The History of Christian Theology

Lecture 9: The Uses of Philosophy

Christian theology almost unanimously accepted the Platonist concept of

the immortality of the soul. Many early Christian theologians rejected the

idea that the soul was by nature immortal, since this suggested the soul did

not need to receive everlasting life as a gift from God. Once immortality of

the soul was accepted, the Platonist picture of a disembodied soul going to

heaven became widespread in Christianity.

The related concept of the Fall of souls into bodies was eventually rejected.

The great 3rd-century theologian Origen proposed, as a speculative

hypothesis, that souls fell into bodies because of their sin or imperfection.

These Origenist teachings were eventually condemned by the church, though

many current theologians now defend Origen.

The concept of God as timelessly eternal and therefore immutable and

impassible, though no longer very popular, was universally accepted by

orthodox Christian theologians by the 4th century. Biblical portrayals of God

as angry or moved by compassion were read spiritually as describing the

just and merciful actions of God. The deep problem raised by the doctrine of

impassibility was how God can be incarnate, suffer, and die. Ŷ

Augustine, City of God, bks. 8, 11, and 12.

Origen, “On First Principles: Book 4” in Origen, edited by Greer.

Stead, Philosophy in Christian Antiquity.

1. Setting aside modern prejudices, might there be reason to be suspicious
   of the passions?


2. Setting aside modern prejudices, might there be reason to believe that
   God is beyond passion and change?

Questions to Consider

Suggested Reading