The basis for and results of a christian philosophy

Robert M.

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The basis for and results of a christian philosophy

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Abstract

The Basis for and Results of a Christian Philosophy

The history of ideas is full of steel-traps. Men of science, men of art, men of literature, and men of religion, whose names we utter reverently, and to whom we credit a plethora of theories and analyses, have made the traps that wait there to grab the unsuspecting scholar's perspective and twist all of reality into the mold of just one of its aspects. Such are, for example, diverse theories like Marxism, Freudianism, and Rationalism (Walsh and Middleton 180). These theories reduce the abundance of nature, by searching for the principle that explains this world, among the functions of things in the world, rather than viewing those functions as being part of the things which must be explained by a principle outside them (Walsh and Middleton 182-183). This is known as Reductionism, the single greatest pitfall for the philosopher of any subject. I will show that the Christian Worldview is the basis for a philosophy that acknowledges both the diversity and coherence of the world, and I will show that this philosophy has implications for scholarship, particularly for the philosopher himself.

Introduction.
What is meant by a 'Christian Worldview'.
Definition of Christian Worldview.
Explanation of definition using sources.
How does a Christian Worldview give rise to a philosophy?
Definition of Christian Philosophy.
Explanation of definition using sources.
What are the implication of these basic principles of Christian philosophy to the role of the Christian philosopher and his scholarship?
1. The Christian philosopher's job to combat reductionism.
2. The Christian philosopher a generalist?implications for scholarship.
3. The Christian philosopher a poet?implications for scholarship.
4. The Christian philosopher a communicator?implications for scholarship.
Conclusion.

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[...] The term itself was originated by James Orr, a Christian professor, according to David Naugle's Worldview: The History of a Concept: . ] Orr traces its origin to Immanuel Kant and his notion of a world concept, or Weltbegriff. This term functioned as an idea of pure reason to bring the totality of human experience into the unity of a world-whole, or Weltganz [ . ] Orr continues his historical investigation, noting that though Weltanschauung was not common with Kant (nor with Fichte or Schelling), still his Copernican revolution in philosophy gave momentum to its use, focusing on the human mind about which the world orbited. [...]

[...] I would add one proviso to this recommendation for the education of a philosopher. One subject demands special attention, indeed specialization, from him: the nature of reality as a covenant response to God's creative word, and the number and kinds of the modes of being, so that he may, in fact, be suitably general. So, in my own case, I plan to make an intense study of Covenant theology and Dooyeweerdian philosophy, to understand these two things essential to my vocation. [...]

[...] This, then, is the basis for a Christian philosophy, and these are the results of it: through a framework, based on acknowledgment and rigorous application of pre-theoretical faith commitments to thought and deed, for achieving internal consistency and external productivity in life, the philosopher attempts to understand the world, as a covenant response to the word (or law) of God, considering all the created functions of each individual thing. This leads him to combat reductionism, restoring to all things the abundance of their created being, and necessitates that he be a generalist, a poet, and a communicator. [...]

[...] God has not called men to the vocation and gifted them with the ability to discern the abundance of creation, for them to hoard their knowledge in private. The philosopher is the miner for wealth in the dirt of experience, the alchemist that turns dull objects into gold, the revealer of all the hidden wonders and marvelous relations to each other of God's fathomless creation. His job is not private. In the constellation of vocations, he illuminates the interconnections of all the rest. [...]

[...] Among those ignorant of this foundation, vast theories can easily be built on a simple personal affection for economics, or scientific investigation, or any other personal affinity—theories which purport to explain the world, enslaving multitudes in the meshes of their reductionism and tearing from those multitudes the full appreciation they could otherwise have of the treasure chest of creation. Marx was an economist, and Marxism is a reductionism of society to an economic function; the propounders of Scientism are chiefly scientists, and they set their method of inquiry on a false pedestal. [...]

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