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०३ Intellectual war

Robust intellectual response to Christianity

The neo-platonist tradition and lineage is described in the platonist page.
The pagan thinker Celsus wrote “True Doctrine / True Word” in AD 168. It was countered at length by the Christian Origen of Alexandria in AD 248 - one of the earliest works in Christian apologetics
Porphyry of Tyre (232-303 CE) wrote a stinging criticism of Christian scriptures. His book “Philosophy from Oracles and Against the Christians” was banned by Christian Constantine!

Christian appropriation

Appropriation of classical (hellenic) thought
- socrates, plato etc.. were excellent polytheists.
- “a man (Socrates) who by his own testimony was on a mission from Apollon.”
“Through Augustine (354–430) in the West and the 4th-century Cappadocian Fathers (Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus) in the East as well as the pseudo-epigraphic writings of Dionysius the Areopagite (early 6th century), Neoplatonism profoundly influenced the emergence of mainstream and not so mainstream Christian theology (John Scotus Eriugena, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Meister Eckhart). In addition, by way of a pseudo-epigraphical treatise entitled Theology of Aristotle, Neoplatonic thought facilitated the integration of ancient philosophy and science into both Islam (especially through Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi and Avicenna [Ibn Sina]) and Judaism (Maimonides).”