Reading a great book by Dr. Ed Feser has prompted me to take note of a journey into Philosophy I’ve been on for many years.
I think I’ve always been something of a philosopher, which is really why I’m a preacher/teacher. I philosophize about everything. Christianity is the greatest philosophy of life! I remember as a boy reading about Socrates and really admiring him and thinking of him as a hero though.
But since then, my journey in philosophy has been a long process and a very slow awakening. When I first became a Christian, I think fairly early on I was told that philosophy was man’s attempt to figure out the universe, to find God, so to speak, by his own efforts, so it was useless. The Bible itself says we are to avoid “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ” (Col. 2:8). Most of the Christians and churches I associated with over the years were of a rather anti-intellectual bent. The human mind could never “figure out” God, so it was a futile effort to try and think deeply about God, life, or what’s going on in the universe. I don’t think anyone ever actually said anything like this. It’s just what I sort of picked up on from the people I knew.
When I was in YWAM (Youth With a Mission), we had a visiting teacher one time named Mike Saia, who was quite intellectual. He told us of a doctrine called Moral Government Theology, which was quite controversial, and we all argued about it. I read at least one book by proponents of this theology, and that book made the case quite strongly that the Christian Church had been unduly influenced by Greek philosophy, and the tenets of Greek philosophy causes us to accept many wrong impressions about God. I won’t go into this in detail. Suffice it to say this alarmed me, and after reading this, I was far more aware of Greek philosophical influence as I studied theology, and I considered it a really bad thing.
I wrote papers mentioning this in both my under-graduate and graduate degree programs. I said we needed a Hebrew rather than Greek perspective, Athens had nothing to do with Jerusalem, and all that sort of thing. However, as I continued my studies and took quite a few courses of church history, I learned that both the Jewish philosopher Philo and the beloved doctor of the church St. Augustine though Plato’s teaching was highly useful as a way of thinking about the scriptures and life, and both sought ways to “meld” Platonism and Christian theology. Augustine, I was told, was one of the brightest minds in at least 1000 years of history. Wow, and he thought Plato’s philosophy a good thing?!
As my church history courses continued, I learned about the medieval philosophers and theologians, the Scholastics, and how they used philosophy to develop theology. I learned that the writings of Aristotle eventually found their way, in Latin, into Western Europe, and had a dramatic effect upon Christian thinkers. And especially upon one named Albert the Great, who became the mentor of Thomas Aquinas, another of the greatest Christian philosophers and thinkers of all time. Thomas Aquinas set out to meld Aristotelianism with Christian theology, and he set the tone and the trends for the Roman Catholic Church for centuries to come.
Again, I was just amazed by this, and rather put off. How could these great thinkers accept Greek philosophy and think it adaptable to Christianity? I began to think maybe I’d better investigate these connections further.
Even before beginning my master’s program, I read a book by Drs. Norm Geisler and Frank Turek, I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist, and then Frank’s book, Stealing from God. Both mentioned the importance of philosophy, and because I later taught from these books, I had to read those sections over and over several times, to be sure I was “getting” what they were saying. I came to see from them that, instead of being something Christians should avoid, philosophy was really about how we think, so it’s completely unavoidable. The truth is, as these authors taught me, everyone has philosophical foundations they work from. The question is just, do you have good foundations or bad ones? Wow – that really shocked me and opened my eyes some more. I discussed it a few times with people I witnessed to, and found most had no idea, and most seemed hostile to philosophy. But as Frank Turek said, they used philosophical assumptions to arrive at that hostility and didn’t even know it!
Then one day I was listening to a Frank Turek podcast and he mentioned a book by “his friend, Ed Feser.” I thought, hmmm, I’m going to look that book up. Good books can shape and improve your life. I know that God has called me to read and study for the rest of my life. When I hear someone I respect recommend a book, I take note of that and try to find the book. I found Ed Feser’s book online and bought the Kindle version right away, and am almost through with it.
Ed Feser is, I take it, a Roman Catholic. I certainly don’t agree with Catholic doctrine. But Feser’s book is really hitting me hard! He shows how Aristotle’s thinking influenced the whole of Western civilization, and in fact, has formed a major part of its foundations. Furthermore, he shows that the rejection of Aristotelian precepts is what has led to many of the disastrous policies and ways of thinking our modern society is so prone to. The abandoning of Aristotelianism has helped erode religious faith as well and has made it where today, what was once seen as common-sense by the vast majority is no longer seen that way, and though millions still think it common-sense, they don’t really know how to defend it or why, and are tending to slowly leave the field to the radicals who present a contrary view.
This book is so challenging me that I have tried to contact its author, along with a former professor of mine whose PhD was in philosophy. I just sense there is something very important here that I must pursue! There is a key to apologetics here somewhere, something we can use to combat the madness of our current society.
It’s been a slow journey and a long one. But it’s not over by any means. I intend to intensify my search into these things, these mysteries that really are just wiser ways to live life and to view it. Philosophy, after all, comes from two Greek words, phileo, to love, and sofia, wisdom. To love philosophy is to love and seek for wisdom. Of course, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That must be our starting place. But I think it well worth our while to seek also to learn to think, and to see the world from God’s wise perspective.