Patristic and early medieval philosophy: from the 4th to the 9th century syllabus (original) (raw)

A survey of philosophical developments in the intellectual context of eastern and western Christianity from the fourth to the ninth century. In this course, we look at the main thinkers of Byzantine and Latin Christendom from Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine to John of Damascus and John Scotus Eriugena. Though elements of the period covered here are sometimes handled in surveys of the medieval period as a whole, it is common for the greater part of such surveys to be devoted to the 11th to 14th centuries, roughly from Anselm of Canterbury to William of Ockham. To remedy this, the present course offers a sustained look at this earlier, nearly 600-year period. To provide reasonable internal contextualization, our readings are self-contained, complete or near-complete texts; to retain relevant connections to later periods, our authors are those having exercised a strong influence on later philosophers or philosophically-inclined theologians – an influence that continues to shape our understanding of the relation of these texts to philosophy as such. By the end of the course, the student shall have garnered a deeper understanding of this rich period of western religious thought and its influence on later developments, along with an appreciation of the ways patristic and early medieval figures understood the connections between sacred doctrine and philosophical reflection.