Maja Poljak

The subject of the article is the relationship between contemplation and creation seen through the lens of Thomistic philosophy. For our research, we used not just the original works of Thomas Aquinas, but also the works of Thomistic philosophers, primarily of J. Pieper, but also of classic contemporary Thomistic philosophers – É. Gilson and J. Maritain. Alongside these authors, we also used the works and ideas of Plato and Aristotle who represent the very peak of Greek thought and invaluable inspiration for Aquinas himself. This paper has three chapters: the first focuses on contemplation, and the second focuses on creation bringing it into comparison with creation understood as an act proper of God. The third chapter focuses on the relationship between contemplation and creation. Between these two activities, there is a double connection: on the one hand, creation has its inception in the contemplative act of the creator, and on the other, it also has its outcome in the contemplative act of the one encountering the work of creation.

Filon je rođen oko 25. god. pr. Kr., a umro je oko 40. pos. Kr. i za njega možemo reći da spada među glavne predstavnike židovsko-helenističke filozofije tog razdoblja. Rođen u Aleksandriji, u kojoj je utjecaj grčkog umovanja na židovski duh bio najočevidniji, Filon je među prvim filozofima koji je pokušao dati odgovore na pitanja koja proizlaze iz susreta filozofije i objavljene religije, pitanja koja će svoju kulminaciju doživjeti u srednjem vijeku. Možemo slobodno reći da je Filon bio filozof koji je ranokršćanskim misliocima olakšao postupak spajanja grčke filozofije s kršćanstvom jer se on sam prilikom korištenja grčke filozofske misli za racionalno objašnjenje židovske religije susreo s većinom problema s kojima su se oni susreli pri istom pokušaju s kršćanskom religijom. Naime, on je skovao sve ključne pojmove, dao vlastita rješenja bitnih problema koja proizlaze iz gore navedenog susreta i postavio temeljna pitanja koja se nalaze u samom središtu filozofije religije, a među koja spadaju pitanja postojanja Boga i naravi Božje, spoznaje Boga od strane čovjeka, naravi i svrhe čovjeka itd. Upravo je zbog toga nakana ovog rada pokazati Filonov doprinos shvaćanju odnosa objavljene religije i filozofije te sukladno tomu ukazati na pitanja koja su se pojavila u njegovoj filozofiji – koja nisu bila izražena u antici – a koja će postati dominantna u srednjem vijeku.Philo was one of the main representatives of the Judeo-Greek tradition of that period. Born in Alexandria in which the influence of the Greek philosophy on Judaism was most obvious, he was among the first philosophers who tried to answer questions emerging from the encounter between philosophy and revealed religion. Those questions turned out to be one of the most important questions during the Middle Ages. One could easily say that Philo facilitated the merge between philosophy and revealed religion for the early Christian philosophers. This had a lot to do with the fact that he met with most of the problems with which the Christians themselves met while trying to give rational explanation of their religion. He coined the most important terms, gave original solutions to the problems emerging from the above mentioned encounter and asked the fundamental questions which occupied the central space in the philosophy of religion. Among those questions were: the question of God’s existence and nature, the human cognition of God, the nature and the end of a man etc. Hence, the intention of this work is to show Philo’s contribution to the understanding of the relation of revealed religion to philosophy and to show which questions appear in his philosophy, but cannot be explicitly found in the Greek philosophy, and which became dominant during the Middle Ages