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From Aristotle to Christ: How Aristotelian Thought Clarified the Christian Faith
Discover how Aristotelian thought has shaped Christianity through history and remains relevant for Christians today
When Christians of any age, country, or denomination debate the nature of the good life, the soul, free will, or design, Aristotle lies behind their logic as well as their rhetoric. Although Aristotle did not have access to the Bible's special revelation, he made full use of general revelation to arrive at deep truths about the nature of God, human identity, and the universe. In the Catholic Middle Ages the spiritual vision that undergirded Dante’s Divine Comedy was strongly indebted to Aristotle’s cosmology, and in the Protestant Reformation and Enlightenment the social vision of a well-run state was equally indebted to his political science.
In a follow up to his well-loved book From Plato to Christ, renowned scholar Louis Markos takes us on a vigorous and celebratory journey through the work of Plato’s greatest student, demonstrating Aristotle’s often unacknowledged influence on the Christian faith. In Markos’s hands, Aristotle is far from an irrelevant ancient philosopher but is instead an important conversation partner for some of history's greatest Christian thinkers and a thoughtful guide to today’s most challenging questions.
With this book, you'
Consider the influence of Aristotle's thought on the Christian faith,Carefully analyze several of Aristotle's best-known texts,Trace Aristotle's influence upon many key theologians in Christian history, andUnderstand Aristotle's continuing importance for Christians today.This book is a perfect addition to any classroom that seeks to understand how classical thought intersects with Christianity, both past and present. Grab your copy today and explore the relationship between Aristotelian philosophy and Christianity.
When Christians of any age, country, or denomination debate the nature of the good life, the soul, free will, or design, Aristotle lies behind their logic as well as their rhetoric. Although Aristotle did not have access to the Bible's special revelation, he made full use of general revelation to arrive at deep truths about the nature of God, human identity, and the universe. In the Catholic Middle Ages the spiritual vision that undergirded Dante’s Divine Comedy was strongly indebted to Aristotle’s cosmology, and in the Protestant Reformation and Enlightenment the social vision of a well-run state was equally indebted to his political science.
In a follow up to his well-loved book From Plato to Christ, renowned scholar Louis Markos takes us on a vigorous and celebratory journey through the work of Plato’s greatest student, demonstrating Aristotle’s often unacknowledged influence on the Christian faith. In Markos’s hands, Aristotle is far from an irrelevant ancient philosopher but is instead an important conversation partner for some of history's greatest Christian thinkers and a thoughtful guide to today’s most challenging questions.
With this book, you'
Consider the influence of Aristotle's thought on the Christian faith,Carefully analyze several of Aristotle's best-known texts,Trace Aristotle's influence upon many key theologians in Christian history, andUnderstand Aristotle's continuing importance for Christians today.This book is a perfect addition to any classroom that seeks to understand how classical thought intersects with Christianity, both past and present. Grab your copy today and explore the relationship between Aristotelian philosophy and Christianity.
288 pages, Paperback
Published September 23, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 23, 2025
I read this book because I read the author’s previous book “From Plato to Christ” and greatly appreciated his ability to synthesize Platonic thinking over several millennia. With that said, “From Aristotle to Christ” does what “From Plato to Christ” does except for Aristotle instead of Plato.
This is worth reading if you’re interested in how Aristotelian thought has influenced Christian thinking and you aren’t necessarily a philosopher or someone who has read a lot of philosophy.
My one complaint is that the author changed his methodology just slightly by not separating Aristotle’s thinking from others as distinctly as he did in his previous book with Plato. Some may actually prefer this, but I did not.
This is worth reading if you’re interested in how Aristotelian thought has influenced Christian thinking and you aren’t necessarily a philosopher or someone who has read a lot of philosophy.
My one complaint is that the author changed his methodology just slightly by not separating Aristotle’s thinking from others as distinctly as he did in his previous book with Plato. Some may actually prefer this, but I did not.
December 22, 2025
Quite good. This is a really helpful introduction (no condescension intended) to the subject of the historic and ongoing relevance of Aristotelian thought to the Christian faith. Markos exposes some significant points of contact between Aristotle's philosophy and Christian ethics and aesthetics that need more attention. Given the brevity and summary nature of this work, there is quite a bit of simplification that occurs, but Markos is a thoughtful and immensely helpful guide. Markos does a fair bit of editorializing, which I quite enjoy, even if I register moderate disagreement at times. Enjoyed this quite a bit.
June 26, 2025
This is effectively two books. It is an exposition of Aristotle’s thinking, but it is also an exposition of how that thinking influenced Christian thinkers and theological expression.
This means that readers not only learn about Aristotle’s views, but they are also introduced to a wide range of significant Christian thinkers. This ranges from first century figures like Polycarp (Chp 20) to sixteenth century figures like Francis Bacon (Chp 3), to Enlightenment figures like Rousseau (Chp 17) and modern Aristotelian scholars like Alasdair MacIntyre.
Another strong feature of the text was the way that the author explained Aristotle’s disagreements with Plato, and noted Christian preferences for Aristotle’s approach. This included issues like Plato’s insistence that sin is ignorance, and it also included Plato’s scepticism about the value of arts and individual property.
One of the features which worked less well in the book, was that the text would sometimes slip from exposition of history and philosophy into defending an idea. This led to a defence of Intelligent Design in chapter 6 and a defence in chapter 16 of the idea that ‘most wives are happier… (when) led by a … patriarch…’ Both of those ideas are very controversial, and so they both needed far more detailed exploration than the book gave them. Perhaps it would have been better to leave them out of this text, and to explore them in a different book?
There was also an occasional tendency to over-egg the Aristotle analogies and attributions. This occurs in chapter 2 where Transubstantiation is cited as an archetypal example of a doctrine influenced by Aristotle. Yes, that was indeed a common reformation criticism of Catholicism, but is it entirely accurate? The theological language used in official documents (like the Council of Trent) is not the Aristotelian terms ‘substance and accident’ but it is instead the terminology of ‘substance and species.’ Arguably that language owes more to Augustine (eg Bk 7 of the De Trinitate) than it does to Aristotle. Issues like this are far more complex than the book allowed for.
Another example might query whether Christians really got their idea of the four cardinal virtues from Aristotle (or Plato), as Chapter 13 seems to suggest. What we have to remember is that until the Reformation, all Western Christians were reading the Latin vulgate which included a Deuterocanonical book of Wisdom. That book of Wisdom listed the four cardinal virtues as a scriptural text (See chp 8 verse 7). That being the case, how can we be so sure that Christians learned about the cardinal virtues from pagan philosophers, rather than from their Scriptural texts?
Overall, this is a very informative exploration of both Aristotle’s ideas and also of their reception in the Christian tradition. It will be of interest to any readers interested in how philosophical ideas have interacted with Christian faith. The complexity of the ideas means that the book will be enjoyed most by readers with a prior awareness of some of the issues.
(These are honest comments based on a free ARC digital version of the text).
This means that readers not only learn about Aristotle’s views, but they are also introduced to a wide range of significant Christian thinkers. This ranges from first century figures like Polycarp (Chp 20) to sixteenth century figures like Francis Bacon (Chp 3), to Enlightenment figures like Rousseau (Chp 17) and modern Aristotelian scholars like Alasdair MacIntyre.
Another strong feature of the text was the way that the author explained Aristotle’s disagreements with Plato, and noted Christian preferences for Aristotle’s approach. This included issues like Plato’s insistence that sin is ignorance, and it also included Plato’s scepticism about the value of arts and individual property.
One of the features which worked less well in the book, was that the text would sometimes slip from exposition of history and philosophy into defending an idea. This led to a defence of Intelligent Design in chapter 6 and a defence in chapter 16 of the idea that ‘most wives are happier… (when) led by a … patriarch…’ Both of those ideas are very controversial, and so they both needed far more detailed exploration than the book gave them. Perhaps it would have been better to leave them out of this text, and to explore them in a different book?
There was also an occasional tendency to over-egg the Aristotle analogies and attributions. This occurs in chapter 2 where Transubstantiation is cited as an archetypal example of a doctrine influenced by Aristotle. Yes, that was indeed a common reformation criticism of Catholicism, but is it entirely accurate? The theological language used in official documents (like the Council of Trent) is not the Aristotelian terms ‘substance and accident’ but it is instead the terminology of ‘substance and species.’ Arguably that language owes more to Augustine (eg Bk 7 of the De Trinitate) than it does to Aristotle. Issues like this are far more complex than the book allowed for.
Another example might query whether Christians really got their idea of the four cardinal virtues from Aristotle (or Plato), as Chapter 13 seems to suggest. What we have to remember is that until the Reformation, all Western Christians were reading the Latin vulgate which included a Deuterocanonical book of Wisdom. That book of Wisdom listed the four cardinal virtues as a scriptural text (See chp 8 verse 7). That being the case, how can we be so sure that Christians learned about the cardinal virtues from pagan philosophers, rather than from their Scriptural texts?
Overall, this is a very informative exploration of both Aristotle’s ideas and also of their reception in the Christian tradition. It will be of interest to any readers interested in how philosophical ideas have interacted with Christian faith. The complexity of the ideas means that the book will be enjoyed most by readers with a prior awareness of some of the issues.
(These are honest comments based on a free ARC digital version of the text).
October 5, 2025
"From Aristotle To Christ" is a great read for anyone wanting to learn more about how Aristotle influenced Christian thinking over the years. Think that Christian believers like myself cannot learn from non-Christians? Well, think again. As the author rightly mentions, there are some examples in the Bible when God worked through pagans to believers (think of Moses' father-in-law Jethro in the 18th chapter of the Bible book of Exodus, for example).
The author describes 5 categories of Aristotle's philosophical thought on Christian thinkers: logic and science, metaphysics and cosmology, psychology and ethics, social and political science, and rhetoric and aesthetics.
Some of the very interesting examples the author mentions about Aristotle's influence on Christian thinking include:
- The virtue of friendship and how Aristotle devoted a lot of his thinking and writing on the subject.
- The importance of contemplation, especially on God. While Aristotle apparently was deistic in his belief about God, he did present some good thoughts on thinking about God.
- The importance of work and leisure.
- Importance of owning private property, as opposed to a communistic or socialistic takeover of a person's property.
The above are only a few examples: there are many more. As an academic read, the book is very informative, has excellent footnotes for clarifying a point as needed, contains a very helpful glossary for the reader not familiar with the terms used by the author, is well-organized, and is very suitable for either a college course or personal study.
Very good reference and title for anyone interested in this area. Recommended.
I was given a review copy by IVP in exchange for a fair review and appreciate the opportunity.
The author describes 5 categories of Aristotle's philosophical thought on Christian thinkers: logic and science, metaphysics and cosmology, psychology and ethics, social and political science, and rhetoric and aesthetics.
Some of the very interesting examples the author mentions about Aristotle's influence on Christian thinking include:
- The virtue of friendship and how Aristotle devoted a lot of his thinking and writing on the subject.
- The importance of contemplation, especially on God. While Aristotle apparently was deistic in his belief about God, he did present some good thoughts on thinking about God.
- The importance of work and leisure.
- Importance of owning private property, as opposed to a communistic or socialistic takeover of a person's property.
The above are only a few examples: there are many more. As an academic read, the book is very informative, has excellent footnotes for clarifying a point as needed, contains a very helpful glossary for the reader not familiar with the terms used by the author, is well-organized, and is very suitable for either a college course or personal study.
Very good reference and title for anyone interested in this area. Recommended.
I was given a review copy by IVP in exchange for a fair review and appreciate the opportunity.
November 14, 2025
I liked the structure of this one more than "From Plato to Christ," and found a few specific discussions quite interesting (ex. Aristotle's "causes" and the modern debate on creation v evolution). It's a helpful and readable summary of a lot of Aristotelian thought, but still skews a bit too introductory for my overall taste.
Video review here: https://youtu.be/YalwRDz-_eg
Video review here: https://youtu.be/YalwRDz-_eg
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews