'Impact of Christianity on Philosophy Essay\r'

' admittance\r\nChristianity’s doctrines and tenets draw from a rich hereditary pattern of long historical emergence. And since it is a religion cause by narrative, it follows only that its teachings be influenced by the frequent philosophies within it. But there are likewise good reasons to think that, conversely, Christianity is a religion that did not only draw from existing philosophies in history but also generated a significant encounter on them. Three reasons may be cited to defend this contention. First, philosophical system was made popular by the modernize of Christianity; second, key Christian thinkers have endeavored to incorporate philosophy within their belief-systems; and third, legion(predicate) an(prenominal) of their teachings are actually philosophical issues Christianized in the process.\r\nChristianity and Philosophy\r\n First, the rise of Christianity seems to be a factor responsible for the great interest many another(prenom inal) people have shown towards philosophy during the antediluvian patriarch times. It mustiness be noted that even before Christianity as a religious operation was to be commenced (following the expiry of Jesus, and the rapid conversion to a belief in him), prevailing philosophies such as Epicureanism, Neo-Platonism, Stoicism, and Skepticism were already in place (Moore & Bruder, 2005, p. 77).\r\nBut since the Romans †the governmental power of that time †showed little or no interest to these philosophies, they remained largely an undercurrent phenomenon. In many ways, the rise of Christianity paved the way for such philosophies to experience widespread, as they are (specifically, Neo-Platonism and Aristotleanism) use in many â€Å"religious ideas and practices” (p. 78).\r\n Second, key thinkers such as Augustine and doubting Thomas Aquinas also contributed a lot in employing philosophy as a way to invent Christian beliefs. With Augustine, â⠂¬Å"Christianity became so permanently interwoven with elements of Platonic thought” (Moore & Bruder, 2005, 79).\r\nAugustine’s theology was generally concerned with arguing true statements about the eternality of Christian theology and the capacity of the mind to grasp the eternal truths; and these teachings are importations of the Platonic metaphysics and cosmology. Aquinas meanwhile was responsible conceiving the â€Å" implicit in(p) accord between Christian principles and Aristotle’s philosophy” from the ashes of the dark ages (p. 88). As with Plato, Aquinas’ teachings about God, genius and existence, knowledge and the world conveniently employed the methods apply by philosophy.\r\n Third, many teachings forwarded by key Christian thinkers are actually philosophies which underwent a process of Christian variation. In other words, the manner by which these thinkers employed philosophy in explicating their theologies â€Å"i n effect” may be regarded as a process of â€Å"grafting the principles and distinction” of Greek philosophy to â€Å"Christian revealed truth” (p. 88)\r\nThe doctrine of the clement soul and the Trinity are glaring examples to this. If only to argue, the Christian teaching that human persons have both body and souls is very evocative of the Platonic dualistic cosmology, i.e., that reality is composed of emergence and form. The doctrine of the Trinity meanwhile is heavily employing the concepts of universals †a teaching that enables one to infer the conceptual similarities be of two otherwise distinct entities. The result of this adaptation process is very significant to philosophy. What this process achieved was to finally create a â€Å" polish off Christian philosophy” (p. 89).\r\nConclusion\r\n This paper concludes that indeed, Christianity is a religious movement that had a significant impact in the development of philosophy. Whil e there are many reasons that could be cited to substantiate such a claim, three factors were deemed to be of paramount importance: namely, the rapid rise of Christianity during the ancient era, the use of prevailing philosophies to explain Christian tenets by key Christian thinkers, and the creation of a complete Christian philosophy which capitalized on adapting philosophical issues within the context of Christianity.\r\nWork Cited\r\nMoore, B. & Bruder, K. (2005). Philosophy: The powerfulness of Ideas with PowerWeb. Sixth Edition. New York, Mc-Graw Hill\r\n'