Some commentators have claimed that Western civilization can be almost defined by its serious testing of the limits of tension between "unaided" reason and faith in "revealed" truths—figuratively summarized as Athens and Jerusalem, respectively.
Nogle kommentatorer har hævdet at vestlig civilisation næsten kan defineres ud fra dens seriøse efterprøvelse af grænserne for spændingen mellem "selvstændig" fornuft og tro i "åbenbarede" sandheder — figurativt opsummeret som henholdsvis Athen og Jerusalem.