Faith vs. Reason Augustine

Initially religion and philosophy were distinct, independent concepts that remained on opposite sides, this was until they started to blend and complement each other. One might describe these two areas as legs on a body that united in medieval times. The classical Greek and Roman leg is philosophical and focuses strongly on reason and virtue. The Biblical Jerusalem leg is religious and consists of Judeo Christian beliefs like respect, tradition and conservation. For orthodox Christians and believers this combination seems unholy but it was only a matter of time before faith sought reason. The strength and validity of faith and reason as individual concepts have been debated by philosophs and theologians for centuries; and because of this faith and reason are combined in different amounts to make sound moral decisions in our daily lives.

Heresies are false truths that are spread against orthodox beliefs. Four particular heresies are the Gnostic, the Arian, the Manichean, and the Pelagian. The Gnostic Heresy is based on Gnosticism, the belief that knowledge is the means to salvation. Gnosticism was somewhat of a synthesis of Christianity, Judaism, and several other religions of the time. Gnosticism's main idea was that a special message from high above was sent to select individuals and the knowledge that transcended was incommunicable. Gnostics tried to synthesize the various religions of the time but they failed at this union because Christians believed that their message was unique and to be interpreted literally. The next three heresies enforced faith as the means to salvation. The Arian Heresy resulted from debates about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. How could a God be both three and one? Arius believed strongly in monotheism and he argued that Jesus Christ was not God because God created him. Arius was trying to be a good Christian but found difficulty when his monotheistic belief went against Paul's mystical teaching that...