The beginning of Christian philosophy
by Eric Francis Osborn
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The problems which Christians faced in the second-century world, with its variety of religious beliefs, have a close relation to those which confront them today. The new religion was presented with a range of external threats and criticism which evoked a vigourous, fundamental and imaginative response. The arguments of this most creative period of Christian thought were of a more general and philosophical kind than the discussions of dogmatic issues in the fourth and fifth centuries, and are show more properly regarded as the beginning of Christian philosophy, though this does not of course imply the emergence of a 'system' or a uniformly philosophical level of writing. Professor Osborn's method in this book, derived from analytic philosophy, is to elucidate specific questions which occupied four major writers from different centres of early Christianity: Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. Is there one God and can one speak of him? Is man free and has he any link with God? Why has a good God made a world in which evil is so evident? Has history a meaning? Who is Jesus Christ? show lessTags
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The beginning of Christian philosophy
- Original title
- The beginning of Christian philosophy
- Original publication date
- 1981
- Dedication
- To Sophie Claire
- First words
- The present movement of Western civilisation away from Christianity has directed attention to earlier days when Christians were a small part of a Roman world of pluralistic beliefs; they came before, we come after, Christendo... (show all)m.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Yet they believed in one Word for all men - 'verbum abbreviatum ete consummans'.
We think that Paradise and Calvarie,
Christs Crosse, and Adams tree, stood in one place;
Looke Lord, and finde both Adams met in me;
As the first Adams sweat surrounds my face,
May the last Adams blood my soule embrace. - Original language
- English
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- 18
- Popularity
- 1,384,542
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
