Roman Catholicism Meets Ancient Greek Philosophy

When the Catholic Church's representatives met with the ancient knowledge of an Athenian and a Macedonian who loved Athens, they were taken aback. The philosophical power of the Athenians, particularly Plato and Aristotle, even more so for those who include Socratic philosophy as part of Plato's works was enough to send lesser minds reeling. Many Catholics had learned of them and had written on them. Over the centuries, these were confronted and addressed. Earlier, Saint Augustine included some of the ancient Greeks in his own efforts in theology. In Augustine's case, Plato's work dominated his psychology. Centuries later, Aquinas was able to access the same old time philosophy, but with further updates than his predecessor Augustine had been able to access. Aquinas felt the power of Aristotle as well, but tended to prefer this. Over the millennium, Plato's and Aristotle's philosophies often jockey...