Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview E-Book

J. P. Moreland

• Herausgeber: IVP Academic
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1964

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

- Winner of a 2004 ECPA Gold Medallion Award - Winner of an Award of Excellence in the 2003 Chicago Book Clinic - What is real? - What is truth? - What can we know? - What should we believe? - What should we do and why? - Is there a God? - Can we know him? - Do Christian doctrines make sense? - Can we believe in God in the face of evil?These are fundamental questions that any thinking person wants answers to. These are questions that philosophy addresses. And the answers we give to these kinds of questions serve as the foundation stones for constructing any kind of worldview. Now updated and expanded in this second edition, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview by J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig offers a comprehensive introduction to philosophy from a Christian perspective. In their broad sweep they seek to introduce readers to the principal subdisciplines of philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, ethics, and philosophy of religion. They do so with characteristic clarity and incisiveness. Arguments are clearly outlined, and rival theories are presented with fairness and accuracy.Philosophy, they contend, aids Christians in the tasks of apologetics, polemics, and systematic theology. It reflects our having been made in the image of God, helps us to extend biblical teaching into areas not expressly addressed in Scripture, facilitates the spiritual discipline of study, enhances the boldness and self-image of the Christian community, and is requisite to the essential task of integrating faith and learning.Here is a lively and thorough introduction to philosophy for all who want to know reality. This second edition now includes including enhanced arguments, updated bibliographies, and new chapters on atonement and the mind-body problem.

Leseprobe

PHILOSOPHICALFOUNDATIONSfor a CHRISTIANWORLDVIEW

2ND EDITION

J. P. MORELAND andWILLIAM LANE CRAIG

To the late Dallas Willard and Stuart Hackett

Remember those who led you,who spoke the word of God to you;and considering the result of their conduct,imitate their faith.

Hebrews 13:7 (NASB)

Contents

Outline of the Book

Preface

An Invitation to Christian Philosophy

Part I: Introduction

1 What Is Philosophy?

2 Argumentation and Logic

Part II: Epistemology

3 Knowledge and Rationality

4 The Problem of Skepticism

5 The Structure of Justification

6 Theories of Truth and Postmodernism

7 Religious Epistemology

Part III: Metaphysics

8 What Is Metaphysics?

9 General Ontology: Existence, Identity, and Reductionism

10 General Ontology: Two Categories—Property and Substance

11 The Mind-Body Problem IA: Consciousness and Property Dualism or Mere-Property Dualism

12 The Mind-Body Problem IB: Physicalist Alternatives to Property Dualism or Mere-Property Dualism

13 The Mind-Body Problem IIA: Arguments Regarding and Versions of Substance Dualism

14 The Mind-Body Problem IIB: The Main Physicalist Alternatives to Substance Dualism

15 Free Will and Determinism

16 Personal Identity and Life After Death

Part IV: Philosophy of Science

17 Scientific Methodology

18 The Realism-Antirealism Debate

19 Philosophy and the Integration of Science and Theology

20 Philosophy of Time and Space

Part V: Ethics

21 Ethics, Morality, and Metaethics

22 Ethical Relativism and Absolutism

23 Normative Ethical Theories: Egoism and Utilitarianism

24 Normative Ethical Theories: Deontological and Virtue Ethics

Part VI: Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology

25 The Existence of God I

26 The Existence of God II

27 The Coherence of Theism I

28 The Coherence of Theism II

29 The Problem of Evil

30 Creation, Providence, and Miracle

31 Christian Doctrines I: The Trinity

32 Christian Doctrines II: The Incarnation

33 Christian Doctrines III: Atonement

34 Christian Doctrines IV: Christian Particularism

Suggestions for Further Reading

Notes

Name Index

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Praise for Philosophical Foundations

About the Authors

More Titles from InterVarsity Press

Outline of the Book

AN INVITATION TO CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY

1 Why Philosophy Matters

2 An Invitation to Dialogue

3 Acknowledgments

PART I INTRODUCTION

1 What Is Philosophy?

1 Introduction

2 The Nature of Philosophy

3 A Christian Justification of Philosophy

4 The Role of Philosophy in Integration

4.1 Examples of the Need for Philosophy

4.2 Different Models of Integration

4.3 Some Philosophical Principles Used in Integration

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

2 Argumentation and Logic

1 Introduction

2 Deductive Arguments

2.1. Logically Valid

2.1.1 Sentential Logic

2.1.1.1 Nine Rules of Logic

2.1.1.2 Exercises over the Nine Rules

2.1.1.3 Some Equivalences

2.1.1.4 Conditional Proof

2.1.1.5 Reductio ad absurdum

2.1.2 First-Order Predicate Logic

2.1.2.1 Universal Quantification

2.1.2.2 Existential Quantification

2.1.3 Modal Logic

2.1.4 Counterfactual Logic

2.1.5 Informal Fallacies

2.2 True Premises

2.3 Premises More Plausible Than Their Denials

3 Inductive Reasoning

3.1 Bayes’s Theorem

3.2 Inference to the Best Explanation

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

PART II EPISTEMOLOGY

3 Knowledge and Rationality

1 Introduction

2 What Is Knowledge?

2.1 Strategy #1: Retain the Standard Definition

2.2 Strategy #2: Supplement the Standard Definition

2.2.1 No Relevant Falsehood

2.2.2 Defeasibility

2.3 Strategy #3: Readjust the Tripartite Analysis

2.3.1 The Causal Theory

2.3.2 The Reliability Theory

2.4 Final Reflections About Knowledge

3 Reason and Rationality

3.1 Three Notions of Reason and Rationality

3.2 Rationality as Justification or Warrant

3.2.1 Rationality and Truth

3.2.2 Rationality and Epistemic Values

3.2.3 Degrees of Rationality

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

4 The Problem of Skepticism

1 Introduction

2 Varieties of Skepticism

3 Arguments for Skepticism

3.1 The Argument from Error and Fallibility

3.2 Evil Demons, Brain-in-the-Vat Arguments, and the Possibility of Error

3.3 Transfer of Justification Arguments

4 A Critique of Skepticism

4.1 Skepticism and the Problem of the Criterion

4.2 Brief Responses to the Main Skeptical Arguments

5 The Epistemology of Peer Disagreement

6 Evolutionary Naturalism and Our Noetic Equipment

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

5 The Structure of Justification

1 Introduction

2 Foundationalism

2.1 Exposition of Foundationalism

2.1.1 Proper Basicality and the Foundations

2.1.2 The Relationship Between Basic and Nonbasic Beliefs

2.2 Arguments for Foundationalism

2.2.1 The Role of Experience and Perceptual Beliefs in Justification

2.2.2 Truths of Reason

2.2.3 The Regress Argument

2.3 Arguments Against Foundationalism

2.3.1 Incorrigibility of the Foundations

2.3.2 All Perception Is Theory Laden

2.3.3 The Transfer of Justification

3 Coherentism

3.1 Coherentism Explained

3.1.1 Coherentism and the Doxastic Assumption

3.1.2 No Asymmetries Between Basic and Nonbasic Beliefs

3.1.3. The Nature of Coherence Itself

3.1.4 Varieties of Coherence Theories

3.2 Coherentism Evaluated

4 Virtue Epistemology

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

6 Theories of Truth and Postmodernism

1 Introduction

2 Theories of Truth

2.1 Preliminary Issues

2.2 The Correspondence Theory of Truth

2.3 The Coherence Theory of Truth

2.4 The Pragmatic Theory of Truth

3 Postmodernism

3.1 General Characterization of Postmodernism

3.1.1 Postmodernism and Metaphysical Realism

3.1.2 Rejection of the Correspondence Theory of Truth

3.1.3 Rationality and Knowledge

3.1.4 Antifoundationalism

3.1.5 Antiessentialism and Nominalism

3.1.6 Language, Meaning, and Thought

3.1.7 No Metanarratives

3.2 Assessment of Postmodernism

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

7 Religious Epistemology

1 Introduction

2 Positivism and the Presumption of Atheism

3 Religious Belief Without Warrant

4 Warrant Without Evidence

5 Assessment of Plantinga’s Religious Epistemology

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

PART III METAPHYSICS

8 What Is Metaphysics?

1 Introduction

2 Main Branches of Metaphysics

2.1 General Ontology

2.2 Special Metaphysics

3 Methods of Approach in Metaphysics

4 The Dispute Between Naturalists and Ontologists

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

9 General Ontology: Existence, Identity, and Reductionism

1 Introduction

2 The Nature of Existence

2.1 Is Being a Genus?

2.2 Theories of Existence

2.2.1 Five Characteristics of an Adequate Theory of Existence

2.2.2 Different Theories of What Existence Itself Is

2.2.3 Final Observations About Existence

3 The Nature of Identity

3.1 The General Nature of Identity Itself

3.2 Identity Statements

4 Replacement and Reductionism

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

10 General Ontology: Two Categories—Property and Substance

1 Introduction

2 Properties

2.1 Three Views of Properties

2.2 Properties and the Debate About Naturalism

2.3 Assessing the Three Views

3 Substances

3.1 The Traditional View of Substance

3.1.1 Ownership of Properties

3.1.2 Unity and Wholeness at a Time

3.1.3 Identity and Absolute Sameness Through Change

3.1.4 Law and Lawlike Change

3.1.5 The Unity of the Natural Kind Itself

3.1.6 Final Causality

3.1.7 The Problem of Individuation

3.2 Substances Versus Property-Things

3.3 The Bundle Theory of Substance

3.3.1 A Statement of the View

3.3.2 An Evaluation of the View

4 A Final Point to Ponder

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

11 The Mind-Body Problem Ia: Consciousness and Property Dualism or Mere-Property Dualism

1 Introduction

2 Preliminary Issues

2.1 The Mind-Body Problem(s)

2.2 Dualist Strategies Regarding Consciousness and the Soul

3 An Overview of Consciousness

4 Arguments for Property Dualism or Mere-Property Dualism and the Immaterial Nature of Mental States

4.1 Clear Differences Between Consciousness and Physical Properties/States

4.2 The Knowledge Argument

4.3 Consciousness and Intentionality

5 Arguments against Dualism

5.1 The Problem of Interaction

5.2 Dualism Is Inconsistent with Naturalistic Evolutionary Theory

5.3 Dualism Is Ruled Out by Ockham’s Razor

5.4 Neuroscientific Discoveries Make Dualism Highly Implausible

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

12 The Mind-Body Problem Ib: Physicalist Alternatives to Property Dualism or Mere-Property Dualism

1 Introduction

2 Different Forms of Physicalism Regarding Consciousness

2.1 Philosophical Behaviorism

2.2 Type-Type Identity Theory (Hardware View #1)

2.3 Token-Token Identity Theory (Hardware View #2)

2.4 Functionalism (The Software View)

2.5 Eliminative Materialism

2.6 Nonreductive Physicalism

3 The Main Intellectual Drive Behind Physicalism

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

13 The Mind-Body Problem IIa: Arguments Regarding and Versions of Substance Dualism

1 Introduction

2 Metaphysical Framework for Analyzing the Soul

3 Defending Generic Substance Dualism

3.1 Our Basic Awareness of the Self

3.2 The Soul, the Indexical I, and the First-Person Perspective

3.3 The Soul and the Unity of Consciousness

3.4 The Modal Argument

3.5 Free Will, Morality, Responsibility, and Punishment

3.6 Sameness of the Self over Time

4 Three Versions of Substance Dualism

4.1 Cartesian Dualism

4.1.1 The Mind Replaces the Soul

4.1.2 The Body

4.1.3 The Mind-Body Relationship

4.1.4 Three Arguments Against Cartesian Dualism

4.2 A Thomistic/Aristotelian-like Dualism

4.2.1 The Soul

4.2.2 The Body and the Body/Soul Relationship

4.2.3 An Objection to Thomistic/Aristotelian-like Dualism: It Is a Form of an Abandoned Vitalism

4.3 Haskerian Substance Dualism

4.3.1 Hasker’s View

4.3.2 A Response to Haskerian Substance Dualism

5 Human and Animal Souls

5.1 The Human Soul

5.1.1 Five States of the Soul

5.1.2 Faculties of the Soul

5.1.3 Mind and Spirit

5.2 Animal Souls

5.2.1 The Fact of Animal Souls

5.2.2 How Do We Determine the Nature of Animal Souls?

5.2.3 The Nature of Animal Souls

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

14 The Mind-Body Problem IIb: The Main Physicalist Alternatives to Substance Dualism

1 Introduction

2 Animalism

2.1 The View

2.2 Assessing Animalism

3 Material Constitutionalism

3.1 The View

3.2 Assessing the View

4 The Brain View

4.1 The View

4.2 Assessing the View

5 Worm Theory: We are Four-Dimensional Hunks of Matter

5.1 The View

5.2 Assessing the View

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

15 Free Will and Determinism

1 Introduction

2 Compatibilist and Libertarian Freedom

2.1 General Comparison

2.2 Five Areas of Comparison Between Compatibilism and Libertarianism

2.2.1 The Ability Condition

2.2.2 The Control Condition

2.2.3 The Rationality Condition

2.2.4 Causation

2.2.5 The Person as Agent

2.3 Two Final Issues

2.3.1 The Problem of Fatalism

2.3.2 The Findings of Benjamin Libet

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

16 Personal Identity and Life After Death

1 Introduction

2 The Identity Through Change of Physical Artifacts

3 Three Views of Personal Identity

3.1 Statement of the Views

3.2 Assessment of the Views

3.2.1 Arguments for the Absolutist View

3.2.2 Arguments Against the Absolutist View

3.2.3 A Final Word About Thought Experiments and Imagination

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

PART IV PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

17 Scientific Methodology

1 Introduction

2 Science and the Philosophy of Science

3 The Epistemology of Science: Scientific Methodology

3.1 Inductivism

3.2 An Eclectic Model of Scientific Methodology

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

18 The Realism-Antirealism Debate

1 Introduction

2 Scientific Realism

2.1 Overview of Scientific Realism

2.2 Explanation of Scientific Realism

2.3 Evaluation of Scientific Realism

2.3.1 Positive Support

2.3.2 Objections to Scientific Realism

3 Antirealism

3.1 Rational Nonrealism (Instrumentalism)

3.2 Nonrational Nonrealism

4 Integration and the Realist-Antirealist Debate

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

19 Philosophy and the Integration of Science and Theology

1 Introduction

2 Scientism

3 Models for Integrating Science and Theology

4 Theistic Science and Methodological Naturalism

4.1 Theological Options in the Creation-Evolution Controversy

4.2 Theistic Science

4.3 Natural Science and Methodological Naturalism

4.4 Two Final Objections to Theistic Science

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

20 Philosophy of Time and Space

1 Introduction

2 Relativity and the Classical Concept of Time

3 The Reality of Tense and Temporal Becoming

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

PART V ETHICS

21 Ethics, Morality, and Metaethics

1 Introduction

2 Morality and the Field of Ethics

2.1 The Nature of Morality

2.2 The Field of Ethics

3 Metaethics and the Meaning of Moral Statements

3.1 Noncognitivist Theories

3.2 Cognitivist Theories

3.2.1 Subjectivist Theories

3.2.2 Objectivist Theories

4 Why Should I Be Moral?

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

22 Ethical Relativism and Absolutism

1 Introduction

2 Ethical Relativism

2.1 Facts and Values

2.2 Six Theses Associated with Ethical Relativism

2.2.1 Cultural or Descriptive Relativism

2.2.2 Normative or Ethical Relativism

2.2.3 Metaethical Relativism

2.2.4 Ethical Skepticism

2.2.5 Combinatorial Relativism

2.2.6 The Principle of Tolerance

3 Absolutism

3.1 The Nature of Absolutism

3.2 Strategies for Defending the Existence of Moral Absolutes

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

23 Normative Ethical Theories: Egoism and Utilitarianism

1 Introduction

2 Ethical Egoism

2.1 Exposition of Ethical Egoism

2.2 Arguments for Ethical Egoism

2.3 Arguments Against Ethical Egoism

2.4 Christianity and Ethical Egoism

3 Utilitarianism

3.1 Utilitarian Theories of Value

3.2 The Principle of Utility

3.3 Different Forms of Utilitarianism

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

24 Normative Ethical Theories: Deontological and Virtue Ethics

1 Introduction

2 Deontological Ethics

2.1 Deontological Theory of Value

2.2 Deontological Ethics and the Nature of Moral Rules

2.3 Assessment of Deontological Ethics

3 Virtue Ethics

3.1 Exposition of Virtue Ethics

3.2 Evaluation of Virtue Ethics

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

PART VI PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY

25 The Existence of God I

1 Introduction

2 The Existence of God

2.1 The Cosmological Argument

2.1.1 Exposition of the Arguments

2.1.2 Evaluation of the Arguments

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

26 The Existence Of God II

1 The Teleological Argument

2 The Axiological Argument

3 The Ontological Argument

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

27 The Coherence of Theism I

1 Introduction

2 Necessity

3 Aseity

4 Incorporeality

5 Omnipresence

6 Eternity

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

28 The Coherence of Theism II

1 Omniscience

2 Simplicity

3 Immutability

4 Omnipotence

5 Goodness

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

29 The Problem of Evil

1 Introduction

2 The Intellectual Problem of Evil

2.1 The Internal Problem of Evil

2.1.1 The Logical Version

2.1.2 The Probabilistic Version

2.2 The External Problem of Evil

3 The Emotional Problem of Evil

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

30 Creation, Providence, and Miracle

1 Creatio ex nihilo

2 Providence

3 Miracle

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

31 Christian Doctrines I: The Trinity

1 Introduction

2 Historical Background

2.1 Logos Christology

2.2 Modalism

2.3 Arianism

2.4 Models of the Trinity

3 Assessment of the Models

3.1 Anti Social Trinitarianism

3.2 Social Trinitarianism

3.2.1 Functional Monotheism

3.2.2 Group Mind Monotheism

3.2.3 Trinity Monotheism

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

32 Christian Doctrines II: The Incarnation

1 Introduction

2 The Christological Controversies

3 Later Christological Controversies

3.1 Lutheran Christology

3.2 Reformed Christology

3.3 Kenotic Christology

4 A Proposed Christology

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

33 Christian Doctrines III: Atonement

1 Introduction

2 Penal Substitution

2.1 Definition of Punishment

2.1.1 The Alleged Incoherence of Penal Substitution

2.1.2 Responses to the Alleged Incoherence of Penal Substitution

2.2 Justification of Punishment

2.2.1 The Alleged Injustice of Penal Substitution

2.2.2 Responses to the Alleged Injustice of Penal Substitution

3 Satisfaction of Divine Justice

3.1 The Alleged Unsatisfactoriness of Penal Substitution

3.2 Responses to the Alleged Unsatisfactoriness of Penal Substitution

4 Redemption

5 Moral Influence

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

34 Christian Doctrines IV: Christian Particularism

1 Introduction

2 The Problem Posed by Religious Diversity

3 The Problem Analyzed

Chapter Summary

Checklist of Basic Terms and Concepts

Preface

J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig

We are deeply gratified for the widespread success of our first edition, both as a textbook adopted in colleges, universities, and seminaries, and for individual use. We have been encouraged by the consistent feedback we have received that it has strengthened Christians and helped them in their walks with God. But much has happened in the field of philosophy that is especially relevant to educating Christian disciples and thinkers. Hence this revised and updated edition. To avoid lengthening the book needlessly, we have been very selective in what we have added. We believe the result is a new and expanded second edition of Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview that is significantly improved. Both of us are excited about the new version.

Here is a list of the major changes we have made: Additional comments on truth and truth-makers in chapter six section 2.2; thorough revisions of chapters eleven and twelve; two completely new chapters on versions of substance dualism in chapter thirteen and physicalist alternatives to substance dualism in chapter fourteen; an evaluation of the findings of Benjamin Libet in chapter fifteen section 2.3.2; updated cosmogonic evidence relevant to the kalam cosmological argument and the teleological argument from cosmic fine-tuning in chapter twenty-three; a new, fuller taxonomy of views on God and abstract objects pertinent to divine aseity, as discussed in chapter twenty-four; an entirely new chapter on the doctrine of the atonement (chapter thirty-three), a rounded out discussion of the Trinity and incarnation; and additional, updated references throughout the bibliography.

So enjoy this new and exciting edition. You will have to work hard to benefit from the pages to follow. This is no bedtime reading! But the results in your own life and in your ability to speak for Christ in a winsome, informed way will be well worth the effort.

An Invitation to Christian Philosophy

1—Why Philosophy Matters

On a clear autumn day in 1980, twenty-five miles west of Chicago in Wheaton, Illinois, Charles Malik, a distinguished academic and statesman, rose to the podium to deliver the inaugural address at the dedication of the new Billy Graham Center on the campus of Wheaton College. His announced topic was “The Two Tasks of Evangelism.” What he said must have shocked his audience.

We face two tasks in our evangelism, he told them, “saving the soul and saving the mind”—that is, converting people not only spiritually but intellectually as well—and the church, he warned, is lagging dangerously behind with respect to this second task. We should do well to ponder Malik’s words.

I must be frank with you: the greatest danger confronting American evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. The mind in its greatest and deepest reaches is not cared for enough. But intellectual nurture cannot take place apart from profound immersion for a period of years in the history of thought and the spirit. People who are in a hurry to get out of the university and start earning money or serving the church or preaching the gospel have no idea of the infinite value of spending years of leisure conversing with the greatest minds and souls of the past, ripening and sharpening and enlarging their powers of thinking. The result is that the arena of creative thinking is vacated and abdicated to the enemy. Who among evangelicals can stand up to the great secular scholars on their own terms of scholarship? Who among evangelical scholars is quoted as a normative source by the greatest secular authorities on history or philosophy or psychology or sociology or politics? Does the evangelical mode of thinking have the slightest chance of becoming the dominant mode in the great universities of Europe and America that stamp our entire civilization with their spirit and ideas? For the sake of greater effectiveness in witnessing to Jesus Christ, as well as for their own sakes, evangelicals cannot afford to keep on living on the periphery of responsible intellectual existence.1

These words hit like a hammer. The average Christian does not realize that there is an intellectual struggle going on in the universities and scholarly journals and professional societies. Enlightenment naturalism and postmodern antirealism are arrayed in an unholy alliance against a broadly theistic and specifically Christian worldview.

Christians cannot afford to be indifferent to the outcome of this struggle. For the single most important institution shaping Western culture is the university. It is at the university that our future political leaders, journalists, teachers, business executives, lawyers, and artists will be trained. It is at the university that they will formulate or, more likely, simply absorb the worldview that will shape their lives. And since these are the opinion-makers and leaders who shape our culture, the worldview they imbibe at the university will be the one that shapes our culture. If the Christian worldview can be restored to a place of prominence and respect at the university, it will have a leavening effect throughout society. If we change the university, we change our culture through those who shape culture.

Why is this important? Simply because the gospel is never heard in isolation. It is always heard against the background of the cultural milieu in which one lives. A person raised in a cultural milieu in which Christianity is still seen as an intellectually viable option will display an openness to the gospel that a person who is secularized will not. One may as well tell a secular person to believe in fairies or leprechauns as in Jesus Christ! Or, to give a more realistic illustration, it is like our being approached on the street by a devotee of the Hare Krishna movement, who invites us to believe in Krishna. Such an invitation strikes us as bizarre, freakish, perhaps even amusing. But to a person on the streets of Mumbai, such an invitation would, one expects, appear quite reasonable and be serious cause for reflection. Do evangelicals appear any less weird to persons on the streets of Bonn, London, or New York than do the devotees of Krishna?

One of the awesome tasks of Christian philosophers is to help turn the contemporary intellectual tide in such a way as to foster a sociocultural milieu in which Christian faith can be regarded as an intellectually credible option for thinking men and women. As the great Princeton theologian J. Gresham Machen explained,

God usually exerts [his regenerative] power in connection with certain prior conditions of the human mind, and it should be ours to create, so far as we can, with the help of God, those favourable conditions for the reception of the gospel. False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel. We may preach with all the fervour of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which, by the resistless force of logic, prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion.2

Since philosophy is foundational to every discipline of the university, philosophy is the most strategic discipline to be influenced for Christ. Malik himself realized and emphasized this.

It will take a different spirit altogether to overcome this great danger of anti-intellectualism. For example, I say this different spirit, so far as philosophy alone—the most important domain for thought and intellect—is concerned, must see the tremendous value of spending an entire year doing nothing but poring intensely over the Republic or the Sophist of Plato, or two years over the Metaphysics or the Ethics of Aristotle, or three years over the City of God of Augustine.3

Now in one sense it is theology, not philosophy, that is the most important domain for thought and intellect. As the medievals rightly saw, theology is the queen of the sciences, to be studied as the crowning discipline only after one has been trained in the other disciplines. Unfortunately, the queen is currently in exile from the Western university. But her handmaid, philosophy, still has a place at court and is thus strategically positioned so as to act on behalf of her queen. The reason Malik could call philosophy, in the absence of the queen, the most important intellectual domain is because it is the most foundational of the disciplines, since it examines the presuppositions and ramifications of every discipline at the university—including itself! Whether it be philosophy of science, philosophy of education, philosophy of law, philosophy of mathematics, or what have you, every discipline will have an associated field of philosophy foundational to that discipline. The philosophy of these respective disciplines is not theologically neutral. Adoption of presuppositions consonant with or inimical to orthodox Christian theism will have a significant leavening effect throughout that discipline that will, in turn, dispose its practitioners for or against the Christian faith. Christian philosophers, by influencing the philosophy of these various disciplines, can thus help to shape the thinking of the entire university in such a way as to dispose our future generations of leaders to the reception of the gospel.

It is already happening. Over the last forty years a revolution has been occurring in Anglo-American philosophy. Since the late 1960s Christian philosophers have been coming out and defending the truth of the Christian worldview with philosophically sophisticated arguments in the finest scholarly journals and professional societies. And the face of Anglo-American philosophy has been transformed as a result. In an article lamenting “the desecularization of academia that evolved in philosophy departments since the late 1960s,” one atheist philosopher observes that whereas theists in other disciplines tend to compartmentalize their theistic beliefs from their professional work, “in philosophy, it became, almost overnight, ‘academically respectable’ to argue for theism, making philosophy a favored field of entry for the most intelligent and talented theists entering academia today.”4 He complains, “Naturalists passively watched as realist versions of theism . . . began to sweep through the philosophical community, until today perhaps one-quarter or one-third of philosophy professors are theists, with most being orthodox Christians.”5 He concludes, “God is not ‘dead’ in academia; he returned to life in the late 1960s and is now alive and well in his last academic stronghold, philosophy departments.”6

This is the testimony of a prominent atheist philosopher to the change that has transpired before his eyes in Anglo-American philosophy. He is probably exaggerating when he estimates that one-quarter to one-third of American philosophers are theists; but what his estimates do reveal is the perceived impact of Christian philosophers on this field. Like Gideon’s army, a committed minority of activists can have an impact far out of proportion to their numbers. The principal error he makes is calling philosophy departments God’s “last stronghold” at the university. On the contrary, philosophy departments are a beachhead, from which operations can be launched to influence other disciplines at the university for Christ, thereby helping to transform the sociocultural milieu in which we live.

But it is not just those who plan to enter the academy professionally who need to have training in philosophy. Christian philosophy is also an integral part of training for Christian ministry. A model for us here is a man like John Wesley, who was at once a Spirit-filled revivalist and an Oxford-educated scholar. In 1756 Wesley delivered an address to the clergy, which we commend to all future ministers when commencing their seminary studies. In discussing what sort of abilities a minister ought to have, Wesley distinguished between natural gifts and acquired abilities. And it is extremely instructive to look at the abilities Wesley thought a minister ought to acquire. One of them is a basic grasp of philosophy. He challenged his audience to ask themselves,

Am I a tolerable master of the sciences? Have I gone through the very gate of them, logic? If not, I am not likely to go much farther when I stumble at the threshold. . . . Rather, have not my stupid indolence and laziness made me very ready to believe, what the little wits and pretty gentlemen affirm, “that logic is good for nothing?” It is good for this at least, . . . to make people talk less; by showing them both what is, and what is not, to the point; and how extremely hard it is to prove any thing. Do I understand metaphysics; if not the depths of the Schoolmen, the subtleties of Scotus or Aquinas, yet the first rudiments, the general principles, of that useful science? Have I conquered so much of it, as to clear my apprehension and range my ideas under proper heads; so much as enables me to read with ease and pleasure, as well as profit, Dr. Henry Moore’s Works, Malebranche’s “Search after Truth,” and Dr. Clarke’s “Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God?”7

Wesley’s vision of a pastor is remarkable: a gentleman, skilled in the Scriptures and conversant with history, philosophy, and the science of his day. How do the pastors graduating from our seminaries compare to this model?

The authors of this book can both testify personally to the immense practicality and even indispensability of philosophical training for Christian ministry. For many years we have each been involved not just in scholarly work but also in speaking evangelistically on university campuses with groups like InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Cru, and the Veritas Forum. Again and again we have seen the practical value of philosophical studies in reaching students for Christ. From questions dealing with the meaning of life or the basis of moral values to the problem of suffering and evil and the challenge of religious pluralism, students are asking profound philosophical questions that are much more difficult to answer than to pose. They deserve a thoughtful response rather than pat answers or appeals to mystery. The conventional wisdom says, “You can’t use arguments to bring people to Christ.” This has not been our experience. In fact, there is tremendous interest among unbelieving students in hearing a rational presentation and defense of the gospel, and some will be ready to respond with trust in Christ. To speak frankly, we do not know how one could minister effectively in a public way on our university campuses without training in philosophy.

Finally, it is not just scholars and ministers who will benefit from training in philosophy but also laypeople who need to be intellectually engaged if our culture is to be effectively reformed. Our churches are unfortunately overly populated with people whose minds, as Christians, are going to waste. As Malik observed, they may be spiritually regenerate, but their minds have not been converted; they still think like nonbelievers. Despite their Christian commitment, they remain largely empty selves. What is an empty self? An empty self is a person who is passive, sensate, busy and hurried, incapable of developing an interior life. Such a person is inordinately individualistic, infantile, and narcissistic.

Imagine now a church filled with such people. What will be the theological understanding, the evangelistic courage, the cultural penetration of such a church? If the interior life does not really matter all that much, why should one spend the time trying to develop an intellectual, spiritually mature life? If someone is basically passive, he will just not make the effort to read, preferring instead to be entertained. If a person is sensate in orientation, then music, magazines filled with pictures, and visual media in general will be more important than mere words on a page or abstract thoughts. If one is hurried and distracted, one will have little patience for theoretical knowledge and too short an attention span to stay with an idea while it is being carefully developed. And if someone is overly individualistic, infantile, and narcissistic, what will that person read, if he reads at all? Books about Christian celebrities, Christian romance novels imitating the worst that the world has to offer, Christian self-help books filled with slogans, simplistic moralizing, lots of stories and pictures, and inadequate diagnoses of the problems facing the reader. What will not be read are books that equip people to develop a well-reasoned, theological understanding of the Christian faith and to assume their role in the broader work of the kingdom of God. Such a church will become impotent to stand against the powerful forces of secularism that threaten to wash away Christian ideas in a flood of thoughtless pluralism and misguided scientism. Such a church will be tempted to measure her success largely in terms of numbers—numbers achieved by cultural accommodation to empty selves. In this way, the church will become her own gravedigger; for her means of short-term “success” will turn out in the long run to be the very thing that buries her.

What makes this envisioned scenario so distressing is that we do not have to imagine such a church; rather, this is an apt description of far too many American evangelical churches today. It is no wonder, then, that despite its resurgence, evangelical Christianity has been thus far so limited in its cultural impact. David Wells reflects,

The vast growth in evangelically minded people . . . should by now have revolutionized American culture. With a third of American adults now claiming to have experienced spiritual rebirth, a powerful countercurrent of morality growing out of a powerful and alternative worldview should have been unleashed in factories, offices, and board rooms, in the media, universities, and professions, from one end of the country to the other. The results should by now be unmistakable. Secular values should be reeling, and those who are their proponents should be very troubled. But as it turns out, all of this swelling of the evangelical ranks has passed unnoticed in the culture. . . . The presence of evangelicals in American culture has barely caused a ripple.8

The problem, says Wells, is that while evangelicals have for the most part correct Christian beliefs, for far too many these beliefs lie largely at the periphery of their existence rather than at the center of their identity. At core they are hollow men, empty selves. If we as the church are to engender a current of reform throughout our culture, then we need laypeople who are intellectually engaged with their faith and take their Christian identity to be definitive for their self-conception.

Besides cultural reform, a revival of intellectual engagement is absolutely critical for restoring vibrant, life-transforming apprenticeship under the lordship of Jesus, the Master Teacher. No apprentice will become like his teacher if he does not respect the authority of that teacher to direct the apprentice’s life and activities. However, today the authority of the Bible in general, and of Jesus Christ in particular, is widely disregarded. The general attitude, even among many of Christ’s own followers, is that while Jesus Christ is holy, powerful, and so forth, the worldview he taught and from which he lived is no longer credible for thinking people. As Dallas Willard observes,

The crushing weight of the secular outlook . . . permeates or pressures every thought we have today. Sometimes it even forces those who self-identify as Christian teachers to set aside Jesus’ plain statements about the reality and total relevance of the kingdom of God and replace them with philosophical speculations whose only recommendation is their consistency with a “modern” [i.e., contemporary] mindset. The powerful though vague and unsubstantiated presumption is that something has been found out that renders a spiritual understanding of reality in the manner of Jesus simply foolish to those who are “in the know.”9

Willard concludes that in order to restore spiritual vitality to the church, we must recapture a view of Jesus as an intellectually competent person who knew what he was talking about.

For Willard, who is himself a philosopher, this will include revitalizing philosophical reflection in the church. Philosophical reflection is, indeed, a powerful means of kindling the life of the mind in Christian discipleship and in the church. Again, the authors of this book can testify that our worship of God is deeper precisely because of, not in spite of, our philosophical studies. As we reflect philosophically on our various areas of specialization within the field of philosophy, our appreciation of God’s truth and awe of his person have become more profound. We look forward to future study because of the deeper appreciation we are sure it will bring of God’s person and work. Christian faith is not an apathetic faith, a brain-dead faith, but a living, inquiring faith. As Anselm put it, ours is a faith that seeks understanding.

These are very exciting times in which to be alive and working in the field of philosophy, where God is doing a fresh work before our eyes. It is our hope and prayer that he will be pleased to use this book to call even more Christian thinkers to this effervescing field and to equip the church and her ministers to serve him and his kingdom even more effectively into the twenty-first century.

2—An Invitation to Dialogue

Convinced of the benefit of philosophical training for Christian scholars, ministers, and laypeople, we offer Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview as an introductory text to the field of philosophy from a Christian point of view. We do not affect, therefore, some pretended neutrality on the issues we discuss. Our text is intentionally Christian and therefore aims to offer, not just a soporific review of positions pro and con, but rather an articulation of what we take to be the most plausible stance a Christian can take on various questions. Of course, we recognize that other stances are permissible for Christian thinkers, and in some cases we ourselves might disagree on the preferred position or leave multiple options open. We welcome critique and dialogue on all the positions we defend. So when we argue for particular positions that we recognize to be matters of controversy, such as anthropological dualism, a tensed theory of time, social trinitarianism, or christological monotheletism, we intend, not to close, but to open discussion on these matters. We invite our readers to engage our arguments for the positions we defend.

Philosophical Foundations is obviously a large book, covering a wide range of issues in epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, ethics, and philosophy of religion, as well as basic rules of reasoning. Much of it will be difficult reading for newcomers to the field, so that those who use the book as a text will find it fertile soil for discussion. We do not anticipate, therefore, that students will be expected to plow through the whole book in a single semester. Rather, professors may selectively choose chapters to assign that mesh best with the questions they find most interesting or important, leaving aside the rest. Of course, we hope that students’ interest will be sufficiently piqued that they will eventually return to the book at some later time to read and wrestle with the unassigned material!

Each chapter includes an exposition of the most important questions raised by the issue under discussion, along with a Christian perspective on the problem, and closes with a condensed summary of the chapter and a list of key terms employed in that chapter. These key terms are printed in boldface type when they are first introduced and are defined in the text. Students would do well to add these words to their working vocabulary. A list of suggested further reading for each chapter is included at the back of the book.

We have tried to keep footnotes to a minimum. The suggested further reading will, we trust, adequately point the reader to the literature discussed in each respective chapter.

3—Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the meticulous editorial work and patience of Jim Hoover of InterVarsity Press in bringing this large project to realization. We are indebted to Mark and Jennifer Jensen for their careful preparation of the indexes. We also wish to thank the Discovery Institute, Howard Hoffman, and Paul and Lisa Wolfe for grants that greatly helped this project come to completion. We would also like to thank Jarred Snodgrass and Timothy Bayless for their hard and excellent work in providing the index to this book. Finally, we wish to acknowledge the spiritual support and intellectual stimulation we have received from our faculty colleagues and graduate students at Talbot School of Theology, especially from those in the Talbot Department of Philosophy and Ethics.

Part I

Introduction

1

What Is Philosophy?

Where am I or What? From what causes do I derive my existence, and to what condition shall I return? Whose favor shall I court, and whose anger must I dread? What beings surround me? And on whom have I any influence, or who have any influence on me? I am confounded with all these questions, and begin to fancy myself in the most deplorable condition imaginable, inviron’d with the deepest darkness, and utterly deprived of the use of every member and faculty.

David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature

Not every problem, nor every thesis, should be examined, but only one which might puzzle one of those who need argument.

Aristotle, Topics 1.11 (105a1-5)

Ought not a Minister to have, First, a good understanding, a clear apprehension, a sound judgment, and a capacity of reasoning with some closeness? . . . Is not some acquaintance with what has been termed the second part of logic, (metaphysics), if not so necessary as [logic itself], yet highly expedient? Should not a Minister be acquainted with at least the general grounds of natural philosophy?

John Wesley, Address to the Clergy

1—Introduction

You are about to embark on an exciting and fascinating journey—the philosophical exploration of some of life’s most important ideas, ideas about reality, God, the soul, knowledge and truth, goodness, and much, much more. Make no mistake about it. Ideas matter. The ideas one really believes largely determine the kind of person one becomes. Everyone has a philosophy of life. That is not optional. What is optional and, thus, of extreme importance is the adequacy of one’s philosophy of life. Are one’s views rational or irrational, true or false, carefully formed and precise or conveniently formed and fuzzy? Are they conducive to human flourishing or do they cater to one’s fallen nature? Are they honoring or dishonoring to the triune God? The discipline of philosophy can be of great help in aiding someone in the search for an increasingly rich and robust philosophy of life.

For centuries, people have recognized the importance of philosophy. In particular, throughout the history of Christianity, philosophy has played an important role in the life of the church and the spread and defense of the gospel of Christ. The great theologian Augustine (354–430) summarized the views of many early church fathers when he said, “We must show our Scriptures not to be in conflict with whatever [our critics] can demonstrate about the nature of things from reliable sources.”1 Philosophy was the main tool Augustine used in this task. In 1756, John Wesley delivered an address to a group of men preparing for ministry. He exhorted them to acquire skills that today are often neglected in seminary education but that seminaries would do well to reinstate. And much of what he said is sound advice for all Christians. For Wesley, among the factors crucial for the service of Christ was a tolerable mastery of logic and philosophy in general.

Unfortunately, today things are different. Theologian R. C. Sproul has called this the most anti-intellectual period in the history of the church, and former secretary general of the United Nations and Christian statesman Charles Malik warns that the greatest danger facing modern evangelicalism is a lack of cultivation of the mind, especially as it relates to philosophy.

This trend within the church is coupled with two unfortunate features of Western culture: the rampant pragmatism in society with the concomitant devaluation of the humanities in university life and the nonexistence of philosophy in our precollege educational curricula. The result is that philosophy departments are endangered species in Christian colleges and seminaries, and serious philosophical reflection is virtually absent from most church fellowships. This, in turn, has contributed to intellectual shallowness and a lack of cultural discernment in the body of Christ.

But is philosophy really that important for the life, health, and witness of the church? Are God’s people not warned in Scripture itself to avoid philosophy and worldly wisdom? And just what is philosophy anyway? How does it help believers form an integrated Christian worldview? How does philosophy relate to other disciplines taught at the university?

2—The Nature of Philosophy

Scholars generally agree that there is no airtight definition that expresses a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for classifying some activity as philosophical, conditions that all and only philosophy satisfies. But this should not be troubling. In general, one does not need a definition of something before one can know features of the thing in question and recognize examples of it. One can recognize examples of historical study, love, a person, art, matter, sport, and a host of other things without possessing an airtight definition. Nevertheless, definitions are useful, and a reasonably adequate definition of philosophy can be provided.

How might someone go about formulating such a definition? Three ways suggest themselves. First one could focus on the etymology of the word philosophy. The word comes from two Greek words, phileō, “to love,” and sophia, “wisdom.” Thus a philosopher is a lover of wisdom. Socrates held that the unexamined life is not worth living, and the ancient Greek philosophers sought wisdom regarding truth, knowledge, beauty, and goodness. In this sense, then, philosophy is the attempt to think hard about life, the world as a whole, and the things that matter most in order to secure knowledge and wisdom about these matters. Accordingly, philosophy may be defined as the attempt to think rationally and critically about life’s most important questions in order to obtain knowledge and wisdom about them. Philosophy can help someone form a rationally justified, true worldview, that is, an ordered set of propositions that one believes, especially propositions about life’s most important questions.

Second, our understanding of philosophy will be enhanced if we observe that philosophy often functions as a second-order discipline. For example, biology is a first-order discipline that studies living organisms, but philosophy is a second-order discipline that studies biology. In general, it is possible to have a philosophy of x, where x can be any discipline whatever; for example, law, mathematics, education, science, government, medicine, history, or literature. When philosophers examine another discipline to formulate a philosophy of that field, they ask normative questions about that discipline (e.g., questions about what one ought and ought not believe in that discipline and why), analyze and criticize the assumptions underlying it, clarify the concepts within it, and integrate that discipline with other fields.

Consider biology again. Philosophers ask questions like these: Is there an external world that is knowable and, if so, how does one know it? What is life, and how does it differ from nonlife? How should someone form, test, and use scientific theories and laws? Is it morally permissible to experiment on living things? When biologists talk about information in DNA, how should we understand this talk? How does the biological notion of being a member of the kind Homo sapiens relate to the theological notion of being made in the image of God or to the metaphysical notion of being a person with legal/moral rights? These questions are all philosophical in nature, and by examining them it becomes evident that philosophers ask and seek to answer presuppositional, normative, conceptual, and integrative questions about other fields of study. Thus by its very nature philosophy is, perhaps, the most important foundational discipline in the task of integrating Christian theology with other fields of study. This claim is examined in more detail later.

One more observation is important. Because philosophy operates at a presuppositional level by clarifying and justifying the presuppositions of a discipline, philosophy is the only field of study that has no unquestioned assumptions within its own domain. In other words, philosophy is a self-referential discipline, for questions about the definition, justification, and methodology of philosophy are themselves philosophical in nature. Philosophers keep the books on everyone, including themselves. The justification of the assumptions of any discipline, including philosophy, is largely a philosophical matter.

A third way to characterize philosophy is simply to list the various subbranches of philosophy. In addition to the different second-order branches of philosophy, such as philosophy of science (see part 4) or religion (see part 6), a number of standard areas of study are first-order parts of philosophy. For example, logic (see chap. 2) investigates the principles of right reasoning and focuses on questions such as when a conclusion can legitimately be drawn from premises and why. Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief (see part 2). What is knowledge? Can we have it? How do we know things and justify our beliefs? What are the kinds of things we can know? Metaphysics is the study of being or reality (see part 3). Here are some metaphysical questions: What does it mean for something to exist? What are the ultimate kinds of things that exist? What is a substance? What is a property? Is matter real? Is mind real? What are space, time, and causation? What is linguistic meaning? Value theory is the study of value; for example, ethical value (see part 5) and aesthetic value. What does it mean to say something is right or wrong, beautiful or ugly? How do we justify our beliefs in these areas?

These subbranches combine with the various second-order areas of investigation to constitute the subject matter of philosophy. In these areas of study, philosophy serves both a critical and a constructive function. Philosophy is critical because it examines assumptions, asks questions of justification, seeks to clarify and analyze concepts, and so on. Philosophy is constructive because it attempts to provide synoptic vision; that is, it seeks to organize all relevant facts into a rational system and speculate about the formation and justification of general worldviews. Chapter two includes an examination of the role of philosophy in forming and assessing a worldview.

We have briefly examined the different aspects of philosophy in order to get a better grasp on what the discipline is and the sorts of issues within its purview. Let us now look at the importance of philosophy for the Christian life in general and the Christian university in particular.

3—A Christian Justification of Philosophy

The history of the church reveals that philosophy has always played a crucial role in the nurture of believers and in the proclamation of a Christian worldview in general and the gospel in particular. The first universities in Europe were, of course, Christian, and the study of philosophy was considered of central importance to the health and vitality of the university and the Christian life. This is no less true today. In fact, there are at least seven reasons why philosophy is crucial to the texture, curricula, and mission of the Christian university and the development of a robust Christian life.

First, philosophy is an aid in the task of apologetics. Apologetics is the task of giving a reasoned defense of Christian theism in light of objections raised against it and of offering positive evidence on its behalf. Scripture commands us to engage in apologetics (see 1 Pet 3:15; Jude 3). The Old Testament prophets often appealed to broad arguments from the nature of the world to justify the religion of Israel. For example, they would ridicule pagan idols for their frailty and smallness. The world is too big, they claimed, to have been made by something that small (see Is 44–45). Arguments like this assume a philosophical position on the nature of causation; for example, that an effect (the world) cannot come from something of lesser power than itself (the idol). Again, the Old Testament prophets often appealed to general principles of moral reasoning in criticizing the immorality of pagan nations (e.g., Amos 1–2). Arguments such as this utilize natural moral law and general philosophical principles of moral reasoning.

In the New Testament, the apostles used philosophical argumentation and reasoning to proclaim Christ to unbelievers (see Acts 17:2-4, 17-31; 18:4; 19:8). Their practice was consistent with that of the Old Testament prophets in this regard. Philosophy aids a person in stating arguments for God’s existence. It also helps one clarify and defend a broad view of what it is for something to exist so as to include nonphysical and nonspatiotemporal entities; for example, God, angels, and perhaps disembodied souls. When an objection against Christianity comes from some discipline of study, that objection almost always involves the use of philosophy. When Freud argued against religion on the grounds that our ideas of God are mere illusions, grounded in and caused by our fears and the need for a father figure, his attack, while rooted in psychology, nevertheless involved the discipline of philosophy. He was considering the basic question of how the source of our belief relates to our justification for that belief.

Second, philosophy aids the church in its task of polemics. Whereas apologetics involves the defense of Christian theism, polemics is the task of criticizing and refuting alternative views of the world. For example, in the field of artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology there is a tendency to view a human being in physicalist terms, that is, as a complex physical system. Despite protests to the contrary from some Christian thinkers, dualism (the view that we are composed of both a physical and a mental entity) is the view taught in Scripture (see 2 Cor 5:1-8; Phil 1:21-24). Part of the task of a believer working in the areas of artificial intelligence or cognitive psychology is to develop a critique of a purely physicalist vision of being human, and this task includes issues in the philosophy of mind (see chaps. 11–14).

Third, philosophy is a central expression of the image of God in us. It is very difficult to come up with an airtight definition of the image of God, but most theologians have agreed that it includes the ability to engage in abstract reasoning, especially in areas having to do with ethical, religious, and philosophical issues. God himself is a rational being, and humans are made like him in this respect. This is one of the reasons humans are commanded to love God with all of their minds (Mt 22:37). Since philosophy, like religion, is a discipline that chiefly focuses on ultimate questions near the very heart of existence, then philosophical reflection about God’s special and general revelation can be part of loving him and thinking his thoughts after him.

Fourth, philosophy permeates systematic theology and serves as its handmaid in several ways. Philosophy helps to add clarity to the concepts of systematic theology. For example, philosophers help to clarify the different attributes of God; they can show that the doctrines of the Trinity and the incarnation are not contradictory; they can shed light on the nature of human freedom, and so on.

Further, philosophy can help to extend biblical teaching into areas where the Bible is not explicit. For example, several areas currently under discussion in medical ethics (active/passive euthanasia, genetic screening, withholding artificial food and hydration, artificial insemination) are not explicitly mentioned in Scripture. The philosopher can, however, take the language and doctrines of the Bible and appropriately recast them in the relevant categories under discussion. In this way the philosopher can help to shed biblical light on an issue not explicitly mentioned in Scripture by providing conceptual categories and analysis that fit the situation and preserve the tenor and substance of biblical teaching.

Fifth, the discipline of philosophy can facilitate the spiritual discipline of study. Study is itself a spiritual discipline, and the very act of study can change the self. One who undergoes the discipline of study lives through certain types of experiences where certain skills are developed through habitual study: framing an issue, solving problems, learning how to weigh evidence and eliminate irrelevant factors, cultivating the ability to see important distinctions instead of blurring them, and so on. The discipline of study also aids in the development of certain virtues and values; for example, a desire for the truth, honesty with data, an openness to criticism, self-reflection, and an ability to get along nondefensively with those who differ with us.

Of course, the discipline of study is not unique to philosophy. But philosophy is among the most rigorous of fields, and its approach and subject matter are so central to life, close to religion, and foundational to other fields of investigation that the discipline of philosophical study can aid someone in the pursuit of truth in any other area of life or university study.

Sixth, the discipline of philosophy can enhance the boldness and self-image of the Christian community in general. It is well known that a group, especially a minority group, will be vital and active only if it feels good about itself in comparison with outsiders. Further, there will be more tolerance of internal group differences, and thus more harmony, when a group feels comfortable toward outsiders.

In a fascinating study, John G. Gager argues that the early church faced intellectual and cultural ridicule from Romans and Greeks. This ridicule threatened internal cohesion within the church and its evangelistic bold­­ness toward unbelievers. Gager argues that it was primarily the presence of philosophers and apologists within the church that enhanced the self-image of the Christian community because these early scholars showed that the Christian community was just as rich intellectually and culturally as was the pagan culture surrounding it. Says Gager:

Whether or not the apologists persuaded pagan critics to revise their view of Christians as illiterate fools, they succeeded in projecting for the group as a whole a favorable image of itself as the embodiment of true wisdom and piety. . . . Whatever we may say about the expressed purpose of these apologies, their latent function was not so much to change the pagan image of Christians as to prevent that image from being internalized by Christians themselves.2

Gager’s point could and should be applied to the value of Christian scholarship in general, but the applicability of his remarks to the field of philosophy should be obvious. Historically, philosophy has been the main discipline that has aided the church in its intellectual relationship with unbelievers. Because of the very nature of philosophy itself—its areas of study and their importance for answering ultimate questions, the questions it asks and answers, its closeness to theology —the potential of this discipline for enhancing the self-respect of the believing community is enormous.

It seems clear that evangelicalism in America is having a serious self-image problem. The reasons for this are no doubt varied, but it can hardly be an accident that the average Bible college has no philosophy department, and many evangelical seminaries do not offer serious, formal training in philosophy and apologetics beyond a course here and there.

Seventh, the discipline of philosophy is absolutely essential for the task of integration. To integrate means to blend or form into a whole. In this sense, integration occurs when one’s theological beliefs, primarily rooted in Scripture, are blended and unified with propositions judged as rational from other sources into a coherent, intellectually adequate Christian worldview. Since this will be the main topic of discussion below, little needs to be added at this point except to note that the need for integration occurs in at least three ways.

For one thing, the believing community needs to draw from all areas of knowledge in forming an integrated Christian worldview consistent with Scripture. Second, a person grows to maturity to the extent that he or she becomes an integrated, unfragmented self, and one of the ways to become an integrated person is to have the various aspects of one’s intellectual life in harmony. If Smith believes one thing in church and another thing in the lab or office, he will to that extent be a fragmented, dichotomized individual wherein Christ can dwell only in a shrinking religious compartment of his life. Finally, when the gospel confronts a new culture, Christian theology must be related to that culture in a way that is at once sensitive to the culture and faithful to Scripture. Such a task will include questions of value, knowledge, and thought forms, and these questions essentially involve philosophical clarification and comment.

These are some of the reasons why the church has always found philosophy to be necessary. C. S. Lewis once remarked that “to be ignorant and simple now—not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground—would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defence but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”3

The great social critic William Wilberforce (1759–1833) was a man of deep devotion to God and great passion for practical ministry. But Wilberforce saw the value of philosophy and apologetics even for the training of children in the church! Queried Wilberforce, “In an age in which infidelity abounds, do we observe [believers] carefully instructing their children in the principles of faith they profess? Or do they furnish their children with arguments for the defense of that faith?”4