In the early 1930s, Emile Brehier inaugurated a dispute regarding whether or not true philosophy could have existed during the ages of faith, the assumption being that real philosophers are untouched by faith and are, ideally, non-believers. Etienne Gilson and Jacques Maritain, among many others, entered the fray, seeking to clarify what is meant by Christian philosophy. Both of these philosophers were very much in the tradition of St Thomas Aquinas, and together they might be said to have set the stage for present-day discussions of just whether and what such a thing as a Christian philosophy might be.
