As we move to the second century, our attention turns to the early philosophers and apologists for the Christian movement. Most of these thinkers were involved in defending Christians against very practical attacks on their well-being, rather than the attempt to work out elaborate intellectual responses to Roman paganism. It is, nevertheless, quite helpful to review the thought of these important contributors to Christian understanding, and we attempt to accomplish that in this lesson.

Our main focus here is Justin Martyr (d. 165), who was the first true philosopher of the Christian faith, and who gives a very interesting insight into the life and times of Christians in the second century a.d. We also touch briefly on later thinkers, especially Irenaeus and Tertullian.

As you work through this lesson, think about the great benefit that came to later generations as a result of the contributions of these courageous representatives of the early Christian movement!

1. Introduction to the Major Themes of Philosophy
2. The Ionian Philosophers
3. The Italian Philosophers
4. The Athenian Pluralists
5. The Life and Times of Socrates
6. Introduction to Plato
7. Plato's World of the Forms
8. Plato's Parable of the Cave
9. Dualism in Plato
10. Introduction to Aristotle
11. Aristotle's Metaphysics
12. Aristotle's Categories
13. Aristotle's Theory of Language
14. Aristotle's God
15. The Epicureans
16. Stoicism
17. Philo of Alexandria
18. The Christian Synthesis
19. Early Christian Apologists
20. Antiochan Christianity
21. Alexandrian Christianity
22. The Council of Nicaea
23. Manichaeism
24. Neo-Platonism
25. The Life of Augustine
26. Overview of Augustin's Thought
27. Augustin's Epistemology
28. Augustin's Epistemology (part 2)
29. Augustin's Theory of Faith
30. Augustin's Understanding of the Church
31. The Pelagian Controversy
32. The Pelagian Controversy (cont)
33. The Pelagian Controversy (concl)
34. Anselm of Canterbury
35. Anselm's Cur Deus Homo
36. Introduction to the Classical Synthesis
37. The Classical Synthesis (part 2)
38. Thomas Aquinas and the Five Ways
39. Art, Philosophy, and the Renaissance

This wide ranging course starts with the pre-Socratic philosophers of the ancient world, and traces the history of philosophical speculation across the ages up to the present. Included along the way is special attention to the greatest Christian thinkers in history, including Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and many others.