The Effects of Religion

Riley Draper

AP English

7/31/2013

            In the Middle Ages, Christianity became a great influence on philosophers of the time.  For example, two philosophers that incorporated Christianity into their teachers were St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.  These two philosophers adopted Plato and Aristotle’s philosophies but added their religious belief systems to them. Basically, their goal seemed to be to combine reason and religion successfully.

            St. Augustine was a Christian follower of Plato’s teachings.  He combined Christian beliefs with Plato’s beliefs into his own teachings.  He pointed out that there are limits to how far reason can explain religious questions and that religion was needed to fill the gaps.  He adopted the belief from the Christian views that evil was “the absence of God” and that you could reach salvation through the church. 

St. Thomas Aquinas tried to show that reason and faith can co-exist and don’t always cause conflict.  Aquinas believed that certain truths could be attained through both faith and reason. God could be found through a path of reason and also through a path of faith.  If the follower truly wanted to find God, then either would work.

            The result of these two philosophers is that they were able to gain followers from the camp of reason as well as the religious followers.  They wanted to show that the two could co-exist and that reason would not be a threat to religion, nor would religion threaten reason.  Knowledge and faith could almost be symbiotic.  Their teachings would create a larger Christian following, but also could give each party the ability to justify their own personal beliefs through reason or faith without the internal conflict or the judgment of society. They, in a way revolutionized philosophy and started a movement where religion would become more acceptable throughout the world.