Medieval Philosophy

A Preview

Philosophy and Monotheism

• From the Hellenistic Period forward, Monotheistic Faith and Greek Philosophy engage in a complex interchange.

• Athens and Jerusalem• Pagan thought evolves into monotheism.• Monotheistic faith takes on the charge of

reasoning out the truth.• Christianity in particular comes about in the

collision of monotheistic faith and Greek thought.

Medieval Philosophy

• Consolidates the dialectic of Greek and Jew.

• Reasons out a philosophy in which faith is a constitutive element.

• A tension between faith and reason ensues: what is the precise relationship between the two? How is one to live a life of faith, not betraying it but rather enriching it with Greek reason

An Aporia between Faith and Reason?

Is there a faith that is required for which no justification can be given?

Is there an obedience we must pledge before we can know its meaning?

Or

Must all that we believe ultimately be justified in reason?

Types of Faith

• Emmunah—A confidence in one’s undeniable commitment to a living G-d.

• Pistis—A certainty about particular truths, doctrinal assertions about the nature of G-d and the created world.

• Sharia—A mode of living that is social in nature and expresses all aspects of one’s submission to G-d.

Jew, Christian, Muslim

• Orthopraxy—Jewish faith emphasizes a code of conduct, of practices in regard to one’s fellow humans and G-d.

• Orthodoxy—Christian faith emphasizes a code of belief, of doctrines in regard to one’s soul and one’s G-d.

• Orthosociality—Islamic faith flourishes as a mode of living, of law arrived at through social intercourse infused with the inspiration of Allah.

Course Organization I

• Study of Religious Roots to Medieval Thought—Moses and Jesus

• Late Ancient Thought—The pagan monotheism of Plotinus

• Biblical Hermeneutics—how does the bible become a text about which one can reason? Philo, the Rabbis, Paul, Justin Martyr.

Course Organization II

• Contemporary Philosophical application of Biblical Hermeneutics by Emmanuel Levinas.

• Augustine—Transitional figure between Neo-Platonism and Christian Philosophy: Reformulating pagan questions in Christian terms.

• Early Christian Systematic Thinkers—the emergence of the problem of substantiality.

Course Organization III

• Aristotle’s impact on Arabic Philosophy—the rethinking of the soul’s substantiality.

• Maimonides’ response to Aristotle—the substantiality of G-d as transcending all earthly terms.

• Prophetic Imagination in Arabic and Jewish Philosophy

Course Organization IV

• Aquinas on the substantiality of the human soul and analogical knowledge of G-d.

• Meister Eckhardt and Martin Heidegger. Rethinking the significance of G-d’s transcendence. Releasement,

Important Dates

• Alexandrine Conquest 335-323 BCE• Birth of Philo 20 BCE• Birth of Jesus 0 CE• Fall of the Second Temple 70 CE• Rabbinical Mishnah Written 70 CE-c. 200 CE• Birth of Justin Martyr—100 CE• Talmud Written c. 200 CE-c. 500 CE• Birth of Plotinus—205 CE

Important Dates

• Conversion of the Emperor Constatine-312 CE • Birth of Augustine—354 CE• Sacks of Rome 387, 410, 455, 546 CE• Birth of Mohammed 570 CE• Loss of the Arab World to Christianity—632-750 CE• Andalusian Caliphate 711-1492 CE• Battle of Tours 732 CE• Aristotle introduced to Islamic World c. 800 CE• Birth of Avicenna 980 CE• Birth of Maimonides 1138 CE• Birth of Aquinas 1225 CE• Birth of Eckhardt 1260 CE