Philosophers Only Take You So Far
Studying philosophy is beautiful because it teaches you how to think. Studying philosophy is also challenging because philosophers never agree about the most complex questions of life, truth, and meaning.
It is refreshing, then, to hear one of the most eminent philosophers in history exalt the wisdom and truth of the biblical worldview over against the self-important speculations of worldly philosophy. College students, next time your (Creighton or UNO) philosophy professor beats up on Christianity, consider countering with a healthy dose of the good Saint:
In Athens… the philosophers went milling about with their hangers-on, in broad daylight, here and there… each one belligerently propounding his own persuasions – some saying that there is only one world, some saying that it began, others, that it had no beginning; some saying it will come to an end, others that it will go on forever; some saying that the world is ruled by divine intelligence, others, that it is driven by fortuitous chance. With respect to the soul, some say it is immortal, others, that it is mortal; of those defending immortality, some say that the soul will turn up again in a beast, others, no such thing; of those defending mortality, some say the soul will die shortly after the body, others, that it will live on after the body; of these, some say it will survive for a little while, others, for rather a long while, though not forever. With respect to the identity of the highest good, some put it in the body; others, in the mind; still others, in both at the same time; still others drag in extrinsic goods and add them to the body and mind. With respect to the validity of sense experience, some say that the senses are always to be trusted; others, not in every instance; still others, never.
…Is it not the case… that the ungodly city has, without the smallest degree of critical discrimination, taken all these scrapping ideas from here, there, and everywhere, clutching them in pell-mell confusion to her bosom? Yet, these philosophers were not discussing such relatively indifferent matters as agriculture, architecture, or economics. They were holding forth on the deepest issues of all, the things that have to do with whether mankind is to live in happiness or in utter wretchedness.
Granted, that some of the things these philosophers said are true; still, untruth was taught with equal license. No wonder, then, that this earthly city has been given the symbolic name of Babylon, for Babylon means confusion… her diabolical king does not care a straw how many contradictory opinions she harbors or how her people squabble over them, so long as he goes on in possession of them and all their errors – a tyranny they deserve by reason of their enormous and manifold ungodliness.
How differently has… that other commonwealth of men, that other City, the people of Israel, to whom was entrusted the word of God, managed matters! No broad-minded, muddle-headed mixing of true prophets with false prophets there! They have recognized and held as the true-speaking authors of Holy Writ only those who are in perfect harmony with one another. These writers are for them their philosophers, that is, their lovers of wisdom, their sages, their theologians, their prophets, their teachers of good living and right believing – all in one. They know that if they think and live according to what these men taught, they are thinking and living according to God – who spoke through the inspired writers – and not according to man.
(Saint Augustine, The City of God, Book 18, chapter 41)
It is refreshing, then, to hear one of the most eminent philosophers in history exalt the wisdom and truth of the biblical worldview over against the self-important speculations of worldly philosophy. College students, next time your (Creighton or UNO) philosophy professor beats up on Christianity, consider countering with a healthy dose of the good Saint:
In Athens… the philosophers went milling about with their hangers-on, in broad daylight, here and there… each one belligerently propounding his own persuasions – some saying that there is only one world, some saying that it began, others, that it had no beginning; some saying it will come to an end, others that it will go on forever; some saying that the world is ruled by divine intelligence, others, that it is driven by fortuitous chance. With respect to the soul, some say it is immortal, others, that it is mortal; of those defending immortality, some say that the soul will turn up again in a beast, others, no such thing; of those defending mortality, some say the soul will die shortly after the body, others, that it will live on after the body; of these, some say it will survive for a little while, others, for rather a long while, though not forever. With respect to the identity of the highest good, some put it in the body; others, in the mind; still others, in both at the same time; still others drag in extrinsic goods and add them to the body and mind. With respect to the validity of sense experience, some say that the senses are always to be trusted; others, not in every instance; still others, never.
…Is it not the case… that the ungodly city has, without the smallest degree of critical discrimination, taken all these scrapping ideas from here, there, and everywhere, clutching them in pell-mell confusion to her bosom? Yet, these philosophers were not discussing such relatively indifferent matters as agriculture, architecture, or economics. They were holding forth on the deepest issues of all, the things that have to do with whether mankind is to live in happiness or in utter wretchedness.
Granted, that some of the things these philosophers said are true; still, untruth was taught with equal license. No wonder, then, that this earthly city has been given the symbolic name of Babylon, for Babylon means confusion… her diabolical king does not care a straw how many contradictory opinions she harbors or how her people squabble over them, so long as he goes on in possession of them and all their errors – a tyranny they deserve by reason of their enormous and manifold ungodliness.
How differently has… that other commonwealth of men, that other City, the people of Israel, to whom was entrusted the word of God, managed matters! No broad-minded, muddle-headed mixing of true prophets with false prophets there! They have recognized and held as the true-speaking authors of Holy Writ only those who are in perfect harmony with one another. These writers are for them their philosophers, that is, their lovers of wisdom, their sages, their theologians, their prophets, their teachers of good living and right believing – all in one. They know that if they think and live according to what these men taught, they are thinking and living according to God – who spoke through the inspired writers – and not according to man.
(Saint Augustine, The City of God, Book 18, chapter 41)
posted by Bob | 2:57 PM
2 Comments:
Great excerpt.
How do you think we keep in tension defending Christianity as a credible--indeed the credible belief system--while simultaneously realizing that the wisdom of God is foolishness to those who are perishing?
Good question, Hooley... I like how Keller talks about belief. He breaks it into three stages- first, recognizing that both belief and unbelief require faith in assumptions; second, that belief makes more sense of reality than unbelief; and third, that true knowledge requires commitment, that is, to really know anything one must commit to believing it. I think the answer to your question lies somewhere between two and three- engaging others on the plane of phase two, where we examine the reasonableness of our respective belief systems, while at the same time recognizing that will only get you to a point of probability but not to a saving faith- and exhorting others that direction.
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