  Philip attempts to reconcile Aristotle’s position with his own commitments first by distinguishing the domain of philosophy from the domain of theology, an approach that will appeal to later thinkers as well (see Dales 1990). Not surprisingly, Philip argues that Aristotle should be taken as a philosopher and not as a theologian. But Philip also tries to reinterpret Aristotle’s position so that it will be compatible with his Christian commitments. He argues that strictly speaking, Aristotle’s argument establishes only that the world is perpetual, not that it is eternal (see Yarbrough 2015). Philip defines the perpetual as that which is measured in the whole of time and mobility. Eternity, on the other hand, is such that it has no beginning and will have no end. Thus, Philip’s concept of the perpetual is compatible with the view that what is perpetual has a beginning and an end. The world could have existed for all of time, but since Philip thinks that time has a beginning and will at some point have an end, such an understanding of the world is compatible with the Christian doctrine of creation. Philip also defends his position by arguing that Aristotle’s task is to show that time, motion, and what is movable are all co-equal and that it is not appropriate to the discipline of philosophy to demonstrate anything beyond this claim.  Finally, Philip draws upon Averroes (referring to him as the Commentator) to support his claim. He argues that according to Averroes’ commentary on the eleventh book of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Aristotle is describing the origin of motion from the first mover. Thus, Aristotle is not discussing the origin of the world as such, but rather what takes place once the world exists.