the church, apologetics flourished already as a way of rational (theoretical) defense of Christianity. At the same time, developing the basic principles Christian philosophy, apologists actively used the conceptual apparatus and methodology of ancient Greek and ancient Roman philosophy. The greatest role in the formation and development of apologetics as the first philosophy of faith belongs to Philo of Alexandria (20 BC-54 AD). He is considered one of the prominent representatives of a new religious and philosophical trend - exegesis (gr. exegesis - interpretation), that is, interpreters of religious texts. At that time, the main condition for comprehending divine truth was the interpretation of the hidden meaning of the Bible. According to Philo, the interpretation of the Bible, on the one hand, is divine grace, and on the other, philosophical reflection. Experts believe that in the interpretation of the Bible, a special attitude is manifested to the Word, or rather, to the biblical text as a bearer of divine truth.
The word of a wise man (philosopher) is only a reflection of the divine Word. In this regard, Philo points out that the biblical wisdom and the creativity of the ancient Greek philosophers have one source - the divine mind. However, Greek philosophers and early Christians discovered intelligible truth in very different ways. Philo, for example, in contrast to the ancient philosophers, who saw in God an absolute monad, which, being indecomposable and indivisible, represented an abstract integrity, saw in God a personality, to which, among other things, there must be personal attitude. Of course, he places God outside the material (perceived) world, characterizing him as a transcendence, but he is confident in his special personal self-expression. God, according to Philo, himself, if necessary, appears to man, but in the form that he considers necessary. So, he introduced himself to Moses as Yahweh (in the Greek version, Jehovah), which in Russian means “Existing”.
In the new philosophy of faith, Philo for the first time raised the problem of naming God, to which no previous words and concepts about him are applicable. However, according to Philo, already Moses, having comprehended the truth directly from God himself, was able to clearly present it to people in a language they understand, relying on images and mystical examples. Therefore, for the interpretation of divine truth, human reason became necessary, capable of making divine revelation understandable to people. Philo called the human mind a reflection of the universal rational world order, or the Logos. In this regard, he himself did not see anything reprehensible in the fact that ancient philosophers sought to comprehend the secrets of the world order with their minds.
Christian thinkers of all times and peoples have given the supernatural the role of a determining principle in the processes taking place in the world. They made the development of nature, society, and man directly dependent on it. As a result, human life in all religious and philosophical teachings was considered in two dimensions: on the one hand, in relation to God, and on the other, to nature, society and oneself. Already St. Augustine, whose ideas predetermined the development of late European philosophy, was a thinker who boldly stepped over all the conventions of dogmatic religion. For Augustine, true religion and true philosophy are identical. He turned out to be one of the first great theologians who skillfully connected the ideas of antiquity and Christianity.
The Church Fathers before Augustine (with a few exceptions) did not attach too much importance to philosophy, and if they turned to it, then only to produce new theological ideas. As for Augustine himself, his works “On the Trinity”, “On the City of God”, “Confession” continued Plato’s ideas on issues of being and time, problems of a person’s personality, his will and mind in the face of God. The world (first matter) is created from nothing. And time, according to the teachings of Augustine, before the creation of the world did not exist at all. Even now it really exists only in the head of a person who remembers the past, contemplates the present, thinks about the future. This idea of the subjectivity of time will be developed in the future by representatives of subjective idealism. Augustine also thinks a lot about the phenomenon of man, his vocation, the meaning of life on earth and in heaven. Man, according to Augustine, is not just a "servant of God", he is a person. The thinker is disgusted by any violence against the personality. A person is unique and valuable because he is able to choose absolutely freely between good and evil. Because of this, from the standpoint of Christian philosophy, the human person is simultaneously responsible to people and to God for all his thoughts and actions. Man, being created in the image and likeness of God, has his own will and mind. Moreover, he needs reason in order to be ready for the search for God.
But a special philosophical novelty was manifested in Augustine's bold views on man, in which the latter appeared not as an abstract figure, but as a concrete person, the image and likeness of God. The philosopher argued that the most reliable knowledge is the inner world of man. This approach fundamentally changed the philosophical concept of "I", which attracted the attention of representatives of existentialism.
So, initially mature Christian philosophy manifests itself within the framework of patristics - the teachings of spiritual and religious leaders (Holy Fathers of the Church). This is a whole era of centuries-old domination of religious (Christian) philosophy in the spiritual culture of Europe. On its theoretical basis in the IX-XII centuries. a new philosophical trend was taking shape - scholasticism, which was formed under the conditions of the absolute dominance of Christian ideology in all spheres public life. Scholasticism saw a significant role of philosophical thinking in the mental (theoretical) substantiation of the main religious dogmas. Without a solid philosophical foundation, traditional religious dogma becomes a superficial subject and runs the risk of being completely dissolved in the study of the latest church innovations.
The outstanding theologian-philosopher Thomas Aquinas, using the basic ideas of Aristotle, completely subordinated philosophy to the interests of religion. However, it was he who was a supporter of the development of science and philosophy, their constructive interaction with religion, of course, in the interests of the latter. In the titles of his main religious and philosophical works, Thomas used one unifying word - "sum": "The sum of theology", "The sum of philosophy", "The sum against the pagans". In these works, philosophy and religion are united by the philosopher side by side. general provisions which are opened by both reason and faith. In the same cases, when given the opportunity to choose, it is better to understand God than just to believe in him. On this, according to the teachings of Thomas, the existence of the truths of reason (“natural theology”) is based. "Natural theology" is the most important part of philosophy. From a moral point of view, for him the main function of philosophy is to create conditions for a moral life, the ultimate goal of which is salvation.
As a result of mastering this section, the student must:
know
- the chronological and geographical framework for the development of early Christian philosophy;
- philosophical and religious premises of Christian philosophy;
- the most important periods in the development of early Christian philosophy;
- main schools and directions of early Christian philosophy;
- basic concepts of early Christian philosophy;
be able to
- trace the links between the ideas of ancient philosophy and Christian doctrine;
- identify similarities and differences between ancient philosophical teachings and Christian doctrine;
- to classify the schools of early Christian philosophy according to epistemological criteria;
own
The conceptual apparatus of early Christian philosophy and the skills of analyzing the corresponding philosophical texts.
Christian philosophy
Formation of Christian philosophy
Christianity arose in the 1st century. AD in the eastern province of the Roman Empire - Palestine - and in the II-III centuries. spread widely throughout the empire and even beyond its borders. Since Christianity proclaimed that there is only one true God, then all the "official" Roman gods (Jupiter, Mars, Romulus, etc.) were understood in Christianity as false gods or even demons. And since a sign of the loyalty of Roman citizens was taking oaths before the statues of Roman gods and "divine" emperors, Christians who refused to perform such rites looked extremely suspicious in the eyes of the Roman authorities. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the I-III centuries. Christians were persecuted by the authorities. (The first of these was at the end of the 1st century, when, after the devastating fire of Rome, the emperor Nero accused the Christians of setting fire to the city.)
By the beginning of the IV century. Christian communities on the territory of the empire had already become a serious force that emperors had to reckon with.
In 313, the emperors Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, according to which Christianity was equalized in rights with other religions of the empire.
In 325, Emperor Constantine issued a decree by which Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. And already at the end of the IV century. (c. 395) Emperor Theodosius the Great by his decree banned pagan religions and closed all pagan temples. After that, Christianity remained the only official religion in the empire. Since that time, the persecution of pagans by Christians has begun, an active struggle has been waged (including at the state level) against pagan culture, including pagan philosophy.
In 529, Emperor Justinian closed the last pagan philosophical school, the Platonic Academy in Athens, by his decree.
The development of Christian philosophy in the I-III centuries. proceeded extremely slowly and was associated with a number of difficulties. Thus, a number of prominent ideologists of Christianity (Tertullian, Justin, Tatian, and others) argued that Christians do not need any philosophy at all, so all previous philosophy should simply be discarded. Others believed that philosophy could help substantiate and clarify the Christian faith. And for this you can even use the ideas of the pagans, of course, having previously cleared them of their own pagan content.
The formation of Christian philosophy was significantly influenced by the teachings of the Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher Philo of Alexandria.
The first philosophical ideas of Christian doctrine can be found in biblical (New Testament) texts: in Gospel of John and in The Epistles of the Apostle Paul (scheme 36).
Scheme 36.
The first attempts at a proper philosophical understanding of the ideas of Christianity can be considered gnosticism, the teachings of Origen, apologetics and patristics (Table 31).
Since, in accordance with Christian doctrine, the main goal of human life is the attainment of heavenly bliss, the most important place in Christian theology and philosophy has taken soteriology - the doctrine of salvation, i.e. about the ways of gaining heavenly bliss and approaching God.
Table 31
Directions in early Christian philosophy
- The beginning of AD in European chronology, it is customary to consider the time of the birth of Christ.
Philosophy test
Performed by Sorokina Svetlana Evgenievna student gr. FZS (Mzh) - 030501 - 21 (k)
Udmurt State University Mozhga
Introduction.
The information provided to the individual by living religious experience concerns not only the nature of the essential characteristics, properties of religion itself, but also the ultimate foundations of everything that exists, including man in all the uniqueness and specificity of his being, ideas about the meaning and purpose of his life, the nature of relationships with nature, in within which his daily life is carried out, and with other people. Therefore, religion, mainly Christianity, as well as philosophy, is a form of spiritual activity focused on consciousness and understanding of fundamental worldview issues related to a person’s ideas about the world as a whole and a person’s place in it.
For a society taken as a whole, religion acts as a powerful means of social integration, rallying people, since common beliefs give the highest meaning to their activities. And in the social plan, religion is realized as a special social institution - the church; at the first stages - simply as an association of believers, later (in almost all religions) - as a structure that unites persons who are especially initiated into sacred secrets and act as a kind of "intermediary" between the object of faith and people.
Taken in the unity and interaction of all these structure-forming components, religion performs an ideological and integrative function, gives certain explanations of nature, society and man, i.e. the world as a whole. And here a certain similarity between religion and philosophy immediately catches the eye. At the same time, religion performs many other functions that philosophy lacks. Among the latter is the so-called salvific-compensatory function, which promises a person the hope of getting rid of all the hardships and hardships of worldly everyday life. Among the important functions of religion is also a commutative-integrative function: religion facilitates communication, the unification of people who adhere to the same worldview. And, finally, the regulatory function, which gives a person certain norms and values of behavior, primarily ethical ones.
Recall that it was the Christian religion that largely contributed to the formation of a scientific worldview as a means or tool in the fight against occultism. This process began already at the end of the Middle Ages, but acquired a special scope in the era of the New Age, because for Christianity the triumph of the scientific-mechanistic worldview was very important: mechanism expelled spirits from nature. It is far from accidental that the scientific picture of the world was born precisely in Christian Europe, and not in Arab culture, which in many respects was very refined and high, and not in Chinese or Indian cultures.
According to Hegel, philosophy is the highest and last stage of the spiritual development of mankind, and, above all, because religion is mainly focused on the feelings and ideas of a person, while for philosophical consciousness and knowledge, the main tool, or tool, is the concept.
1. Christian philosophy, its specificity and main features
1.1. Christianity as a source of Christian philosophy.
The world religions include Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism.
Christianity is the largest world religion and one of the most widespread in terms of the number of adherents, which are approximately 20% of the world's population and in terms of geographical distribution - in almost every country in the world there is at least one Christian community. Currently, the number of adherents of Christianity around the world exceeds about 2 billion.
At the center of Christian doctrine is the God-Man Jesus Christ. The main book is the Bible - the Old Testament and the New Testament, which presents the life and sufferings of Christ, the legends about the deeds of the holy apostles, as well as the revelation of St. John the Theologian with his picture of the terrible judgment that awaits mankind.
Christianity originally emerged as the religion of the ancient Jews. The elimination of some elements of Judaism that were unpopular among other peoples (ceremonies of circumcision, eating, the idea of the Jewish people chosen by God, the laws of Moses) caused an influx of pagans and converted Jews into Christian communities. The attractive aspects of Christianity were universalism, monotheism, the equality of all believers before God, the idea of the cleansing sacrifice of Christ, faith in retribution in the afterlife, the idea of resurrection.
Early Christianity was characterized by a refusal to participate in political life and government, the preaching of ascetic ethics. Until the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity was opposed by a state worldview based on the dominant pagan religion and on a picture of the world developed within the framework of philosophy. A philosophy that does not notice the two thousand year history of Christianity or deliberately ignores it is theoretically impossible, doomed to failure in advance. It is impossible at the present time to determine morality, justice, good, evil, the development and formation of European statehood and culture without taking into account the historical influence of Christianity on the life of human society.
By the 4th century, Christianity was ideologically strengthened, and after the decree of Emperor Constantine in 311 on the freedom of Christian religion and the cessation of persecution of Christians, theological disputes are transferred inside Christianity, the most significant philosophical concepts and ideas are adapted to the needs of substantiating Christian doctrine. Christianity becomes the officially recognized religion of the Roman Empire. A little more time will pass and the Nicene Council in 325 will adopt the final formulation of the main dogma of Christianity - the creed - the Trinity: God is one in essence, but trinity in persons (hypostases). This is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - all three persons are attributed the same divine properties (wisdom, eternity, goodness, holiness, etc.), but they have individual differences. God the Father is not born and does not come from other persons of the trinity (absolute origin), God the Son (Logos, the Word - the semantic principle) is eternally born from God the Father, God the Spirit (the life-giving principle) comes from God the Father. Christian rites directly introduce the divine principles into human life.
Christian morality proceeds from the inherent value of the individual (the individual is the "image of God" in man) and the inseparable connection between goodness, truth and freedom. At the same time, goodness and truth are expressed not in impersonal formal rules, but in the very person of Jesus Christ; hence the fundamental non-formalizability of Christian morality, which in its very essence is the morality of freedom. Expressing the freedom of man, the truly Christian faith rests not on fear and external debt, but on love directed towards Christ and towards each person as the bearer of the image of God. Good is created by a person on the ways of using free will in the name of personality and love. Any other application of free will turns into its self-denial and spiritual degradation of a person. Thus, human freedom contains not only the possibility of good, but also the risk of evil. Evil is the false use of freedom; the truth of freedom is goodness. Hence the specificity of Christian asceticism: it struggles not with human nature itself, but with the sinful principle living in it. In itself, human nature is god-like and worthy of spiritualization and immortality (in this Christianity differs from Platonism, Gnosticism and Manichaeism).
1.2. The nature of Christian philosophy.
The very experience of philosophy was renewed by Christianity. The given that it has is a world, a creation, a word in which everything speaks of an infinite Mind to finite minds, knowing that they are minds, when philosophy, in the course of some long process, tries to soften the crisis, mask the paradox, reveal the sublime givenness in the dialectic of reason or pure spirit, precisely and exactly from that moment it ceases to be Christian. Metaphysical thinking, thus turned to its true natural spirituality, will criticize these demands "in the name of higher demands" - in the name of the requirements of truly pure reason. The position of philosophy has changed; it has been elevated by Christianity. It is in this connection that it must be said that faith leads and directs philosophy, while infringing on its autonomy, for philosophy always judges things according to its own laws, on the basis of its own principles and its own rational criteria, even about things that, being natural in a way accessible to reason alone, would not actually be recognized or preserved by reason without an admixture of error, if reason did not at the same time attend to their existence and strengthen itself by means of some vital continuity that connects it with the upper light.
Christian philosophy is not a definite doctrine - it is philosophy itself, in the form in which it is in the conditions of its existence, the existence of a completely special one, into which Christianity introduced the thinking subject, and some objects are visible to his mind, and some of his statements are properly deduced that under other conditions he fails to a greater or lesser extent. It is this internal qualitative assessment that makes it possible to isolate and determine the distinctive features of a well-known group of teachings that are united by an internal connection. This connection is not accidental, it follows from the very nature of philosophy, its natural striving for the fullest possible knowledge of its own objects, from the very nature of Christian doctrine and Christian life, from the external and internal strengthening that it imparts to the mind. Christian philosophers have always been part-time theologians.
The concept of Christian philosophy is the classical distinction between the sphere of specificity and the sphere of realization, or else, within the limits that we hold, between nature and actual position, one must distinguish between the nature of philosophy, or what it is in itself and its position, that is its actual, historically determined place in the life of a human subject, and what corresponds to the conditions of its existence and functioning in specific conditions. Needless to say, this distinction presupposes that philosophy has its own nature and that philosophy itself is something definite. We will talk about subjects that in themselves belong to the field of philosophy, but about which philosophers did not actually express a clear judgment and which Christian revelation brought to the fore: for example, the concept of creation, and also the concept of nature, which, being quite real and meaningful (of which Hindus did not see), is not an absolute closed in itself and can (which the Greeks did not see) be completed by a supernatural order, then by revelation one should understand not everything that is revealed data, what is open, but only elements of the natural order that it contains or which are connected with him, and once his attention is drawn to these elements, philosophy masters them according to its own order, which is an ascending order.
Fundamentals of Christian Philosophy.
The expression "Christian philosophy" describes not just one essence, but a whole complex: an essence taken in a certain position. A certain inaccuracy of this expression necessarily follows from this, referring to several quite real things.
In the history of human thought, there is a trend that appears in various forms and has different levels of development; its representatives can be found in almost any period of the existence of Christianity. This trend, whose origins date back to a very distant past - one might say, to all the sacred wisdom of the ancient Jews - tends to deny human wisdom and philosophy, which is autonomous in relation to religious faith; in this case it is admitted that philosophy, insofar as it is the doctrine of truth, requires the Christian faith, or at least some anticipation of the life of faith, or some positive orientation towards this life; Some Russian thinkers, for their part, believe that a person's conversion to faith changes philosophy in its very essence, gives it a new nature, new principles, a new pure light. Christian philosophy, in terms of the integrity and universality of the tasks it sets before itself, is a worldview, in the most direct and literal sense of the word, i.e., the development and justification of ideas and views about the world as a whole: about nature, society, man in their interconnection and interaction with each other. with a friend. It is in Christian philosophy that a maximum of creative freedom is allowed, a rational understanding of the doctrines of faith, a critical look at one's own identity. Christian philosophy is a kind of school of reflection, the practice of asking questions in which objects are comprehended at the border of inner experience and the outer world. Philosophy allows you to explicate the internal issues of the church for the outside world, to speak in a generally valid language.
1.4. Russian Christian Philosophy.
Russian philosophy embodies the inconsistency of the cultural and historical development of Russia, complex forms of interaction with European socio-philosophical thought. The Russian consciousness constantly existed in a situation of “split”: between Christianity and paganism, between “us” and “them”, between mercy and justice, between Europe and Asia, between truth and truth. In truth, Western philosophy has never freed itself from Christianity: where it did not help philosophy in its formation, it was a stumbling block for it. It was in this sense that Nikolai Berdyaev said that all modern great philosophies (and even, of course, Feuerbach's philosophy) are "Christian" philosophies, philosophies that without Christianity would not have become what they are.
An outstanding Russian theologian and philosopher V.V. Zenkovsky in his works "Fundamentals of Christian Philosophy" and "History of Russian Philosophy" defined his views as "the experience of Russian philosophy." He believed that Russian Christian philosophy grew out of the Orthodox worldview of the Russian people and developed under the constant influence of Orthodoxy. Truly Russian philosophy has never broken with the Orthodox faith. All the best that is created in it is illuminated by the light of Orthodoxy. The creative power and freedom of man depends on his faith in God. Only through the Orthodox faith is the restoration of the unity of the human spirit lost as a result of original sin (the bifurcation of the mind and heart), the transformation of mankind for eternal life. The essence of Russian Christian philosophy is the "acquisition of the Holy Spirit."
Russian Christian philosophy is also represented by the names of P. Florensky and S. Bulgakov, who consistently developed the ideas of religious-scientific synthesis, defending the ideal of religious-philosophical universalism.
A feature of Florensky is not so much the requirement for the unity of philosophy and theology, faith and reason, science and art, but the way of its justification, which the philosopher himself called "concrete metaphysics", which is a hidden criticism of "abstract principles" that underlie the entire Western European philosophical tradition. . Considering the constitutive role of the idea, Florensky comes to the conclusion that the symbol and the name play a special role in this process. Defining a symbol as “a being that is greater than itself,” he believes that a symbol, like a name, takes on the energy potential of being. The manifestation of being is identical to its openness for a person, which is fixed by means of names and words, in which the energy of being and its symbolic completeness are accumulated. The word (name), synthesizing in itself symbolic and energetic meanings, determines the very possibility of cognition and determines its form. The dichotomy of the word allows a person to go beyond the subjective limits of his consciousness and break through to the very "core" of the world, which can be known only by overcoming the psychophysiological limitations of a person. The word brings a person to reality through and by means of a subjective volitional act of consciousness. The word is antinomic, just like being itself. Philosophical anthropology of Florensky is connected with the development of Orthodox personology. Man's place in the world is derived from his Sophian nature. Sophia herself is interpreted by the thinker as the unity of several personal, subjective, hypostatic, existential, theological principles. Truth is known through experience, through mystical insight, and not through rational activity. It gives a mystical experience, according to which the basis of truth and reality is love. Love is understood by Florensky as a transition to a truly integrated state, it is the unity of all forms, phenomena and states, "the realization of the potential in eternity." The process of cognition itself acts as creativity, as a creative activity. Human activity, which is associated with a constant increase in individualization, selfishness, arbitrariness, only exacerbates world chaos.
S. Bulgakov made a difficult transition from Marxism to idealism and Christianity. His philosophy, associated with an attempt at a critical reflection of Marxism and materialism, is aimed at substantiating the possibility of religious and philosophical synthesis by including religious and theological problems and methodology in it and through the development of Orthodox doctrine, requiring more modern philosophical justification. Bulgakov, tried to use the religious experience of different levels to clarify philosophical issues. For Bulgakov, philosophy is an attempt to understand the innermost soul of the world, its hidden meanings. According to Bulgakov, the world evolves like a living being. Bulgakov's recognition of the activity of the world later transforms into theocosmism, which interprets the presence of evil in the world as the fruit of creaturely self-determination. For Bulgakov the theologian, evil is created by the creature, the soul of the world is sick with devilry, hence the crisis that modern society. Bulgakov believes that evil in history gives rise to eschatology, so it is wrong to talk about historical and cultural progress. History will end catastrophically, giving rise to supra-historical time. Man, as a historical being, is imperfect, but as the likeness of God, he is the master of the world and the demiurge, possessing the creative element. The true subject of historical creativity is not man, but mankind. Man is the “eye of the world soul”. Only in man does nature realize itself. However, the creative potential of a person is limited by his self, it can be overcome only by the victory of a person over himself. The self in nature is conquered by labor within the framework of the historical process. Bulgakov emphasizes that freedom is necessary to overcome the self. Unlike man, freedom is not created, it is eternal, it radiates from the “eternal light and freedom of God.” The inhumanity of individuality is Bulgakov's anthropological axiom.
Thus, the philosophical systems of Florensky and Bulgakov embody the most character traits Russian religious philosophy that distinguishes it from Western European Christian philosophy: panetism, eschatology, soil, an attempt to clarify all meanings to the end, synthetism, a certain mysticism.
Conclusion.
Christian philosophy is the understanding and expression of the Christian faith in the language of culture. In Christianity, moral norms are not addressed to external affairs (as it was in paganism) and not to external manifestations faith (as in the Old Testament), but to internal motivation, to the "inner man". The highest moral authority is not duty, shame and honor, but conscience.
The lessons of Christian philosophy are the lessons of translating the Gospel, "special revelation", into the language of secular thought, in which the essence is not lost, on the contrary, it becomes clearer. Christian philosophy makes the spiritual wealth of Christianity accessible to the inquisitive mind. But it is also important that this same thought translates, reads, analyzes all the wealth of human culture for Christianity, through the prism of its dogmas. If there is no doubt that all truth is from God, there is no doubt that all this diverse and divided truth is worthy of attention and study. Christian philosophy presupposes not only a variety of ideas, but also a free space of people united by the presumptions of faith, rationality, culture; creativity. This is the ideological basis for the formation of the Christian intelligentsia, whose ethnos is Christian humanism. In Christian philosophy, a synthesis of faith and reason, the cognizing faith and the believer's reason, is achieved. Here the possibility of another mind becomes obvious, not autarkic, not proud, but serving and loving, capable of tearing itself away from itself and becoming higher.
From these considerations it follows that philosophy, which depends entirely on its formal object, draws its specificity from itself, together with this object, which belongs entirely to the category of the natural, it is subject to the same internal criteria, strictly natural or rational, and that, thus, the name Christian applied to philosophy does not refer to what it forms in its philosophical essence: it does not depend on the Christian faith either in its subject matter, or in principles, or in methods.
Bibliography
V. V. Zenkovsky "Fundamentals of Christian Philosophy" M., 1994
V. G. Kuznetsov, I. D. Kuznetsova, V. V. Mironov, K. Kh. Momdzhyan textbook of philosophy M., "INFRA-M" 2010.
J. Maritain "On Christian Philosophy" trans. from French L.M. Stepacheva M., "Scientific world", 1999
F. Mauriac "The Life of Jesus" trans. from French ed. PER. Maslenikova M., "Mir", 1991
A. B. Ranovich "Ancient Critics of Christianity" M., Politizdat, 1990
E. Renan "The Life of Jesus" trans. from French M., Politizdat, 1991
textbook of philosophy, ed. d.ph.s., prof. V.V. Mironova M., publishing house "NORMA", 2009
Christianity
Christianity (from the Greek word christos - "anointed", "Messiah") originated as one of the
sects of Judaism in Palestine. This original relationship with Judaism - extremely important for understanding the roots of the Christian faith - is also manifested in the fact that the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, is the sacred book of both Jews and Christians (the second part of the Bible, the New Testament, is recognized only by Christians and is for the most important of them). Spreading among the Jews of Palestine and the Mediterranean, Christianity already in the first decades of its existence won adherents among other peoples.
The emergence and spread of Christianity fell on a period of deep crisis of ancient civilization, the decline of its basic values. Christian doctrine attracted many who were disillusioned with the Roman social order. It offered its adherents the path of inner salvation: withdrawal from the corrupted, sinful world into oneself, inside one's own personality, strict asceticism is opposed to coarse carnal pleasures, and conscious humility and humility, which will be rewarded after the onset of the Kingdom of God, is opposed to the arrogance and vanity of the "powerful of this world". on the ground.
However, even the first Christian communities taught their members to think not only about themselves, but also about the fate of the whole world, to pray not only for their own, but also for the common salvation. Even then, the universalism characteristic of Christianity was revealed: the communities scattered over the vast expanse of the Roman Empire nevertheless felt their unity. Members of communities became people of different nationalities. The New Testament thesis "there is neither a Greek nor a Jew" proclaimed the equality before God of all believers and predetermined the further development of Christianity as a world religion that knows no national and linguistic boundaries.
The need for unity, on the one hand, and the rather wide spread of Christianity around the world, on the other, gave rise to the conviction among believers that if an individual Christian can be weak and unsteady in faith, then the unification of Christians as a whole possesses the Holy Spirit and God's grace.
Man, according to Christian teaching, was created as the bearer of the "image and likeness" of God. However, the fall, committed by the first people, destroyed the god-likeness of man, imposing on him the stain of original sin. Christ, having accepted the pains of the cross and death, "redeemed" people, having suffered for the whole human race. Therefore, Christianity emphasizes the purifying role of suffering, any restriction by a person of his desires and passions: “by accepting his cross”, a person can overcome evil in himself and in the world around him. God becomes closer to him.This is the purpose of the Christian, his justification of the sacrificial death of Christ.
Stage of patristics in medieval philosophy. St. Augustine's teaching
The Middle Ages occupies a long period of European history from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the Renaissance (XIV-XV centuries).
The philosophy that took shape during this period had two main sources of its formation. The first of these is ancient Greek philosophy, primarily in its Platonic and Aristotelian traditions. The second source is Holy Scripture, which turned this philosophy into the mainstream of Christianity.
The idealistic orientation of most of the philosophical systems of the Middle Ages was dictated by the main tenets of Christianity, among which highest value had such as the dogma of the personal form of the god-creator, and the dogma of the creation of the world by God "out of nothing". Under the conditions of such a cruel religious dictate, supported by state power, philosophy was declared a "servant of religion", in which all philosophical issues were resolved from the position of theocentrism, creationism, providentialism.
Patristics
Patristics (from the Greek πατήρ, lat. Pater - father) is the philosophy and theology of the Church Fathers, that is, the spiritual and religious leaders of Christianity until the 7th century. The teachings developed by the Church Fathers became fundamental to the Christian religious worldview. Patristics made a huge contribution to the formation of ethics and aesthetics of late antique and medieval society.
There are Roman and Greek directions of patristics. Historically, the following division is traditionally carried out:
- Apostolic men adjoining directly to the apostles.
- Apologetic (protective) fathers of the 2nd century, who tried, in particular, to prove the compatibility of Christian teaching with Greek philosophy, and sometimes they represented Christianity in the form of a new philosophy (Justin, 100-167, then Athenagoras, second half of the 2nd century). By the 2nd century relates a dispute with the Gnostics, to whose positions Tatian passes (second half of the 2nd century). Tertullian ends this period.
- 3rd century and early 4th century are characterized by the first attempts at systematization in the field of theology and the promotion of the question of Christ, which gave rise to numerous attempts to solve it. Contradictory provisions were embodied, on the one hand, in the thesis of Athanasius (295-378), who claimed that Christ is divine, and on the other, in Arius's denial of his divinity. While the philosophy of Clement of Alexandria was not yet systematized, Origen, who borrowed from the Greek. philosophy of its concept and largely agreeing with the ideas of the Neoplatonists, created the first theological system of Christianity.
- In the IV century. and early 5th century Christianity for the first time begins to explore its history. The doctrine of the Trinity soon receives its final formulation. Eusebius of Caesarea, inclined towards Arianism, wrote the first history of the church and its dogmas; he argued that Plato and Greek philosophy in general had an influence—through the Old Testament in particular—on Moses. The three Great Cappadocians were engaged in the systematization of theology in opposition to Arianism.
- From con. 4th century, i.e., with the completion of the process of formulating dogmas and with the strengthening of the church, especially after its recognition in 313 by Emperor Constantine the Great, the ecclesiastical and political nature of patristics is already striking. After Hilary of Pictavia, "Athanasius of the West" (310-367), and Ambrose of Milan, "Latin Philo" (340-397), St. Augustine puts in the first place the practical church theology and its claims to guide souls and holy mediation. With his doctrine of the divine state (“city of God”), he lays the foundation for historical metaphysics. Pelagius is believed to have opposed this doctrine.
In Russia, the works of the “fathers of the church”, theologians and preachers were known and enjoyed high authority: John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius of Alexandria and others. Homilet writers (authors of teachings and sermons) were highly valued throughout the Russian Middle Ages ). John Chrysostom (d. 407) enjoyed the greatest authority.
Augustine the Blessed
Augustine the Blessed (lat. Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; November 13, 354, Tagast, Numidia - 28
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| St. Augustine |
Augustine's teaching on the relationship between human free will, divine grace and predestination is quite heterogeneous and is not systemic.
God created matter and endowed it with various forms, properties and purposes, thereby creating everything that exists in our world. The deeds of God are good, and therefore everything that exists, precisely because it exists, is good.
Evil is not a substance-matter, but a lack, its deterioration, vice and damage, non-existence.
God is the source of being, pure form, the highest beauty, the source of goodness. The world exists thanks to the continuous creation of God, who regenerates everything that dies in the world. There can be no one world and several worlds.
Matter is characterized in terms of form, measure, number and order. In the world order, every thing has its place.
Oh grace
The force that largely determines the salvation of man and his aspiration to God is divine grace. Grace acts on man and produces changes in his nature. Without grace, salvation is impossible. The free decision of the will is only the ability to strive for something, but to realize one's aspirations in better side Man is capable only with the help of grace.
Grace in the view of Augustine is directly connected with the fundamental dogma of Christianity - with the belief that Christ has redeemed all mankind. This means that, by its nature, grace is universal and should be given to all people. But it is clear that not all people will be saved. Augustine explains this by the fact that some people are not able to receive grace. It depends, first of all, on the ability of their will. But as Augustine found out, not all people who received grace were able to maintain "constancy in good." This means that another special divine gift is needed to help maintain this constancy. This gift Augustine calls "the gift of constancy." It is only by accepting this gift that the "called" will be able to become "chosen."
Speaking about the deeds of God, thinkers emphasized his all-goodness. But there is also evil in the world. Why does God allow evil?
Augustine argued that everything created by God in one way or another is involved in the absolute goodness - the all-goodness of God: after all, the Almighty, realizing creation, imprinted in the created a certain measure, weight and order; they have an extraterrestrial image and meaning. To the extent of this, there is goodness in nature, in people, in society.
Evil is not some force that exists on its own, but a weakened good, a necessary step towards good. Visible imperfection is part of world harmony and testifies to the fundamental goodness of all things: "Any nature that can become better is good."
It also happens that the evil that torments a person eventually turns into good. So, for example, a person is punished for a crime (evil) in order to bring him good through redemption and pangs of conscience, which leads to purification.
In other words, without evil we would not know what good is.
Augustine had a strong influence on the dogmatic side of Christian teaching. The impact of his sermons was felt over the next few centuries not only in the African, but also in the Western church. His controversy against the Arians, Priscillians, and especially against the Donatists and other currents, found many supporters. Augustine left numerous writings that had a significant impact on the anthropological side of the doctrine in Protestantism (Luther and Calvin). Developed the doctrine of St. Trinity, explored the relationship of man to divine grace. He considers the essence of Christian teaching to be the ability of a person to perceive God's grace, and this basic provision is also reflected in his understanding of other dogmas of faith. He founded several monasteries, some of which were later destroyed.
Stage of patristics in medieval philosophy. The teachings of Thomas Aquinas
Scholasticism (Greek σχολαστικός - scientist, Scholia - "school") is a systematic European medieval philosophy, centered around universities and representing a synthesis of Christian (Catholic) theology and the logic of Aristotle.
In its general character, scholasticism represents religious philosophy not in the sense of free speculation in the field of questions of a religious and moral nature, as we see in the systems of the last period of Greek philosophy, but in the sense of applying philosophical concepts and methods of thinking to the Christian church doctrine, the first experience of which is represented by the patristic philosophy that preceded scholasticism. Having in mind, by such an application, to make the content of faith accessible to reason, scholasticism and patristics differed from each other in that for the latter, Holy Scripture served as this content and for the dogmatic formulation of its own revealed teaching, it used philosophy - while for scholasticism the content of faith consisted in established the fathers of dogmas and philosophy applied mainly to the clarification, substantiation and systematization of the latter. However, there is no absolute opposition between scholasticism and patristics, because even in patristic times, along with the gradual formulation of dogmas, they were substantiated and brought into a system, and on the other hand, it cannot be said that even during the period of scholasticism the system of dogmas was a on all points a complete whole: in the field of theological-philosophical speculation, the dogmatic doctrine has undergone some further development.
The relationship between scholasticism and patristic philosophy can be more precisely defined as follows: the former realizes and develops that which has not yet reached realization and development in the latter, although it was in it as an embryo.
The general task was to assimilate the monuments of philosophical thought received from the ancient world and apply them to the needs of the time. The philosophical teachings of antiquity gradually became the property of the Middle Ages; at first, only meager passages were known of them. At first, therefore, the task was to fill in the gaps in philosophical tradition, and then it was necessary to agree on the philosophical authorities of antiquity, which did not always agree with each other. It was necessary, moreover, to apply philosophy to theology, to determine and substantiate the relation of reason to faith, to find a reasonable explanation for the truths of faith, and in the end to create a philosophical and theological system. All this prompted medieval thought mainly to formal work, although, of course, it also led it to new material conclusions, why in the philosophizing of the scholastics it is unfair to see only one repetition in different ways of what Augustine and Aristotle said.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas (otherwise Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Aquinas, lat. Thomas Aquinas, Italian. Tommaso
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| Thomas Aquinas |
5 Proofs for the Existence of God by Thomas Aquinas
- Proof by motion means that everything that moves was ever set in motion by something else, which in turn was set in motion by a third. Thus, a chain of "engines" is laid out, which cannot be infinite, and as a result, you need to find an "engine" that drives everything else, but is not itself driven by something else. It is God who turns out to be the root cause of all movement.
- Proof by a producing cause - this proof is similar to the first. Only in this case is not the cause of the movement, but the cause that produces something. Since nothing can produce itself, there is something that is the root cause of everything - this is God.
- Proof through necessity - every thing has the possibility of both its potential and real being. If we assume that all things are in potentiality, then nothing would come into being. There must be something that contributed to the transfer of the thing from the potential to the actual state. That something is God.
- Proof from the degrees of being - the fourth proof says that people talk about the different degrees of perfection of an object only through comparisons with the most perfect. This means that there is the most beautiful, the noblest, the best - that is God.
- Evidence through target reason. In the world of rational and non-rational beings, the expediency of activity is observed, which means that there is a rational being who sets a goal for everything that exists in the world - we call this being God.
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Introduction
2. Patristics
4. Scholasticism
5. Thomas Aquinas
Conclusion
Introduction
An important period in the development of European philosophy is the Middle Ages. Its time frame is from the first centuries of our era to the XIV century. Philosophical thought, having passed through a bizarre synthesis of ancient thought and Christian ideas over the course of several centuries, became the basis for the rise of the ideas of the Renaissance. Without the medieval religious philosophy of Europe, there would be no subsequent stages; this is an important and natural stage in the development of social thought.
Augustine the Blessed (the most famous work is “On the City of the Earth and the City of God”) and Thomas Aquinas (“The Sum of Theology” and “The Sum Against the Pagans” (“The Sum of Philosophy”) are the two most famous philosophers of this period, representatives of two stages of medieval philosophy - patristics and scholastics.
The purpose of the work is a general description of medieval philosophy, an overview of its periods and the largest representatives.
1. Formation of Christian philosophy, periodization and main features of medieval theological philosophy
The concept of "Middle Ages" was first introduced in the XV century. Renaissance humanists. In the 18th century, it acquired the pejorative meaning of the inter-wise, "dark time", which was synonymous with the "Middle Ages". Serious historical research in the 19th century changed this view. Now there is a generally accepted view of the philosophy of the Middle Ages as the result of a kind of rapprochement, merging, syncretism of Christianity with the achievements of ancient thought. "Christian authors dealt with pagans like the Jews in the book of Deuteronomy, who shaved their captives' heads, cut their nails, dressed them in new clothes, and then took them as wives."
Until recently, medieval philosophy was most often presented as a conglomerate of eclectic and relativistic ideas. The dominant worldview of the Middle Ages was Christianity, the main ideas of this time are theological ideas concerning how to understand God, the Trinity, creation, etc. Philosophy was considered a "servant of theology", in which the philosophers of the new time, and often modern times, saw it as a belittled status. The very concept of what philosophy is was traced from the concept of it in antiquity or in modern times, therefore medieval philosophy could seem like a para- or pseudo-philosophy, within which individual free minds reshaped the Christian worldview in the spirit of Platonism, Aristotelianism or Stoicism. With this approach, this meant: independent philosophizing did not exist at that time, it was a preservative of ancient traditions with one theorizing tool - formal logic and with one tool for reconciling the universal and the individual - a symbol.
The specificity of the philosophy of the Middle Ages was due to the emergence and development of Christianity. The end of ancient philosophy is the end of pagan civilization. However, ancient philosophy gave rise to the development of what we call the European tradition in philosophy, and which organically entered the philosophical thought of a new civilization associated with the emergence of Christianity.
At all stages of its development - approximately the first 14 centuries - medieval philosophy was organically connected with the interpretation of the ideas of Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists.
I-III centuries can be considered a transitional period from antiquity to medieval philosophy. At this time, a motley and complex conglomerate of old and new ideas is formed. The first attempts at philosophical understanding of Christian doctrine, the beginning of medieval philosophy, should be attributed to the II century.
The following stages of medieval philosophy can be distinguished.
1. Patristics.
2. Transitional period from patristics to scholasticism (Severin Boethius).
3. Scholasticism
All researchers unanimously date the time of "exhaustion" of medieval scholasticism to the XIV century.
2. Patristics
Patristics (from Greek rbfYus, lat. pater - father) - the philosophy and theology of the church fathers, that is, the spiritual and religious leaders of Christianity until the 7th century. The teachings developed by the Church Fathers became fundamental to the Christian religious worldview. Patristics made a huge contribution to the formation of ethics and aesthetics of late antique and medieval society.
There are Roman and Greek directions of patristics.
Semantic and axiological sources for the design of patristics are ancient philosophy (the general rational method and the specific content of such philosophical movements as Platonism and Neoplatonism, Stoicism, etc.), on the one hand, and the Christian teleological doctrine (primarily the idea of revelation, as well as the semantic figures of theism , creationism, teleologism, etc.) - on the other. Three substantive stages can be distinguished in the evolution of patristics:
1. Early patristics, or apologetics (2-3 centuries), associated with the activities of such authors as Justin (d. c. 165, main op.: "Apology" to Antoninus Pius and "Apology" to Marcus Aurelius, "Conversations with Tryphon the Jew", etc.); Tatian (c. 120 - c. 175, main op.: "Appeal to the Greeks", a set of four Gospels "Diatessaron", etc.); Athenagoras (d. c. 177, main op.: treatise "On the Resurrection of the Dead" and "Epistle" to Marcus Aurelius); Tertullian; Clement of Alexandria (d. before 215, main op.: treatises "Exhortation to the Hellenes", "Teacher", collection of essays "Stromaty" ("Patchwork Carpet"), conversation "Which rich man will be saved?"; Origen.
The central problem of patristics is the problem of the correlation of Christianity with the ancient heritage, within the framework of which both a direction focused on the harmonious synthesis of the Christian idea of revelation with the philosophical tradition of ancient rationalism (Justin, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, etc.) and the direction that proclaimed them took shape. the incompatibility and sharply distancing Christianity as the "wisdom of the barbarians" (Tatian) of Hellenic book learning (Tatian, Tertullian, and others); the idea was sharply actualized in Christian mysticism, which valued the "sincere silence of an illiterate commoner" in comparison with the sophisticated speculative sophistication of a learned theologian with his "voluptuousness of words" (Jerome) and rationality instead of heartfelt faith, as well as in Protestantism in its early versions).
2. Mature patristics (3-5 centuries), realizing itself in the Greek East - in the activities of the Cappadocian circle: Basil the Great of Caesarea (c. 330--379, main op.: "On the Holy Spirit", "Shestodnev" ), his brother Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 - c. 394), Gregory the Theologian of Nazianzus (c. 330 - c. 390, main op.: "About my life", "About my fate", "About suffering my soul"), Amphilochius of Iconium and others, who synthesized the Christian doctrine and philosophical methods of antiquity; and in the Latin West, in the work of Augustine.
The central direction in the development of patristics of this period was the fight against heresies (Arianism, Montanism, Docetism, Monophysitism, Gnosticism, etc.), which is associated with the acquisition of the status of the state religion by Christianity and the official formulation of the Christian Creed in Nicene Ecumenical Council(325), who constituted the basic tenets of the dogma. Within the framework of mature patristics, the texts of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite ("Areopagitics"), which laid the foundations of apophatic theology and Christian mysticism in general, are being drawn up.
3. Late patristics (5th-8th centuries), centering on the problem of systematizing Christian doctrine. The key figure is John of Damascus (c. 675--753) - a Byzantine theologian and poet who completed the systematic formulation of the foundations of Christian theology; also Leontius (c. 475-543) in the East and Boethius (Ancius Manilius Torquat Severinus, c. 480-525, main op.: "Consolation by Philosophy") in the West. The systematizing activity of John of Damascus and the orientation of Boethius to the ancient philosophical tradition (primarily comments on Aristotle and Porphyry) laid the foundations of medieval scholasticism. Despite the fact that many theses of patristics (especially in its early version) were condemned after the adoption of the Nicene Creed (Origen's ideas about the plurality of worlds, universal salvation, the preexistence of souls, the priority of the second hypostasis - God the Father - in the structure of the Trinity; denial Tatian of the dual nature of Christ (in the "Diatessoron" the earthly biography of Christ and information about his origin from the family of David were omitted) and his docetism - the doctrine of the illusory nature of the physicality of Jesus), patristics played an outstanding role in the development of Christian culture.
Within the framework of patristics, the foundations of systematic Christian theology were laid in both cataphatic (from Clement of Alexandria and Origen to John of Damascus) and apophatic (from Augustine to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite) variants, and the initial foundation of exegesis was formed (from Origen to Gregory of Nyssa) , the first Christian catechisms were drawn up (Tertullian), many fundamental conceptual structures of Christian theology were introduced (for example, by Tertullian regarding the structure of the Trinity). Patristics not only significantly contributed to the substantial stabilization of Christian dogma, but also significantly influenced the development of the deep psychologism of Christianity with its refined culture of reflective introspection (from Gregory the Theologian to Augustine). It was within the framework of patristics that the conceptually fundamental idea for Christianity of the priority of the individual (Personalism) in relation to abstract humanity was finally constituted (the anthropology of Gregory of Nyssa).
The problems of patristics largely determined the problematic field of both Orthodox (Palamite discussions within the framework of hesychasm and analysis of the Christological problem in patristics) and Catholic (the problem of will and grace in patristic and anti-Lutheran literature) theology.
Augustine the Blessed should be called the most famous patristic philosopher.
Aurelius Augustine (lat. Aurelius Augustinus; 354--430) - Bishop of Hippo, philosopher, influential preacher, Christian theologian and politician. Holy catholic and Orthodox churches(at the same time, in Orthodoxy it is usually referred to with the epithet blessed - Blessed Augustine). One of the Church Fathers, the founder of Augustinism. Founder of the Christian philosophy of history. The Christian Neoplatonism of Augustine dominated Western European philosophy and Catholic theology until the thirteenth century, when it was replaced by the Christian Aristotelianism of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. His most famous theological and philosophical work is On the City of God.
Human history, which Augustine sets out in his book "On the City of God", "the first world history", in his understanding is the struggle of two hostile kingdoms - the kingdom of the adherents of everything earthly, the enemies of God, that is, the secular world (civitas terrena or diaboli), and the kingdom of God (civitas dei). At the same time, he identifies the Kingdom of God, in accordance with its earthly form of existence, with the Roman Church. Augustine teaches about the self-reliance of human consciousness (the basis of certainty is God) and the cognitive power of love. During the creation of the world, God laid in the material world in the embryo the forms of all things, from which they then independently develop.
Augustine's influence on the fates and the dogmatic side of Christian teaching is almost unparalleled. He determined the spirit and direction of not only the African, but the entire Western church for several centuries ahead. His controversy against the Arians, the Priscillians, and especially against the Donatists and other heretical sects, vividly proves the extent of his importance. The insight and depth of his mind, the indomitable power of faith and the ardor of fantasy are best reflected in his numerous writings, which had an incredible influence and determined the anthropological side of the teaching in Protestantism (Luther and Calvin). Even more important than the development of the doctrine of St. Trinity, his studies on the relation of man to divine grace. He considers the essence of Christian teaching, namely, the ability of a person to perceive God's grace, and this basic provision is also reflected in his understanding of other dogmas of faith.
4. Scholasticism
Scholasticism (Greek uchplbufykt, “scholar, schoolboy”) is a systematic medieval philosophy centered around universities and representing a synthesis of Christian (Catholic) theology and the logic of Aristotle.
Early scholasticism (IX-XII centuries), which still stood on the basis of indivisibility, interpenetration of science, philosophy, and theology, is characterized by the formation of the scholastic method in connection with the understanding of the specific value and specific results of the activity of the mind and in connection with the dispute about universals. The main representatives of scholasticism: in Germany - Raban Moor, Notker the German, Hugo Saint-Victor; in England - Alcuin, John Scot Eriugena, Adelard from Bath; in France, John Roscelin, Pierre Abelard, Gilbert of Porretan, John of Salisbury, Bernard of Chartres, Amalric of Ben; in Italy - Peter Damiani, Anselm of Canterbury, Bonaventure.
Middle scholasticism (XIII century) is characterized by the final separation of science and philosophy (especially natural philosophy) from theology, as well as the introduction into Western philosophical thinking of the teachings of Aristotle, which, however, was available only in Latin translation. The philosophy of large orders is being formed, especially the Franciscan and Dominican ones, as well as the systems of Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus. Then followed a dispute between the supporters of Augustine, Aristotle and Averroes, a dispute between Thomists and Scotists. It was the time of the great philosophical and theological encyclopedias.
Other main representatives of scholasticism: in Germany - Witelo, Dietrich of Freiberg, Ulrich Engelbert; in France - Vincent of Beauvais, John of Zhandunsky; in England, Roger Bacon, Robert Grosseteste, Alexander of Gaels; in Italy, Aegidius of Rome; in Spain, Raymond Lull.
Late scholasticism (XIV and XV centuries) is characterized by rationalistic systematization (thanks to which scholasticism received a negative meaning), the further formation of natural-scientific and natural-philosophical thinking, the development of logic and metaphysics of the irrationalist direction, and finally, the final dissociation of mysticism from church theology, which became more and more intolerant. When, at the beginning of the 14th century, the church had finally given preference to Thomism, scholasticism from the religious side became the history of Thomism. The main representatives of late scholasticism: in Germany - Albert of Saxony, Nicholas of Cusa; in France - Jean Buridan, Nicholas of Orezm, Peter d "Aglie; in England - William of Ockham; in Italy - Dante; in Spain - the Salamanca school.
During the period of humanism, the Renaissance, the Reformation, scholasticism ceased to be the only spiritual form of Western science and philosophy.
In its general character, scholasticism represents religious philosophy in the sense of the application of philosophical concepts and methods of thinking to Christian church doctrine, the first experience of which is represented by the patristic philosophy that preceded scholasticism. Patristics and scholastics differed from one another in that for the latter this content was Holy Scripture and for the dogmatic formulation of its own revealed teaching it used philosophy - while for patristics the content of faith consisted in the dogmas established by the fathers and philosophy was applied mainly to the clarification, justification and systematization of the latter.
The relationship between scholasticism and patristic philosophy can be more precisely defined as follows: the former realizes and develops that which has not yet reached realization and development in the latter, although it was in it as an embryo.
The view of philosophy as the servant of theology, although not strictly carried out by all scholastics, nevertheless expressed, one might say, the dominant trend of the time. The tone and direction of all spiritual life in the Middle Ages was given by the church. Naturally, philosophy at this time also takes a theological direction and its fate is associated with the fate of the hierarchy: with the rise of the latter, it reaches its highest flowering, with its fall, it falls. From this historians deduce some other features of scholastic philosophy.
Institutions of a practical character must be a strictly organized system: this is one of the conditions for their prosperity. Therefore, the Catholic hierarchy, during its gradual rise, was concerned about assembling into a system of canonical rules, which should underlie its structure. Such a systematic striving is also reflected in the philosophy of the Middle Ages, which also strives for a system and, in place of the experiments of fragmented, more or less random patristic philosophizing, gives a number of more or less integral systems. This is especially found in flowering time scholastics, when the theological and philosophical systems of Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus appear.
Scripture speaks to us in three ways: through its speech, through its teaching, and through its commandments that govern our lives. "The manifold wisdom of God, as it is clearly communicated to us in Scripture, lies secretly at the basis of all knowledge and nature." The trinity of speech, teaching and commandment gives the division of science or philosophy; the truth of the mind is threefold - the truth of speeches, the truth of things and the truth of morals. Three branches of philosophy are directed towards these three realms of truth. Rational philosophy is directed to the truth of speeches. But every speech serves a triple purpose: to express a thought, to promote its assimilation by others and to persuade them to something, it must be appropriate, true and effective - which determines the task of the three departments of rational philosophy: grammar, logic and rhetoric.
christian philosophy patristics theological
5. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas (otherwise Thomas Aquinas or Thomas Aquinas, lat. Thomas Aquinas Italian. Tommaso d "Aquino) (born in 1225, Roccasecca Castle, near Aquino, died near Naples - March 7, 1274, Fossanuova Monastery, near Rome) - philosopher and theologian, systematizer of orthodox scholasticism, church teacher, Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalis, “princeps philosophorum” (“prince of philosophers”), founder of Thomism, member of the Dominican order; since 1879, recognized as the most authoritative Catholic religious philosopher who connected the Christian dogma ( in particular, the ideas of Augustine the Blessed) with the philosophy of Aristotle. Formulated five proofs of the existence of God. Recognizing the relative independence of natural being and human reason, he argued that nature ends in grace, reason - in faith, philosophical knowledge and natural theology, based on the analogy of being , -- in supernatural revelation.
The writings of Thomas Aquinas include two extensive treatises covering a wide range of topics - "The Sum of Theology" and "The Sum against the Gentiles" ("The Sum of Philosophy"), discussions on theological and philosophical problems ("Debatable Questions" and "Questions on various themes»), detailed comments on several books of the Bible, on 12 treatises of Aristotle, on the "Sentence" of Peter Lombard, on the treatises of Boethius, Pseudo-Dionysius and on the anonymous "Book of Causes", as well as a number of small essays on philosophical and religious topics and poetic texts for worship, for example Ethics work. "Discussion Questions" and Comments "were largely the fruit of his teaching activities, which included, according to the tradition of that time, disputes and reading authoritative texts, accompanied by comments.
Aquinas distinguished between the fields of philosophy and theology: the subject of the first is the "truths of reason", and the second - the "truths of revelation". Philosophy is in the service of theology and is as inferior to it in importance as the limited human mind is inferior to divine wisdom. Theology is a sacred doctrine and science based on the knowledge possessed by God and those who are blessed. Communion to divine knowledge is achieved through revelations.
Theology can borrow something from the philosophical disciplines, but not because it feels the need for it, but only for the sake of greater intelligibility of the positions it teaches.
Aristotle distinguished four successive levels of truth: experience (empeiria), art (techne), knowledge (episteme) and wisdom (sophia).
In Thomas Aquinas, wisdom becomes independent of other levels, the highest knowledge about God. It is based on divine revelations.
Aquinas identified three hierarchically subordinate types of wisdom:
* the wisdom of Grace.
* Theological wisdom is the wisdom of faith, using reason.
* metaphysical wisdom - the wisdom of the mind, comprehending the essence of being.
Each is endowed with its own "light of truth."
Some truths of Revelation are accessible to the understanding of the human mind: for example, that God exists, that God is one. Others are impossible to understand: for example, the divine trinity, resurrection in the flesh.
Based on this, Thomas Aquinas deduces the need to distinguish between supernatural theology, based on the truths of Revelation, which man is not able to understand on his own, and rational theology, based on the "natural light of reason" (knowing the truth by the power of human intellect).
Thomas Aquinas put forward the principle: the truths of science and the truths of faith cannot contradict each other; there is harmony between them. Wisdom is the striving to comprehend God, while science is a means to this end.
Cognition begins with sensory experience under the action of external objects. Objects are perceived by a person not as a whole, but in part. When entering the soul of the knower, the knowable loses its materiality and can enter it only as a “species”. The “view” of an object is its cognizable image. The thing exists simultaneously outside of us in all its being and inside us as an image.
Truth is "the correspondence of the intellect and the thing." That is, the concepts formed by the human intellect are true to the extent that they correspond to their concepts that preceded in the intellect of God.
Initial cognitive images are created at the level of external senses. Inner feelings process initial images.
Inner Feelings:
* the general feeling is the main function of which to gather together all sensations.
* passive memory - is a repository of impressions and images created by a common feeling.
* active memory -- retrieval of saved images and views.
* intellect is the highest sensory faculty.
Cognition takes its necessary source in sensibility.
The higher the spirituality, the higher the degree of knowledge.
* Angelic knowledge - speculative-intuitive knowledge, not mediated by sensory experience; carried out with the help of inherent concepts.
* Human cognition is the enrichment of the soul with the substantial forms of cognizable objects.
Three mental-cognitive operations:
1) creation of a concept and retention of attention on its content (contemplation).
2) judgment (positive, negative, existential) or comparison of concepts;
3) inference - linking judgments with each other.
Three types of knowledge:
1) the mind is the whole sphere of spiritual abilities.
2) intellect - the ability of mental knowledge.
3) reason - the ability to reason.
The beginnings of moral deeds with inside are the virtues, externally, laws and grace. Thomas does not think of the moral life outside the presence of theological virtues - faith, hope and love. Following the theological are four "cardinal" (fundamental) virtues - prudence and justice, courage and moderation, with which the other virtues are associated.
The teachings of Thomas Aquinas, despite some opposition from the traditionalists (some of the Thomistic positions were condemned by the Parisian archbishop Etienne Tampier in 1277), had a great influence on Catholic theology and philosophy, which was facilitated by the canonization of Thomas in 1323 and his recognition as the most authoritative Catholic theologian in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Aeterni patris (1879). The ideas of Thomas Aquinas were developed within the framework of the philosophical direction called "Thomism", had some influence on the development of modern thought (especially obvious in Leibniz). For a number of centuries, the philosophy of Thomas did not play a significant role in the philosophical dialogue, developing within a narrow confessional framework, however, from the end of the 19th century, the teachings of Thomas again begin to arouse wide interest and stimulate actual philosophical research; there are a number of philosophical trends that actively use the philosophy of Thomas, known under the general name "neo-Thomism".
Conclusion
Christian philosophy became the ideological basis of the new medieval society in Europe. Born in the last centuries of the existence of the Western Roman Empire, it became a bridge from the late ancient society to the new one, from the barbarian kingdoms developing into the European medieval Christendom. At all stages of its development - approximately the first 14 centuries - medieval philosophy was organically connected with the interpretation of the ideas of Plato, Aristotle and the Neoplatonists.
Its first stage - patristics - laid down ideas that would later be further developed in scholasticism. Augustine the Blessed should be called the most famous patristic philosopher. The Christian Neoplatonism of Augustine dominated Western European philosophy and Catholic theology until the thirteenth century, when it was replaced by the Christian Aristotelianism of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. His most famous theological and philosophical work is On the City of God.
Medieval Christian philosophy received further development at the second stage - scholasticism. His classic is Thomas Aquinas. He linked Christian doctrine (in particular, the ideas of Augustine the Blessed) with the philosophy of Aristotle, formulated five proofs of the existence of God; recognizing the relative independence of natural being and human reason, he argued that nature ends in grace, reason in faith, philosophical knowledge and natural theology, based on the analogy of beings, in supernatural revelation.
In our time, the philosophy of Thomas (Thomas) Aquinas has become the basis of the philosophical trend - neo-Thomism.
List of used literature
History of Philosophy: Encyclopedia. -- Minsk: Interpressservice; Book House. 2002
Kirilenko G.G., Shevtsov E.V. Philosophy. Higher education- M.: Philol. Island "SLOVO": LLC "Publishing house "EKSMO", 2003
Kuznetsov V.G., Kuznetsova I.D., Mironov V.V., Momdzhyan K.Kh. Philosophy: Textbook. - M.: INFRA-M, 2004
Spirkin A.G. Philosophy: Textbook. -- 2nd ed. -- M.: Gardariki, 2006.
Philosophy: Textbook. 2nd ed., revised. and additional Rep. editors: V.D. Gubin, T.Yu. Sidorina, V.P. Filatov. - M.: TON - Ostozhye, 2001
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