Notice here the efforts - most notably, with Philo of Alexandria - to establish a complementary relation between religion and Greek philosophy/science, despite conflicts,
followed by the tendency among Christians from Augustine through Isadore (4th-7th ct.) to focus rather on "otherworldly" goals.
Discussion of conflict between
basic assumptions of Greek science, Judeo-Christian tradition
Mentions Philo of Alexandria
(1st ct.): a Hellenized Jew who attempted to develop a complementarity
system between Judaism and Greek philosophy.
Since mythopoetical science
presented the structure of the universe in symbols which admit
many meanings, we need not always take the symbol itself as literal
truth. Reason alone might aid in the discovery of the primary
meaning of the symbol. While at certain times we must accept
the accounts of Moses as literal truth, we must also use our reason
to interpret the symbols of the myth when it becomes allegorical....when
the literal account of Scripture conflicts with reason, we are
to assume that the true meaning is allegorical. Philo naturally
found a ready ally in Plato. This should not surprise us. Philo's
goal was not to discover the reality of nature for itself; his
task was to use science as a means of arriving at spiritual truths,
much in the way Plato viewed the practice of mathematics as teaching
the mind to think abstractly. In fact, Philo went as far as to
say that Plato was Moses speaking Attic Greek! (105)
[Gnostics]
[critical difference between
J/C tradition, Aristotle: Aristotle's positing of an eternal world
and primary matter]
Discussion of other church
fathers, including Augustine, w/ concluding remark: "Curiosity
about the natural world was certainly not lacking among Christian
philosophers like St. Augustine. On the other hand, they had no
desire to further the cause of science for itself. The best minds
of the age were concerned with theological issues and how to reconcile
the science they possessed. Besides the Latin handbook tradition,
this situation also accelerated the decline of Greek science in
the West." (108)
Eastern Empire
John Philoponus, 6th ct. )?) NeoPlatonist who converted to Christianity in order to return from Persia to Constantinople.
Noted "... that it was
not the goal of Moses in Genesis to give rigorous physical explanations
for natural phenomena. Rather, Philoponus held that the purpose
of Scripture was to conduct people to the knowledge of God, which
is not the same as the goals of science. However, John did speculate
on the scientific meaning of the creation story...." (109)
--> echoes Philo, prefigures
the doctrine of the two-fold truth
Cf. Isidore of Seville, Etymologies
(early 7th ct.): "...the function of science was to elevate
the mind from the corporeal world to God.. Pursuing the derivation
of words, discovering their origin, seems to have been his idea
of knowledge....for Isidor, as for all Christians, the transcendental
world was prior to the material; corporeal existence was therefore
full of allegorical significance." (111)