June 21, 2005

True Philosophia: Christian Way of Life in Opposition to the Schools of Antiquity

I have been drawing strong identifications and similarities between the understandings of the philosophiai of the six ancient schools and that of the Christian philosophia. However, a caution is in order. Christianity is a philosophia in many of the same ways as the ancient schools. But it is also radically different. In this reflection I will highlight some of those differences and what that means to Christianity as a philosophia.

One of the clearest differences can be seen in St. Clement of Alexandria's Stromateis (or, Miscellanies):

He then, who of himself believes the Scripture and the voice of the L