The Birth of Philosophic Christianity - (Ernest Fortin: Collected Essays) by Ernest L Fortin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Volume One of Ernest Fortin: Collected Essays, the renowned theologian and political philosopher examines various facets of the unique encounter between biblical religion and Greek philosophy during the early Christian centuries and the Middle Ages. Fortin's aim is to uncover the crucial issues to which this encounter gave rise, such as the sometimes troubling but immensely fruitful tension between divine revelation and philosophic reason. The book includes sections on St. Augustine and the refounding of Christianity; the encounter between Jerusalem and Athens; the medieval roots of Christian education; and Dante and the politics of Christendom.

Review Quotes

"Such deep and wide learning is rare enough. But the cumulative effect of bringing together all these valuable contributions is to let us see something rarer still: the life of a mind that is humane, lucid, and wise." --Ralph Lerner, University of Chicago

"Ernest Fortin has a place of honor at the table of quiet erudition and uncompromising curiosity where adults try to understand how the world went crazy, and what might be done about it. If we are ever so much more fortunate than we deserve, younger scholars will follow Fortin in what is best described as the path of wisdom." --Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, First Things

"These three volumes are fundamental contributions to the problem of modernity. In his analysis of rights, Catholic social thought, the state, and general questions of justice, Ernest Fortin has penetrated to the core of the misplaced ideologies and enthusiasms that have appeared in religious circles. In addition, Fortin's essays are a direct challenge to, and redirection of, the major trends in political philosophy in the modern era. Few writing in intellectual circles today have Fortin's breadth of interest and profundity of analysis; his grasp of the classics and of modern theory is incomparable. Fortin is one of the few thinkers who take everything into consideration-experience, history, philosophy, revelation, the tradition of reason." --James V. Schall S.J., Georgetown University

"If this enlightening Catholic scholar has not yet garnered the credit that is his own due, this collection provides a remedy." --Homiletic & Pastoral Review

"Ernest Fortin possesses that rare combination, found only in the greatest thinkers, of both immense learning and a playful intellect. His essays are grounded, but not confined, in tradition; they are scholarly, but not pedantic. They are eloquent testimony to the eros of the mind." --Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See

About the Author

Ernest L. Fortin, one of the nation's foremost thinkers in the fields of philosophy and theology, is Professor of Theology at Boston College, and the author and editor of numerous books on ancient and medieval philosophy and religion.