“The Apostle Philosophizes”: Luther and the Critique of Metaphysics in 1515-1516

by Matthew Gaetano TRF has discussed the Protestant engagement with ancient philosophy and scholasticism quite a number of times (here, here, here, here). But we have not directly discussed Martin Luther’s engagement with the question of philosophy and its study by Christians. Luther’s famous contempt for Aristotle, especially early in his reforming career, is on… Read More “The Apostle Philosophizes”: Luther and the Critique of Metaphysics in 1515-1516

November 6, 2023December 13, 2023 Matthew Gaetano2 Comments

Philo and the Good Shepherd

by Matthew Gaetano Previous posts, especially those by Joshua Shaw, have touched on the major first-century Jewish thinker, Philo of Alexandria (here, here, here, and here). As we deal here with the long Augustinian tradition, it is fitting that we remember Augustine’s debts not only to Platonism, but also to those who, centuries before Augustine,… Read More Philo and the Good Shepherd

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 Matthew Gaetano2 Comments

“Christianity Shrinks From No Test”: Westcott and Hort on Biblical Criticism (2)

by Joshua Shaw In another post we will look at the critical methods of these men (as well as others – Schlatter, Hodge, Bavinck, Lightfoot, etc.) in a more direct way; for now we consider it from the perspective of the last post – the relationship of man to Creation, the relationship of this world… Read More “Christianity Shrinks From No Test”: Westcott and Hort on Biblical Criticism (2)

September 3, 2022September 5, 2022 Joshua Shaw1 Comment

“Creation groaneth and travaileth together”: The Fourth Sunday after Trinity (1)

The Epistle reading in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (see here for a nicely bound, affordable edition from Everyman) for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity is Romans 8:18-23, which reads as follows, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed… Read More “Creation groaneth and travaileth together”: The Fourth Sunday after Trinity (1)

August 3, 2022August 3, 2022 Joshua Shaw2 Comments

Good Dreams and Better Prayers: CS Lewis and BF Westcott on Plato

by Joshua Shaw Matthew Gaetano, in a previous post, has touched on C. S. Lewis’s idea of the “good dreams” of pagans which were fulfilled in the Gospel. This post treats another Cambridge scholar writing and thinking in the same vein as Lewis. Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901) was an extraordinary New Testament scholar who brought… Read More Good Dreams and Better Prayers: CS Lewis and BF Westcott on Plato

July 21, 2022July 25, 2022 Joshua Shaw2 Comments

Thomas Traherne on Philosophia – the Love of Wisdom

by Joshua Shaw I happened to be reading a very apt passage from Thomas Traherne just a few days after Matt’s latest post. The coincidence seemed too perfect to forgo at least a short addendum to his post. He mentioned there various trends of scholarship concerning the conception of wisdom: when did it change? Is… Read More Thomas Traherne on Philosophia – the Love of Wisdom

July 9, 2022July 10, 2022 Joshua Shaw2 Comments

The Search for Wisdom in Renaissance Theology

by Matthew Gaetano I had a lovely and thought-provoking conversation with colleagues about how the word wisdom has become almost meaningless for many students today. Even some of our peers who are seeking or who have earned a Ph.D. degree do not really appreciate that this makes one a doctor philosophiae and that philosophia is… Read More The Search for Wisdom in Renaissance Theology

June 25, 2022June 25, 2022 Matthew Gaetano6 Comments

Renaissance Theology

by Matthew Gaetano The Italian Renaissance tends to be overlooked in narratives of the history of theology. The leap from high and late medieval scholastics like Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel to Martin Luther is common. Just a few years ago, even John O’Malley, after decades of effort to… Read More Renaissance Theology

June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 Matthew Gaetano3 Comments

“[His] only care was not to please”: Eusebius’s Tribute to Socrates

by Joshua Shaw When we tried in a previous series to take in Eusebius’s apologetic argument against Plato at a glance, we skipped over a few passages in the middle of Book XIII (of the Praeparatio Evangelica). In this book Eusebius is slowly building his case against Plato by thoughtfully curating passages from Socrates’s last… Read More “[His] only care was not to please”: Eusebius’s Tribute to Socrates

October 27, 2021November 3, 2021 Joshua ShawLeave a comment

St. Paul the Platonist and True Tradition

Eusebius was up to a whole lot of things in his thousand-page tome, the Praeparatio Evangelica. One thing among them was to show his readers “the true tradition” of Biblical exegesis and Christian theology.[i] Eusebius was interested in origins and in the deep history of ideas; he was rarely content to get things second hand… Read More St. Paul the Platonist and True Tradition

October 12, 2021October 15, 2021 Joshua ShawLeave a comment

The Regensburg Forum

History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Augustinian Tradition

Category: Platonism