ffect of Aristotle's teaching was felt by all the ecclesiastical
parties in the fifth century. As we shall see in a later chapter, some
of the subsidiary elements of his philosophy are reflected in
monophysitism. The dominant ideas, however, of the system, the
conception of God and the world and the relation between them, were
taken over by the catholic theologians, and incorporated into their
Christology. We need not here inquire whether Aristotle's influence
was direct or indirect. No doubt many of the theologians who
constructed Christian doctrine had read his works. Whether that is so
or not, they must have unconsciously assimilated his central doctrine.
It was common property. The determination to keep God a reality and
the world a reality and yet relate the two became the controlling
motive of their thinking.

Aristotle in theory and application of theory has always a feeling for
fact. The individual thing and the world of individual things are, for
him, never negligible. Realised matter, life, the human spirit, human
nature, are actualities and have their value as such. They are not all
on the same level of being; they do not occupy the same rank; and it is
the philosopher's business to determine their respective positions in
the scale of being and value. But he cannot have his head in the
clouds of contemplation, unless he have his feet on the earth of fact.

THE ESSENCE OF CATHOLIC CHRISTOLOGY

Catholic Christology has caught the spirit of Aristotle's teaching. It
is not primarily speculative. It is in close touch with fact. It is
the outcome of a deep-felt want. Redemption is the first demand of
religious experience; so it is the motive and theme of all Christology.
The soul views itself as a member of a world of souls estranged from
God, and for its own peace and welfare seeks to effect a union between
God and the world. Such a union, to be effective, must preserve the
being and value of the world. If there were no world or only a
valueless world, there would be nothing to redeem, or nothing worth
redeeming. Seeking that union in personality, and in the most
marvellous personality of history, the orthodox theologians by a true
instinct ascribed to Him both divine and human natures. He is the
cosmic unity of opposites. His person is the cosmic relation. In that
person the lower term of the relation has true being and full value.
Thus the Church steered a middle course between the Scyl