Dalle opinioni alle idee e dalle idee alle opinioni. Historia ecclesiastica e historia philosophica nel primo Settecento tedesco.

Both modern theologians and Christian Fathers consider philosophical history (and literary history, including that) like one of the many tools used in explaining holy Scripture, in studying religious works, in examining church history. Owing to the changed role of philosophy and theology, during the XVIII century, philosophical history (still separated from history of philosophy), becomes an independent and controversial field, susceptible of critical study and research. After hinting at related patristic issues, here I discuss some important writers of philosophical history and of history of philosophy. I examine their particular and typical remarks on the relationship between philosophical history and church history. So we see how philosophical history has grown to be a special subject (while it was a simple theological tool), and we notice how the absoluteness of the theological truth finds out (nearby or even inside) the truths of philosophies: till it appears more similar to human opinions than to God’s word, and finally more a modern result of a shared history than a revealed principle