Lactantius and Eusebius: Christianity and Philosophy in the Early Fourth Century

Abstract

What is the value of history to philosophy? Hasok Chang proposes that when a philosophical model runs into a problem, it is likely that its underlying historical assumption that informs and upholds such model, requires a revisit, if not, a major overhaul. A reconstruction of history could contribute to a new way of approaching philosophical problems. Chang through a series of articles gives us a detailed account of the debate over the nature of combustion, phlogiston and fixed air in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which shed light on operationalism, realism, natural kinds, pragmatism, epistemic iteration, incommensurability, epistemic pluralism, and other philosophcical issues in the realm of HPS. This article applied his interdisciplinary approach to philosophy and history, to the three prevalent models concerning the relation between Christianity and philosophy. I argue that Integration Model, Disjunction Model, and Conflict Model, is not clear-cut but interwoven in the thoughts of early church fathers, many of whom hold onto paradoxical stances. I suggest that it is better to measure a person’s commitment to Christianity and philosophy on a spectrum with philosophy on one side while Christianity the other. A person’s degrees of committment move back and forth on the spectrum contingent upon the semantic, political and social contexts within which they are speaking, as will be shown in the case of two early church fathers, Lactantius and Eusebius.