Posted by Reinhard (69.86.174.252) on July 14, 2008 at 10:49:16:

John, you asked for "Christian philosophy" (I tried to asked earlier but had technical diffculties to post an answer here).  I wouldn't go so far by mentioning Edith Stein, a phenomenologist and an assistant of Edmund Husserl.  While the early Church Fathers called their (Christian) philosophy the "philosophy of Christ" (sic!) another famous philosopher, Martin Heidegger (another assistant of Husserl), called Christian philosophy a "wodden iron".  Now what?  Is there something like Christian philosophy?  I say "yes" because I think the early Church Fathers were right.  They didn't reject the philosophy by the ancient pagan philosophers.  Instead they did assimilate the spiritual-ontological exercises by these ancient philosophers (they took these spiritual-ontological exercises mainly from Stoics and Epicureans).  As I mentioned earlier, these spiritual exercises by the ancient pagan philosophers return even as Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises and, last but not least, in Christotherapy itself.  Therefore, Christotherapy - standing in (and renewing) the tradition of these ancient spiritual exercises once assimilated by St. Augustine et al. - could be called a Christian philosophy.  Ancient philosophy was more a practical art or "techne" rather than "episteme", i. e. a very practical and therapeutical enterprise like Christotherapy.  And like Christotherapy ancient philosophy by the pagan philosophers as well as the early Church Fathers was as way of being or a way of life.  In my opinion Fr. Tyrrell as Catholic philosopher (sic!) and not "only" theologian, could open his own Christian "Philosophical Practice" to get a label (or shingle) to practice Christotherapy ... 

Post a Followup

Name: E-Mail: Subject: Comments: