What is the impact of Christianity on philosophy?

"What is the rise of Christianity in philosophy?"

Constantine and the Rise of Christianity

By the second century A.D., Christianity and Hellenism had come into close contact in the eastern Mediterranean. In the early fourth century, the policies of Emperor Constantine the Great institutionalized the connection and lent a lasting Greek influence to the church that emerged.

Although Christianity was initially practiced within Semitic populations of the Roman Empire, by the first century A.D. Greeks also had learned of the teachings of Christ. In that period, the epistles of Paul to the Ephesians and the Corinthians and his preachings to the Athenians were all aimed at a Greek audience. Other early Christian theological writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen attempted to fuse Christian belief with Greek philosophy, establishing the Greek world as the home of gentile Christianity.

Greece in the Roman Empire

http://www.gogreece.com/learn/history/Greece_in_the_romanempire.HTML

ANSWER

i personally don't think that there is much room in 'organized religion' of any kind for philosophy, however

the question is not the rise of christianinty in philosophy but the rise of philosophy in Christianity

because

first of all,

philosophy has been around since the dawn of time, since there were humans to think, there was thinking in philisophical terms, and Christianity came only 2000 years ago

so basically philosophy existed before Christianity

and secondly

the ability to philosophize - to be able to think of any and all possibilities,

to think outside the box and more,

to be calm and logical,

to think for yourself-

is not really something that most 'organized religions' are able to do well as they believe what they are told is true, and don't always question it and don't endorse questioning as you will tell from organized religions history of violence and forcing of beliefs

philosophy by its very nature and description can not have any religion 'rise' in its views, it would not be philosophy then it would just be another version of organized religion

however, i see that there are many individuals branching out from their religions and adapting philosophical views as well as their religious ones and this includes christians, this is where the rise of philosophy is in play in Christianity,

more and more people are willing to go out and see and learn for themselves instead of being told and simply believing, more and more people question,

its part of human nature to question, to want to learn more and no organized religion in the world is capable of taking that away from people.

AnswerChristians have always sought to 'make every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.' Taken out of context this should rightly raise the hackles of those who think that this justifies Christians forcing their beliefs on others. Some may have indeed experienced this in certain contexts. However it is specifically addressed to Christians themselves and how they are to think - which is to be in a Christ-like manner. As God himself created people with a free-will the paradigm for Christians would be to allow others the same.

Right from its inception Christians knew the philosophies of their day and were willing to engage in discussion (not brainwashing) with the followers of these philosophies. Paul did this with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers of his day on Mars hill at Athens (Acts 17 v 16-34). This kind of thing has happened down through history. Sometimes the philosophy is identified as specifically Christian, other times it is a Christian person engaged in philosophical pursuits.

In recent times people like C.S. Lewis, Os Guinness, Francis Schaeffer, Van Til and others have espoused a critique of modern philisophy and modern thought. They are attempting to apply Christian thinking to the condition of man as he is and to show the philosophical relevance of specifically Christian thought. This naturally includes a critique of current philosophies as well as pointing to Christian answers to all the questions of life.