C04 TniKD TEKIOD. A.D. 311-590.
churcli liad no middle age, so it has liad no Protestant Ilefor jnation.
The prevailing philosophy of tlie fatliers was the Platonic^ 60 far as it was compatible with the Christian spirit. The speculative theologians of the East, especially those of the Bcliool of Origen, and in the West, Ambrose and pre-eniinently Augustine, were moulded by the Platonic idealism.
A remarkable combination of Platonism with Chj-istianity, to the injury of the latter, appears in the system of mystic symbolism in the pseudo-Dionysian books, which cannot havo been composed before the fifth century, though they were falsely ascribed to tlie Areopagite of the book of Acts (xvii. 34), and proceeded from the later school of New-Platonism, as rejjresented by Proclus of Athens (f 485). The fundamental idea of these Dionysian writings (on the celestial hierarchy ; on the ecclesiastical hierarchy; on the divine names; on mystic theology ; together with ten letters) is a double hierarchy, one in heaven and one on earth, each consisting of three triads, which mediates between man and the ineffable, transcendent, hyper-essential divinity. This idea is a remnant of the aristocratic spirit of ancient heathenism, and forms the connecting link with the hierarchical organization of the church, and explains the great importance and poj)ularitj which the pseudo-Dionysian system acquired, especially in the mystic theology of the middle ages.'
In Synesius of Cyrene also the Platonism outweighs the Christianity. He was an enthusiastic jnipil of Hypatia, the famous female philosopher at Alexandria, and in 410 was called to the bishopric of Ptolemais, the capital of Pentapolis. Before taking orders he frankly declared that he could not forsake his philosophical opinions, although he would in public accommodate himself to the popular belief, llieophilus of Alexandria, the same who was one of the chief persecutoi's of the admirers
' Comp. ENGKLnARDx: Die angeblicheu Scliriften des Areop. Dionysius iibersetzt nnd erkliirt, 1823, 2 Parts; Rittku: Gcschichte der christl. Pliilosophie, TJd. ii. p. 615; Baur: Gcscliiclite der Lehre von der Dreioinigk<>it, ii. 207 f., iind his Gescliichte dcr Kirchc, from the fourth to the sixth century, p. 59 ff. ; Jon. H uber Die Philosophie der Kirchenvater, pp. 32'?-341 ; and an article of K. Vogt, in Her zog'6 Encycl. iii. p. 412 If.
§ 117. DOCTRINAL IMPORTANCE, ETC. 603
of Origen, the I'atlier of Christian Platonism, accepted thia doubtful theory of accommodation. Synesins was made bishop, but often regretted that he exchanged his favorite studies for the responsible and onerous duties of the bishopric In his hymns he fuses the Christian doctrine of the Trinity with the Platonic idea of God, and the Saviour with the divine Helios, whose daily setting and rising was to him a type of Christ's descent into Hades and ascension to heaven. The desire of the soul to be freed from the chains of matter, takes the place of the sorrow for sin and the longing after salvation.'
As soon as theology assumed a scholastic character and began to deal more in dialectic forms than in living ideas, the philosophy of Aristotle rose to favor and influence, and from John Philoponus, a. d. 550, throughout the middle age to the Protestant Reformation, kept the lead in the Catholic church. It was the philosophy of scholasticism, while mysticism sympathized rather with the Platonic system.
The influence of the two great philosophies upon theology was beneficial or injurious, according as the principle of Christianity was the governing or the governed factor. Both systems are theistic (at bottom monotheistic), and favorable to the spirit of earnest and profound speculation. Platonism, with its ideal, poetic views, stimulates, fertilizes, inspires and elevates the reason and imagination, but also easily leads into the errors of gnosticism and the twilight of mysticism. Aristotelianism, with its sober realism and sharp logical distinctions, is a good discipline for the understanding, a school of dialectic practice, and a help to logical, systematic, methodical treatment, but may also induce a barren formalism. The truth is, Christianity itself is the highest philosophy, as faith is the highest reason ; and she makes successive philosophies, as well as the arts and the sciences, tributary to herself, on the Pauline principle that " all things are hers." '
' Comp. Clausen: De Synesio philosopho, Hafn. 1831; Hcber: Philoa. def Kirchenvilter, pp. 315-321 ; Baur: Church Hist, from the fourth to the sixth century, p. 52 ff., and W. Moller in Herzog's Encycl. vol. xv. p. 335 ff.
'' Concerning the influence of philosophy on the church fathers, comp. Bitter's Genchicbte der christL Philosophic; Ackermann, and Baur: Uebw das Chrif'i.'che