
Socrates and Other Saints
Early Christian Understandings of Reason and Philosophy
Dariusz Karlowicz(Author)
Wipf & Stock Publishers
Published on 31. January 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
116 pages
978-1-4982-7873-7 (ISBN)
Description
Many contemporary writers misunderstand early Christian views on philosophy because they identify the critical stances of the ante-Nicene fathers toward specific pagan philosophical schools with a general negative stance toward reason itself. Dariusz Kar¿owicz's Socrates and Other Saints demonstrates why this identification is false.
The question of the extent of humanity's natural knowledge cannot be reduced to the question of faith's relationship to the historical manifestations of philosophy among the Ancients. Kar¿owicz closely reads the writings of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and others to demonstrate this point. He also builds upon Pierre Hadot's thesis that ancient philosophy is not primarily theory but a ""way of life"" taught by sages, which aimed at happiness through participation in the divine.
The fact that pagan philosophers falsely described humanity's telos did not mean that the spiritual practices they developed could not be helpful in the Christian pilgrimage. As it turns out, the ancient Christian writers traditionally considered to be enemies of philosophy actually borrowed from her much more than we think--and perhaps more than they admitted.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Eugene
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 7 mm
Weight
181 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4982-7873-7 (9781498278737)
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E-Book
01/2017
Wipf and Stock Publishers
€16.49
Available for download
Persons
Dariusz Kar¿owicz is a philosopher, publisher, and columnist. He is editor-in-chief of the Polish philosophical magazine Teologia Polityczna (Political Theology), President of the St. Nicolas Foundation, and author of The Archparadox of Death: Martyrdom as a Philosophical Category (2016).