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Theologians have been exposed to this kind of critical attack by philosophers ever since the apostle Paul had the temerity to address a congress of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (at their invitation) on the Areopagus (Acts 17: 16–34). Despite the fact that on this occasion he adopted a conciliatory manner of approach, which stands in puzzling contrast to the extremely negative attitude to philosophy expressed in some of his Epistles, he seems to have had only limited success. This appears to have been the general pattern. The theologians of the early centuries followed the path of conciliation for the most part; they strove to come to terms with the main currents of philosophical thought which they encountered, and they made copious use of philosophical conceptualities in the elaboration of Christian doctrine, but, though they won some converts from the ranks of philosophy, most philosophers, and the most eminent among them, remained aloof. A good example of the failure of conciliation was the school of Alexandria, one of the most ambitious attempts to create a philosophical theology which, however, failed to impress the philosophers it was designed to conciliate.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-81670-5_10

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