Philosophy

Many well-meaning Christians are absolutely paranoid when it comes the subject of philosophy, if they simply do not mock it altogether. To them to philosophize is to be in league with the devil, or to engage in abstruse or esoteric ramblings to difficult to understand, as they are completely oblivious to the reality that in order to even arrive at such a conclusion means that they have philosophized somewhere along the way, even though they have done so very badly.

Philosophy, though, is a compound Greek word (philos = “love”; sophia = “wisdom”) which means to love wisdom. Some secularists, no doubt, have twisted or blurred the term to mean other things, and what they end up with is a mish-mash of disjointed blithering nonsense that means nothing to anyone, much less themselves. But, the reality is, philosophy simply means to be a lover of wisdom, and when done correctly, it opens up new vistas into understanding the way God thinks and it develops an appreciation for the creation which he has created and commanded his creatures to investigate and to have dominion over.

As philosophy relates to the discipline of apologetics Doug Groothuis has this to say: “Apologetics is an aspect of the philosophy of religion (broadly understood), which is the rational investigation of religious truth claims” (Christian Apologetics, 26). It is unfortuante, however, in too much of contemporary Christendom that fewer and fewer Christians really want to investigate anything, much less those competing worldviews with their own truth claims which are leading many of those same Christians astray. Moreland and Craig made this very point as well not long ago in their description of the “empty self’ Christian.

Our churches are unfortunately overly-populated with people whose minds, as Christians, are going to waste. As [Charles] Malik observed, they may be spiritually regnerate, 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 (Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, 5.

Therefore, this portion of CAPro is designated to philosophy, not because it is inherently evil and to be avoided. But, because it is inherently necessary and wise to be pursued in the attempt to obey God by loving him with all our minds; to be lovers of wisdom, rather than hypocrites who claim to love wisdom, and yet run from the hard thinking necessary in order to become wise Christians. It is our hope that after reading through some of the articles provided that you too will understand that philosophy, done correctly, will not only make one a better Christian apologist, and a lover of wisdom, but a better grounded Christian, in general, whose love for God is more that mere lip service.