1. Augustine of Hippo
Saint
Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine or Saint Austin, was an early Christian theologian
whose writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity and Western
philosophy. Wikipedia
Born: November 13, 354 AD, Tagaste
Died: August 28, 430 AD, Hippo Regius, Algeria
Full name: Aurelius AugustinusHipponensis
Nationality: Algerian
Parents: Saint Monica, Patricius Aurelius
“[Even] If I am mistaken, I am.”
first Western philosopher to promote what has come to be called “the argument by analogy”
against solipsism
subjective view of time and says that time is nothing in reality but exists only in the human
mind’s apprehension of reality
Augustine tries to reconcile his beliefs about freewill, especially the belief that humans are
morally responsible for their actions, with his belief that one’s life is predestined.
Most Significant work:
Confessiones
>>theological fountainhead of the Reformation teaching on salvation and grace.
Maimonides:
Maimonides
Philosopher
Mosheh ben Maimon, called Moses Maimonides and also known as M s ibnMaym n, or RaMBaM, was a
preeminent medieval Spanish, Sephardic Jewish philosopher, astronomer and one of the most prolific
and ... Wikipedia
Born: March 30, 1135, C rdoba, Spain
Died: December 12, 1204, Fustat, Egypt
Education: University of Al Karaouine
Children: Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon
Siblings: David ben Maimon
2. Life and Works
(The Book of Knowledge)
Guide of the Perplexed
if you remove all anthropomorphic content from your conception of God: you remove all
content of any kind. In the end, you are left with a God whose essence is unknowable and
indescribablejewish law aims at two things: the improvement of the body and the improvement
of the soul
st.anselm
Saint Anselm
Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) was the outstanding Christian philosopher and
theologian of the eleventh century
Ontological argumentsSt. Anselm claims to derive the existence of God from the concept of a being than which no
greater can be conceived.
God is omnipresent
PHILOSOPHERS
Early middle ages:
St. augustine
12th century:
Abelard
Anselm
Lombard
maimonides
Peter Abelard
3. He lived as a monk in various monasteries in France and his work, always controversial, was condemned
in 1121. Bernard of Clairvaux called him heretic for Abelard’s attempt to define Plato as a Christian.
Abelard’s belief that logic and faith were not mutually exclusive was a direct attack on the mysticism of
St. Bernard. He held that sin was not so much an act but a mindset towards contempt of God. He
condemned the notions of universals and also pointed out some of the discrepancies between scripture
and early Christian writings.
He also provided a means of correcting such quagmires with a logical, scholastic approach. He most
influential work is Sic et non, consisting of his revelation and correction of those quagmires. Some of his
students included John of Salisbury and Arnold of Brescia. After his condemnation, he retired to the
protection of another former pupil, Peter the Venerable, the abbot of Cluny.
Peter Lombard
Maimonides
He is considered the greatest Jewish philosopher of the medieval world. The majority of his writing
focused on Jewish law but his biggest philosophical contribution was the Guide for the Perplexed,
influenced by the teachings of Aristotle. He made distinction between existence and essence and went
so far as to say that a positive essence is not the result of God’s work.
Furthermore, he established the notion of God’s existence, as well as his nature. His mixture of the
realist and the spiritual was part of his attempt to bring more rationalism to Judaism. This component
of his work influenced Christian philosophers. His death sent the Jewish community in Egypt in
collective mourning and he was later taken to Galilee to be buried.
Lombard”
Sentences as a genre is a development of earlier collections of sayings or citations of the fathers.