I have been
thinking lately about what it means to be a Christian philosopher vs. what it
means to be a philosopher who is a Christian. The latter means to engage in the
issues of philosophy, specifically one’s area of specialization (and areas of
interest/competence), in a purely (or mostly) secular way. This is not always
bad. It just means that one will not seek to prove God by way of reinforced
presuppositions. It can mean that one finds plenty of arguments for God
persuasive, even from these “unbiased” points. The former, however, means the
communication of all of life from the Christian worldview.
This being a Christian philosopher is the
only thing I can do. I do not begrudge those who would try to divest themselves
of their Christianity as the driving force of their particular discipline[1]
or who try just to be philosophers who happen to be Christian. I simply cannot
help but to view Christian philosophy as the spiritual activity that it is. It
helps believers in strengthening their faith in God. It grows believers in
support of biblical doctrine and sound theology. Finally, it can be used in an
apologetic toward unbelievers in order to evangelize them.
In short,
Christian philosophy seeks to bring glory and honor to God by connecting all of
life and creation to its ultimate foundation—the Creator. I can’t imagine doing
anything else.
[1] By this I do not mean
to say that philosophers who are Christian deny their Christianity, or
repudiate their faith, or whatnot.
As a fundamentalist, My philosophy is dominated by biblical axioms.
ReplyDeleteYet also I don't want to limit my philosophy to the subject of apologetics. We need to search and pursuit wisdom and knowledge in all fields.