Which Christian thinker tried to show that Christianity and reason could go together?

Answer 1

Apostle Paul provided a reasoned defence of the faith, but recognized that under the teachings of Greek philosophy (Platonic, Stoic and Aristotelian) the idea that Christ came from God and died for mankind was considered "foolishness."

The first Greek Christian thinker who provided a comprehensive case that Christianity was compatible with reason was Origen (185-254).

Lucian of Antioch (240-312) provided a different explanation for the difficulty posed for Greek thinkers by the idea that Christ came from God as a man (the Incarnation). His ideas proved very popular with Christian thinkers of the early fourth century.

Athanasius (296-273) did not follow Lucian's approach. He remained closer to that taught by Origen. He also directly addressed the question of a reasoned faith, writing a work on this subject that has survived, and is shown in the related links below, "Against the Nations," and "On the Incarnation."

For Greek Christians, Athanasius' defence was continued by the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa. Thereafter, Greek Christians were generally not troubled by questions such as that posed here.

In the west, in the middle ages, Christianity was generally considered to be compatible with reason, since the prevailing philosophy was that taught by Plato. Plato's world view was quite amenable to a Christian view of the world, once the issue of the Incarnation was resolved.

The next challenge to Christianity came with the introduction of Aristotelian ideas. His teaching came to largely supplant those of Plato in scholarly circles. This provoked a response, with Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) providing the formal explanation of Christian doctrine in Aristotelian terms.

Aristotle's influence over Christian thinking declined in the course of time, but the next major change was in the new thinking that led to the Reformation. This new way of thinking saw a retreat from the earlier heavy dependence upon Greek philosophy, and a greater dependence of the teachings of the Bible, in particular the New Testament. This was not considered a retreat from reason, but a reasoned approach in itself.

The next big intellectual challenge to Christianity came from Darwin's doctrine of evolution. This development in thinking challenged the prevailing literal interpretation of the creation account in Genesis, and coincided with other challenges to the accuracy and authority of the Bible.

The response to this challenge has been two-fold. One has been to continue to seek for a reasoned explanation of Christian belief while maintaining openness to scientific discoveries as they are being made. The other has been to make Christianity the opponent of science. This has resulted in a failure to show the "Christianity and reason could go together" as indicated in the question.

Despite the popularity of the second approach in the most vibrant parts of the Church, the first of these approaches to this new challenge remains the most likely prove to be valid in the long term, but more work is required to demonstrate this in a way that is accessible to the ordinary Christian. We need a new Origen, Athanasius or Basil to show that Christianity and reason do go together quite harmoniously.