The role of Greek philosophy was one of the controversies of the Patristic period. I mentioned this in another
thread .
In the OP I wrote:
"The Catholic view of pagan knowledge was a matter of debate by the Church Fathers. St. Augustine’s view is the one the came to be adopted by the Church."He wrote in On Christian Doctrine, Book II, Ch. 40 a section on "WHATEVER HAS BEEN RIGHTLY SAID BY THE HEATHEN, WE MUST APPROPRIATE TO OUR USES". I quoted the whole passage there, but the main point is:
... all branches of heathen learning have not only false and superstitious fancies and heavy burdens of unnecessary toil, which every one of us, when going out under the leadership of Christ from the fellowship of the heathen, ought to abhor and avoid; but they contain also liberal instruction which is better adapted to the use of the truth, and some most excellent precepts of morality; and some truths in regard even to the worship of the One God are found among them.
The debate on this principle is the background for understanding why the Fathers disagreed on the shape of the earth. Those who were willing to accept truth from pagan sources were open to believe in a spherical earth. Those who believed that pagan sources must be rejected believed in a flat earth. The two sides also tended to disagree on how literally to take Scripture.
St. Augustine represents the "winning side" that became the view of Church. St. Thomas and medieval Christian thinkers in general are famous for how much they used Greek philosophers.
Topic: Early Church battled to EXCLUDE Greek philosophy (Read 1885 times)