Introduction to the History of Hebrew Philosophy

...I had judged it to be a great task, one that might occupy a man’s mind for his entire life. Soon, however, weighing everything seriously within myself, I discovered it to be connected by such a tight bond to church history that he might rightly be judged to have wasted both his labor and his oil original: "operam oleumque... perdidisse"; a classical idiom referring to the oil burned in a lamp during late-night study, meaning to work in vain. who desires to excel in one without having tasted the other.

I have often wondered why, since learned men everywhere devote themselves with great spirit to church history, so few have considered that the origins of all heresies must be traced back to the philosophy with which their founders or promoters were imbued. At the very least, no one has worked on demonstrating this with the study it deserves.

For I boldly assert that no heresy has appeared on the stage of history and gained followers which did not have philosophers of a certain sect as either its assistants or its promoters. If their views are not thoroughly understood or explored, one cannot even sufficiently understand what those architects of errors intended for themselves. Much less can it be certain whether they were condemned justly or unjustly, or whether they taught truth or falsehood.

Therefore, I thought it of the greatest importance for everyone that the true sources of church history be laid open, and the springs original: "scaturigines"; literally the bubbling headwaters of a stream, used here metaphorically for the origins of ideas. of so many errors, controversies, and disputes agitated through all the centuries be revealed. Those who unearth what they call ecclesiastical antiquities and rites, or who investigate the calculations of chronology, or emend the writings of the Church Fathers, certainly do something worthwhile and should not be cheated of their well-deserved praise,