The Christianization of Pyrrhonism

by José Raimundo Maia Neto

Augustine's christianization of Plato and Thomas Aquinas' of Aristotle provided the two main foundations of medieval Judeo-Christian philosophy. In The Christianization of Pyrrhonism, Jose R. Maia Neto shows that Greek scepticism played a similar role in the development of a major strand of modern religious thought. From the Jansenist reaction to Molinism in the early 17th c. to Shestov's resistance to the arrival of Kantian enlightenment in Russia in the late 19th century, Greek scepticism was reconstructed in terms of Christian doctrines and used against major secular philosophers who posed threats to religion. At the same time, the ancient sceptics' practical stance was attacked in order that it does not constitute a viable alternative to the modern secular philosophies. The resulting Christianized Pyrrhonism would be the bases for a genuine Christian or Biblical thought for the first time emancipated from the rationalist assumptions and methods of Greek philosophy. The Christianiza