Many see philosophy and theology as dichotomous—like oil and water. The only dichotomy, however, is between false philosophy and good theology, or between good philosophy and false theology. Everybody has a philosophy. It’s unavoidable. The only question that remains to be answered is whether our philosophy is good or bad, right or wrong.
Philosophy provides us with the tools of rational thought. As such, philosophy is essential to the task of Biblical interpretation and systematic theology. In terms of the knowing process, philosophy actually precedes theology because we cannot discover the meaning of the text unless we first learn the principles of rationality required for interpretation. That is why the content of our philosophy is so important, and the presuppositions of our philosophy need to be exposed and examined to determine their validity, for if we come to the Biblical text with a bad philosophy, it will ultimately lead to a bad theology.
Thinking to Believe 
October 6, 2009 at 9:16 am
Timely post Jason. Philosophy has always been the handmaiden to theology. Serious theology will consider it or shrivel and die. The most pious of Christians have philosophized in one way or another. To question one’s beliefs is to philosophize, to incorporate reason and deduction into doctrine to establish clarity is to philosophize. It is not the goal of Philosophy to square everything in a nice logical box. It is to make sense of all the data and information we have as thinking creatures, instituted by God Himself.
Philosophy is unavoidable. Some people just don’t know what they’re doing yet. ha
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October 6, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Amen. I’ve personally found Christology to be one Christian doctrine that is especially elucidated by philosophical thought.
Jason
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December 23, 2009 at 5:53 am
Theology is a philosophy. As is empiricism, the foundation of science. Its ALL philosophy. Nothing isn’t. What is philosophy besides a code or a set of guidelines? A way of thinking or reasoning? It is theology, religion, science, Descartes Method, etc, etc, etc, all guide us in how to think, reason, perceive and interact with the world. How is any of it not philosophical?
Your choice to disregard theology as a philosophy is your attempt to debunk it through nothing more than an arbitrary, if not false label.
Philosophy isnt strictly about “rational thought”. Its just about thought. Thats it. You said it yourself, “everybody has a philosophy”. What makes any ones religious philosophy any less of a philosophy?
Take notions on existentialism and epistemology: the idea that reality could merely be a lie. Cartesian doubt on all of perception and reason. You presume to believe that this is absurd doubt. You presume to believe that science leads to truth, that logic is infallible, etc. All of this is taken on faith, and is unproven. The fundamental precepts of your own perspectives on philosophy are faith-based. Which hardly distinguishes it from the philosophy of theology.
At least, and I give theology credit for this.. at least the worlds religions acknowledge faith for what it is. The scientist and the atheist alike (not the same) confuse their faith for undeniable truth. Considering as to how such beliefs on the part of the atheist are unproven, their unwavering faith is contrary to the rules of empiricism and logic which they claim to uphold. Atheists are hypocrites more so than a devout believer who acknowledges his own faith as the faith that it is.
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December 23, 2009 at 6:02 am
I dont know if youre atheistic or not, but if you are and you arent willing to accept the plausibility that you are wrong… then that is what I call “bigotry”. Summarily dismissing a belief because it is distasteful to you is irrational.
Atheists have no proof that there is no God or that theism or spiritualism is absurd. They just believe it anyway. But they fail to acknowledge their belief as faith. That makes them hypocrites to the notions of reason and logic they claim to abide by.
It makes no empirical sense nor logical sense to dismiss a possibility which has never been disproven. Does it? Just so long as it remains unproven it remains a theoretical possibility. Disregarding that possibility… and in fact refusing to implement the tools of ones own belief system in order to pursue the truth… is absolutely ridiculous and one-sided.
Atheists presuppose the truth as a fundamental precept to their ideology. And, if you truly are logical you would know that consistency within any logical system doesnt prove its right. Contradiction, on the other hand, proves a premise false. But in order to prove religion false, you must first assume its true. And in order for atheism to be proven true, we must first assume its false. How many atheists are willing to take -that- step?
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December 29, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Philosophy can refer to a set of ideas or as I specifically defined it, as the “tools of thought” (that are used to construct ideologies). It is in this sense that I speak of philosophy being indispensable to i
theology. I’m not saying theology is not a philosophical outlook. It is. But clearly there is a distinction between philosophy and theology.
Jason
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