Finally we come to the Patristic era (from the Latin for "fathers"). This is a subject worthy of an entire course of study. We'll do great violence to it by wresting from its treasures only a few people, and just a few of their insights. May they forgive us.

Tertullian (AD 160-230) radically rejected philosophy, but used philosophy to do so. He was Stoic in his view that God as "spirit" is fine and subtle matter, that souls must be physical in nature, and that the Father is the "God of the philosophers." And yet he thought he rejected philosophy with his method. His famous cry was, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" A great deal, apparently.

Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-225) combined Christian orthodoxy with a much greater respect for Greek philosophy. He insisted on the transcendent unity of God, the divinity of Christ, the unity of the Church, and the superiority of revealed doctrine. But he also believed that Greek philosophy is a valuable preparation and assistant in attaining the final truth of the Christian revelation.

Origen (A.D. 185-254) was the first great Christian Platonist. Born in Egypt, he succeeded Clement as head of the Catechetical School at Alexandria when he was eighteen years of age. He was imprisoned and tortured for his faith, and died as a result of his persecutions. His was a passionate commitment to the Christian faith.

His was a very original attempt to adapt Platonism to the requirements of Christian theology, beginning as a teacher with the data of revelation. However, he soon yields far too much ground to Plato. He is an extreme subordinationist, believing that God's power extends to all created things, the Son's only to rational beings, and the Spirit's only to a limited number of rational beings whom he sanctifies.

Origen believed that God's first creation was a community of rationally disembodied spirits, all equal and possessed of free will. These spirits sinned and fell in various degrees, according to the severity of their sin. Come became angels, others men, others demons. The material universe was created after this fall to provide penitential dwellings for these fallen spirits. Even the sun and other heavenly bodies are purgatorial vehicles in which are embodied spirits which have sinned.

Salvation for Origen comes through reincarnation, as fallen spirits move through a long series of lives, up and down the scale towards God according to their merits in the preceding stage. At last would come the apokatastasis, the restoration of all things. All spirits would be returned to their first purity and equality, even the devil included.

To achieve such a radical synthesis, Origen had to make full use of Philo's allegorical method. He shows us how far off track a brilliant person can go, unless the Bible guides both our method and our conclusions. If it could happen to Origen, it can happen to us.