ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНІ ВИТОКИ ХРИСТИЯНСЬКОЇ ФІЛОСОФІЇ ЕТЬЄНА ЖІЛЬСОНА.

Urgency of the research. In the first half of the 20^th century Catholic theology faced new intellectual challenges and a wave of modernization processes, which required a thoughtful theological response from leading contemporary Catholic thinkers. At the time of the current dominance of postmetaphysical and postmodern patterns of thinking, when the traditional issues of Christian ontology are being revised or relativized, the researches of the most prominent neo-Thomists of the 20th century appear to be newly relevant as significant attempts to construct a holistic, conceptual, and consistent philosophic vision of reality. Target setting. The prevailing liberal theological discourse always brands any ambitious attempt at large-scale theological systematization and conceptualization as allegedly narrow-minded traditionalism and irrelevant paleoconservatism. E. Gilson and the great amount of his theological and philosophical work are worth a new careful rethinking, given the tendency of modern theology to ideological fragmentation, decomposition, and marginalization of a holistic system of Christian doctrines. Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. The article is based on the analysis of a number of primary sources with taking into account the work of such researchers in the field of Gilsonian neo-Thomism as F. Murphy, B. Shanley, G. Grisez, A. Maurer, D. Kiryanov and A. Dakhniy. The research objective. The primary aim of the article is to identify the basic system-building ideas that E. Gilson has placed at the core of his concept of Christian philosophy. The statement of basic materials. Gilson managed to creatively present, update, and reveal the heuristic potential of Thomism as a paradigmatic system of metaphysical and epistemological realism, which had proved its historical continuity and notable influence even on the founders of the rational discourse of the Enlightenment. Gilson’s merit also lies in his expression of the constitutive role of human reason in the construction of Christian philosophy, as well as in the fact that he did not attempt to mask a possible lack of argument by appealing to the doctrine of divine revelation. The researcher advocated the need for the creative rethinking of Thomism as a dialogical system of ideas and emphasized the inadequacy of the uncritical repetition of Aquinas’ teachings in the frozen historical form in the context of new unprecedented challenges. Conclusions. Gilson did not attempt to synthesize medieval philosophical ideas with modern intellectual constructions for creating his own complex and eclectic system. Gilson’s key goal was the reassertion of a complex Thomistic vision of reality against the background of dismantled ideological programs of emasculated hyperrationality (with a bias towards extreme scientism) and cumbersome forms of idealism. The researcher managed to disprove the established stereotype regarding the alleged degradation and primitivization of philosophy during the Middle Ages, demonstrated strong arguments in favor of the presence of unceasing philosophical progress and ingenious original insights during the mentioned historical period, and also masterfully substantiated and legitimized the fundamental possibility of Christian philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]