Theocentrism of medieval philosophy is a picture of the world in which God was the cause and center of being, its active and creative principle. The philosophy of the period of the sixth to fifteenth centuries bore a pronounced religious-Christian orientation.
Stages of development of medieval philosophy:
1) Apologetics
Preteocentric stage II - IV centuries A.D. At this time, the first Christian literature appeared, in which Christianity was defended and justified.
A bright representative of this stage, Tertullian of Carthage, believed that the Christian faith already contained a ready-made truth that did not need verification or evidence. The basic principle of his teaching is "I believe, because it is absurd." At this stage, science and religion did not have common ground.
2) Patristics
Early theocentrism of medieval philosophy, IV - VIII century. At this time, the church fathers developed the foundations of Christian dogma. Faith was considered the initial foundation of any knowledge, and the knowledge of God was the only worthy goal for the human mind.
Aurelius Augustine (St. Augustine), the main works - "On the City of God", "Confession." In his writings, the philosopher tried to synthesize the ancient rationalism-idealism and the Christian faith, putting faith in the forefront. The basic principle of teaching: "I believe in order to understand."
All things, according to St. Augustine, are good precisely because they exist. Evil is not a separate substance, but a deficiency, damage, non-existence. God is a source of good, being, the highest beauty.
Aurelius Augustine is considered the founder of the philosophy of history. According to him, in the process of history, mankind has formed two opposite “cities”: a secular state, which is the kingdom of sin, the devil, and the Christian church - another “city”, which is the kingdom of God on earth. The historical course and providence of God lead mankind to the final victory of the kingdom of God, as it is commanded in the Bible.
3) Scholasticism
From Greek. "School", "scientist" - IX - XV centuries. The main feature of this period is the appeal to rational methods when considering superrational objects, the search for evidence of the existence of God. The main principle of scholasticism: "I understand to believe." The theory of “two truths” is being formed, according to which science and faith do not contradict each other, but harmoniously coexist. The wisdom of faith is the desire to know God, and science is the means to this knowledge.
A prominent representative of the scholastics is Thomas Aquinas (Aquinas). He believed that God is the root cause and ultimate goal of all things, a pure form, a pure being. The fusion and unity of form and matter gives rise to a world of individual individual phenomena. The highest occurrence is Jesus Christ, who combines divine pure nature and bodily-material form.
In many terms, Thomas Aquinas converged with the teachings of Aristotle.
At the stage of scholasticism, science and religion merged into one doctrine, while science served the needs of religion.
The principles of medieval philosophy:
1) Theocentrism of medieval philosophy rested on a fusion with religion and supported Christian behavior in the world.
2) The Bible was considered as the source of all knowledge about the world, nature and history of mankind. Based on this, a whole science arose about the correct interpretation of the Bible - exegetics. Accordingly, medieval philosophy, theocentrism were entirely exegetical.
3) Edification. Training and education were valuable only when they were aimed at knowing God and saving the human soul. The training was based on the principle of dialogue, erudition and the encyclopedic knowledge of the teacher.
4) Theocentrism of medieval philosophy was devoid of skepticism and agnosticism. Divine directions and revelations could be known through insights, through faith. The physical world was studied through science, and the divine nature through divine revelations. Two main truths were distinguished: divine and worldly, which theocentrism of medieval philosophy combined symbiotically. Personal salvation and the triumph of Christian truths settled on a universal scale.
