The question of how faith relates to philosophy is an enduring controversy. Aut fides aut ratio? was an age-old query. One view was that philosophical thinking about Being was a mere "handmaiden' to theology, and could at best serve to provide rational explanations and proofs of God. Another, particularly strong in the late middle ages, was that there were in fact "two truths' at issue here: one pertaining to the worldly realm of ontology and science, the other to the heavenly sphere of religious belief. As the adage went: quasi sint duae contrariae veritates.