ST ATHANASIUS SEMINAR 2025
June 9-13 at Ambrose University, Calgary, Alberta
“Ancient Philosophy and the Formation of Christian Thought”
One of the best ways to view Christianity is from the outside, as it was seen by the ancient pagans. By the time that Christianity emerged, educated pagans had long believed in a single supreme God. But the idea that this God might seek to save humanity by becoming incarnate seemed to them like blasphemy. It suggested that God was ignorant of what was for them the basic fact that what we call evil is essential to the balance of the cosmos, so to seek to change it is pointless.
We will examine the debate between pagans and Christians and how it led to the creation of a new Christian philosophy. This philosophy overturned longstanding assumptions, not only about God, evil, and creation, but about ethics, the possibility of radical change, and the goal of human life. Ultimately we will see that the ancient world produced not one but two Christian philosophies—that of the East as represented by authors such as St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nyssa, and that of the West as represented by St. Augustine. Understanding their differences will reveal much about the perils and possibilities facing Christian thought today.