Prompt 3

Ashley Clark

Mrs. Wilhemus

AP English Lit

17 July 2013

Christianization

                During the Middle Ages, faith was extremely important to the Christian people. Once their religion was so popular and heavily practiced, the people became unhappy with the fact that philosophers reasons did not correlate with their faith. In order for the Christians to agree with philosophers, the philosophers had to ensure their thoughts were Christianized. Christianization is quite simply telling the people that religion and reason do come together to match equally.

                Aristotle and Plato were two of the greatest philosophers during the Middle Ages. In order for them to maintain their level of popularity, they needed to Christianize their thoughts. Aquinas and St. Augustine, who were philosophers but of a much lower level, actually taught Aristotle and Plato how to make their reason’s agree with the Christian faith. Christianization earned its name due to the rising popularity of Christianity during the Middle Ages.

                To ensure the Christian people that faith and religion do intertwine, Plato and Aristotle provided examples to the people. One example is that there is a God, which is obviously the main factor in Christianity. The philosophers stated there must be something that created the universe and everything inside of it and this must be considered a heavenly figure. Another example provided is when Alberto tells us St. Augustine believes “history is necessary for the enlightenment of man and the destruction of evil.” Philosophers also use history to be able to form new thoughts and ideas about the world. If it were not for keeping track of history, there is a chance that all philosophers would have never learned from their processors and taught everyone the same material.