Contained and reflected in the works of the medieval theologians such as Augustine and Aquinas, was a desire to reconcile the classic philosophy of Greece with the Christian religion. This was their pre-occupation during the medieval era and this was especially true for Aquinas.
Augustine was more interested in the work of Plato, while Aquinas' interests lay with Aristotle.
In short the presence of Plato and Aristotle permeates the works of the medieval theological philosophic giants, such as Augustine and Aquinas.
As has been previously indicated, much of medieval philosophy was looking for reasons to justify what it already believed. This was a primary problem for medieval philosophy since it lay in the hands of the ecclesiastics who were primarily concerned with defending religious assumptions.
However, the fact is that this could be said of philosophers in general.
Each philosopher seems in some sense to have been searching for a rational justification for what he already believed.
For example, Descartes was searching for a reason to defend what he already believed about the self and the external world. However, the philosophers task, or so it seems, is to develop a criteria for distinguishing good arguments from bad or weak arguments.
It seems that at precisely this point, there is a distinction to be made between the efforts of philosophers in general to defend what they already believed and to sacrifice these previously adhered to beliefs it arguments failed them.
The ecclesiastics did not seem to be so readily willing to abandon weak or failed beliefs.
Such still seems to be the case today in the religious world.
