PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY - First … · Etienne Gilson. WHY PHILOSOPHY? “Good philosophy...

PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

Never the Twain Shall Meet?

“FIDEISM” OR “RATIONALISM”

“What is there in common between Athens and Jerusalem?” !

Tertullian (160-225AD)

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

“A philosopher talks about things, while a professor of philosophy talks about philosophy.”!

Etienne Gilson

WHY PHILOSOPHY?

“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”!

C.S. Lewis!

Good philosophy talks about reality and is grounded in reality.

WHY PHILOSOPHY?

Theology - “the queen of the sciences”!

Philosophy - “the handmaiden of theology”!

philosophy exists for the sake of theology

WHY PHILOSOPHY?

How does philosophy compare with theology?!

both can deal with the same subjects!

both use language and logic & other common tools

WHY PHILOSOPHY?

How does philosophy contrast with theology?!

Philosophy recognizes no authority except reason itself!

Theology recognizes authority of revelation

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

What is reality?

that which exists!

God!

creation!

By virtue of being intelligent beings, we have access (though non-infallible, non-exhaustive) to reality!

DNA, mathematics, astronomy, God’s existence, chemistry, history

LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHY

Some truths knowable only through revelation!

Trinity!

Gospel!

Atonement!

Second Coming

REASON & FAITH

Options:!

reason!__________________!

revelation!!

“rationalism”

REASON & FAITH

Options:!

revelation!__________________!

reason!!

“fideism” or “pietism”

REASON & FAITH

Options:!

revelation + reason!!

!

“correctism”!

“complementarianism”

REASON & FAITH

“The God of the Jews was to exist in the Word and through the Word, an unprecedented conception requiring the highest order of abstract thinking.”!

Neil Postman

REASON & FAITH

“[Christ] was a child’s heart, but a grown-up’s head.”!

C.S. Lewis

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

Reason and Revelation!

death of Jesus Christ!

reason (history)!

what makes his death different?!

revelation!

but no less a fact!

what is different? how I access that fact

reason!(“science”)

revelation!(“religion”)

overlapping areas

philosophical judgments

IS PHILOSOPHY UNBIBLICAL?

Colossians 2:8!

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

IS PHILOSOPHY UNBIBLICAL?

Regarding Colossians 2:8!

“Paul was warning the church not to form and base doctrinal views according to a philosophical system hostile to orthodoxy.... Colossians reveals an apostle who was entirely familiar with the type of proto-Gnostic philosophy threatening Colossian believers, who possessed a thorough knowledge of that philosophical system and an ability to point out its inadequacy.” !

J. P. Moreland

IS PHILOSOPHY UNBIBLICAL?

Colossians 2:8!

if you’re going to avoid the potential dangers of something, it is not a winning plan to know as little as possible about it.!

infectious disease!

gun safety

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Preambles of Faith

Truth

Logic

Theism

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Preambles of Faith!

Truth!

correspondence (to reality)!

objectivity

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Preambles of faith!

Logic!

law of non-contradiction!

“opposites cannot both be true”

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Logic!

either God exists or God does not exist!

either God is personal or God is impersonal

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Logic!

there is a real (not merely semantical) difference between these statements:!

God can lie !

God cannot lie

IS PHILOSOPHY FUTILE?

Does Isa 55:8-9 teach that “human logic” is different from “God’s logic”?!

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

IS PHILOSOPHY FUTILE?

Does Isa 55:8-9 teach that “human logic” is different from “God’s logic”?!

“My thoughts”!

“says the Lord”!

“your thoughts”!

the wicked (55:7)

•In terms of knowing, the map comes first!!

•In terms of being, the city comes first

❖ “You’re putting logic before God.”

•Logic precedes God in the order of knowing !!

•God precedes logic in the order of being

❖ “You’re putting logic before God.”

LOGIC & THE TRINITY

Doesn’t the doctrine of the Trinity contradict logic?!

1000x NO!

three persons!

one essence!

Trinity is beyond reason!

not against reason

(Father)

Who³ Who²

(Human Nature)

(Divine Nature)

Who¹

What²

What¹

(Son) (Holy Spirit)

The Mystery of the Trinity

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Preambles of Faith!

Existence of God!

Inference from effect to Cause!

Inference from design to Designer!

Inference from moral law to Moral Law Giver

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

“Preconditions” for evangelical theology include: !

1. God exists!

2. God can miraculously intervene in the world!

3. Language contains objectively meaningful propositions!

4. Language can adequately convey revelation of an infinite God and we can adequately understand it!

5. True is the opposite of false!

6. History can be known

philosophical !considerations!

unavoidable

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Preambles of Faith!

Unless there is a God, then!

There is no word of God (Bible)!

There is no Son of God (Savior)!

There are no acts of God (miracles)

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Refutation of False Ideas!

“False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel.”!

J. Gresham Machen

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Refutation of False Ideas!

Relativism!

Scientism!

Self-refutation (self-referential incoherence)

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Refutation of False Ideas!

Self-refutation (self-referential incoherence)!

“No one knows the truth.”!

“If a statement is not mathematical, it can’t be true.”!

“We must get our principles of interpretation from the Bible, or we’ll be lost in relativism.”

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Clarification of Biblical Doctrine!

Nature of God!

cbd.com!

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USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

“God has a spirit body with bodily parts like man.”!

“If man was made in the image and likeness of God bodily, then God must have a body, and an outward form and shape.”

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

God has a personal spirit body (Dan. 7:9; 10:5); form (Phil 2:5); image and likeness of man (Gen. 1:26; 9:6; Ezek. 1:26, 28; 1 Cor 11:7; Jas. 3:9). He has bodily parts, such as back parts (Ex. 33:23), hands and fingers (Ps. 8:3-6; Heb. 1:10; Rev. 5:1-7), mouth (Num. 12:8), lips and tongue (Isa. 30:27), feet (Ezek. 1:27, Exod. 24:10), eyes (Ps. 11:4; 18:24; 33:18), ears (Ps. 18:6), hair, head, face, arms (Dan. 7:9-14; 10:5-19; Rev. 5:1-7; 22:4-6), and other bodily parts.

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

“A Response from Mark Allison to an article by Jeff Spencer and Steve Bright”!

“Oh, I get it. Instead of using Dake's method of understanding the Bible literally, we should use the authors' method of spiritualizing the Biblical text to align with our preconceived ideas of what we think the Bible ought to say. Yeah. Right.”!

http://www.dake.com/dake/Dake_Doctrines.htm

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

“A Response from Mark Allison to an article by Jeff Spencer and Steve Bright”!

“This would be a problem if the Bible only spoke of God's physical attributes in a figurative or metaphorical sense. However, there are many, many instances of God appearing in a physical form to both men and women.”!

http://www.dake.com/dake/Dake_Doctrines.htm

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

1. Doesn’t John 4:24 say, “God is spirit?” Done. Right?!

• Two problems:!

1. John 4:24 wasn’t written until 80-90 AD!

2. How do you know which ones to take “literally” and which ones to take “metaphorically”?!

• Philosophy (grounded in reality) can help!!

• What sort of Being God must be

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Clarification of Biblical Doctrine!

Trinity!

implicit in some OT verses!

explicit in many NT verses!

but not explained in any verses

(Father)

Who³ Who²

(Human Nature)

(Divine Nature)

Who¹

What²

What¹

(Son) (Holy Spirit)

The Mystery of the Trinity

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Clarification of Biblical Doctrine!

Hypostatic Union of Christ!

Atonement!

Ethics!

Divine sovereignty and human responsibility!

Problem of evil

USEFULNESS OF PHILOSOPHY

Discipleship (& Counseling)!

My own journey!

My ministry experience

POTENTIAL DANGERS OF PHILOSOPHY

Col 2:8!

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

POTENTIAL DANGERS OF PHILOSOPHY

But doesn’t “knowledge puff up”? !

Col. 1:10 – “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (2 Pet – “grow”)!

2 Pet 1:5 – “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge”!

1 Cor. 14:20 – “do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.”

POTENTIAL DANGERS OF PHILOSOPHY

But doesn’t “knowledge puff up”? !

In context of 1 Cor. 8!

We can have knowledge that idols are nothing!

But knowledge exercised without due regard to the well-being of another is egotistical (“puffs up”)!

Such knowledge fails to edify

POTENTIAL DANGERS OF PHILOSOPHY

C.S. Lewis!

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

CONCLUSIONS

There is a danger in ignoring philosophy!

There is a danger in elevating philosophy!

There is a great benefit in understanding philosophy as the handmaid to theology, the queen of the sciences

HELPFUL RESOURCES

HELPFUL RESOURCES

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