If the work of God could be comprehended by reason, it would be no longer wonderful, and faith would have no merit if reason provided proof. - St. Gregory the Great
The link between Christianity and philosophy is as old as the Church itself. As the land of Judah was occupied by the Romans, Christ came into a world dominated by classic Greek thought. By the first century, Judah was fully Hellenized. The early Christians successfully fused the worldliness of Judaism with the mysticism of Greek philosophy, giving Christians the best of both worlds.
Faith is now, and always has been, essential to the life in Christ. However, it wasn't long before the western world felt it necessary to challenge traditional Christian thought by developing arguments for the existence of God based upon reason alone. In the second century, Anselm of Canterbury developed the Ontological Argument, contending that God must exist because the non-existence of God is inconceivable. The Cosmological Argument, whose most famous proponent was Thomas Aquinas, had several distinct versions. Aquinas argued that the since all things must logically move from potential to actual existence, then there must be an unmoved mover or first cause, who logically must be an uncreated being. In the 18th century, Immanuel Kant developed the Moral Argument, noting that since humanity's goal is moral perfection, God must exist in order to guarantee that achievement.
Man was given a reason-endowed soul, and God expects us to use it for His glory. But Christianity is based on faith, and not on logic. The Creed we pronounce during our daily prayers and at every Divine Liturgy professes what we believe but not why we believe. That's because faith is something that transcends words. Faith demands that we not only believe God exists, for even the demons know that, but also that God can and will work in our lives in ways which often seem unlikely or even impossible to the human mind, if we are willing to allow Him to do so.
It has been rightly said that for those who believe, no explanation is necessary, and for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible. The faithful need no arguments, no proof, and no explanations. They simply turn to God and say "I don't know how and I don't know why, I just know."
Faith is now, and always has been, essential to the life in Christ. However, it wasn't long before the western world felt it necessary to challenge traditional Christian thought by developing arguments for the existence of God based upon reason alone. In the second century, Anselm of Canterbury developed the Ontological Argument, contending that God must exist because the non-existence of God is inconceivable. The Cosmological Argument, whose most famous proponent was Thomas Aquinas, had several distinct versions. Aquinas argued that the since all things must logically move from potential to actual existence, then there must be an unmoved mover or first cause, who logically must be an uncreated being. In the 18th century, Immanuel Kant developed the Moral Argument, noting that since humanity's goal is moral perfection, God must exist in order to guarantee that achievement.
Man was given a reason-endowed soul, and God expects us to use it for His glory. But Christianity is based on faith, and not on logic. The Creed we pronounce during our daily prayers and at every Divine Liturgy professes what we believe but not why we believe. That's because faith is something that transcends words. Faith demands that we not only believe God exists, for even the demons know that, but also that God can and will work in our lives in ways which often seem unlikely or even impossible to the human mind, if we are willing to allow Him to do so.
It has been rightly said that for those who believe, no explanation is necessary, and for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible. The faithful need no arguments, no proof, and no explanations. They simply turn to God and say "I don't know how and I don't know why, I just know."
