Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Chronology
- Introduction
- 1 The Christian conception of philosophy and Christian philosophical methodology
- 2 Physics and metaphysics: first principles and the question of cosmogony
- 3 Logic and epistemology
- 4 Free will and divine providence
- 5 Psychology: the soul and its relation to the body
- 6 Ethics and politics
- Conclusion
- Appendix: the protagonists
- Notes
- Further reading
- Bibliography
- Index
Introduction
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Chronology
- Introduction
- 1 The Christian conception of philosophy and Christian philosophical methodology
- 2 Physics and metaphysics: first principles and the question of cosmogony
- 3 Logic and epistemology
- 4 Free will and divine providence
- 5 Psychology: the soul and its relation to the body
- 6 Ethics and politics
- Conclusion
- Appendix: the protagonists
- Notes
- Further reading
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
What is the philosophy of early Christianity?
Those of us brought up in the West have a general conception of what Christianity is. We are much less familiar, however, with the philosophy of Christianity, let alone the philosophy of early Christianity. Some readers may find these phrases puzzling for a number of reasons. One reason for puzzlement may have to do with the phrase “early Christianity”, which is admittedly vague. Both the apostle Paul, who writes his letters between 40 and 60 CE, and Augustine (354–430), who writes many of his works in the early fifth century, are considered early Christians in the literature. I leave both of them out of this book, however. I mean to neither discuss the philosophical ideas of Paul, nor go as far as the early fifth century and examine Augustine. Rather, I aim to focus on thinkers who live between the second and fourth century, like Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa, to name the most prominent ones. My focus, more specifically, will be on the period until the Council of Nicaea (325) and I shall be selective with figures from the fourth century, for reasons I explain below.
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- Information
- The Philosophy of Early Christianity , pp. 1 - 28Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2013