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Philosophical Inquiry (With a touch of Theology) / Why Philosophy? / Re:Philosophy and/vs. Theology |
on: March 7, 2005, 06:05:40 PM |
| Started by Keith | Last post by Greg |
Hey there Keith
One thing that i have been learning a lot through the philosophy courses that I have taken here at Briercrest, especially Social and Political Philosophy, is just how bound we are to different philosophies as westerners. As this article alluded to, we speak an aweful lot of a biblical world view. Yet, our western culture and the philosophy that forms it makes a big difference in how we read the Bible.
While of course, I think it is very possible to have a Christ honouring faith without formal philosophy education, I have a hard time seeing how we can be thoroughly Christian when we label things in the church Christian, even though their roots are not Christian. Studying philosophy is freeing--it liberates you to read the Bible apart from the presuppositions that we inherit as members of western culture.
In Him,
Greg |
  
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Philosophical Inquiry (With a touch of Theology) / Why Philosophy? / Philosophy and/vs. Theology |
on: March 7, 2005, 01:55:34 PM |
| Started by Keith | Last post by Keith |
What is the place of philosophy in our faith?
What is the theological importance of philosophy?
What is the distinction between theology and philosophy?
Here is an article to get you thinking:
‘Philosophobia’
Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans
BreakPoint with Charles Colson
March 7, 2005
Steve Wilkens had a problem. He had just gotten a job teaching introductory college courses in philosophy. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, except that Wilkens had never actually taken an introductory philosophy course, and he was afraid of the subject.
In his latest book, he explains why he was afraid of the subject. In his undergraduate years, he writes, “While no one ever said it explicitly, a message had been quite effectively communicated from all the sources I relied on for good advice: Stay away from philosophy. It isn’t the type of thing that is good for a Christian. In fact, it is downright dangerous. It may not be on any list of official psychological disorders, but I had a severe case of ‘philosophobia,’” he says.
Nonetheless, while on his way to a Ph.D. in theology, Wilkens came to realize that he couldn’t understand that subject fully without learning something about philosophy, since “the two disciplines kept intersecting.”
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that God was leading Wilkens in a direction he himself would never have considered. Today, he’s a philosophy professor at Azusa Pacific University. And he has a healthy “respect for philosophy and its value to Christians.” His latest book Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans explains the value of philosophy.
It’s a much-needed book, because as Wilkens points out, he’s not the only Christian who has ever experienced “philosophobia.” Even such great Christian minds as the third-century writer Tertullian expressed doubts about the usefulness of philosophy to Christians. It was Tertullian who asked the famous question, “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church?”
Well, according to Wilkens—and I agree—there is a lot. My undergraduate degree is in political philosophy. As I look back on those studies—and the mental habits that they developed—I see how they formed the roots of my passion for worldview. Ideas can be potent, and, sure, they can be “dangerous,” but that is all the more reason for Christians not to be afraid of them, but to understand them. For if we don’t study the great minds who shaped our world, we’ll fail to understand how the people around us today think. Their worldviews will be incomprehensible to us, and we’ll have little to offer to challenge those worldviews. Not only that, but we also fail to learn the truths that the great philosophers can teach.
Now, I understand the concerns. As Wilkens writes, “It is hard to deny that we frequently get very nervous about what is new and ‘outside the box.’ In fact, it seems that many Christians view themselves as doing God’s work by making the box as small as possible.” Yet we can learn from both the wisdom of the past and the mistakes of the past.
This requires, however, a clear Christian worldview. That’s what safeguards us against dangerous ideas. If we have that solid, unshakeable foundation from which to view the passing fads of philosophy, and to help sort out the true from the false, then we have nothing to be afraid of and a great deal to learn from the world of philosophy. Indeed, the more philosophy I study today, and compare it to my own biblical worldview, the stronger my faith becomes. |
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Theological Inquiry (With a touch of Philosophy) / Scripture / Has the Bible become the Protestant Pope? |
on: March 7, 2005, 01:38:00 PM |
| Started by Keith | Last post by Keith |
What is the distinction between the Catholic Pope's 'inspiration' and the Protestant view of Scripture?
What do we mean when we say it is 'divinely inspired'?
What is the correct usage of this designation, and how should it be understood?
What theological importance does it have?
How Philosophically sound is its basis?
For me, this is the doctrine which has the most confused explanations and yet is most adamantly professed by Protestants. I have no problems accepting it on faith for myself, but to love my neighbour I know I would prefer to have a rational foundation for this belief. |
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