Journal: Grace Journal
Volume: GJ 06:1 (Winter 1965)
Article: Christian Philosopher
Author: David R. Dilling

GJ 6:1 (Wtr 65) p. 29

Christian Philosopher

David R. Dilling

Instructor in Philosophy and Greek
Grace College

Introduction

In the first centuries of the Christian era, the Hebrew-Christian religious tradition met an “outside world” of thought and culture. The meeting had the force of head-on collision. To be sure, there had been days in Egypt, there had been interaction with the great world empires of Assyria and Babylon, there had been resistance to the Hellenization of the Near East after Alexander; but the collision in the days of the early church was unique. Christianity with a then developing world-mission outlook was dispersed throughout a thoroughly Hellenized Roman Empire.

The net result of the first contact of Christianity with Greek philosophy—especially in the form of Neo-Platonism—was a two-fold development within the Christian church. One new development was the formulation of a systematic statement of doctrine. The other, the development of a systematic apologetic.

It is the apologetic with which I am here concerned. In those early days the church was forced to come to terms with philosophy. The relationship which Christianity will bear toward philosophy was a vital problem in those days; it has been a significant item of discussion through the history of western philosophy; it remains for the church today among its greatest unsettled issues.

Statement of the Problem

In its most simple form the problem with which I am concerned is the relationship between faith and reason. It is an epistemological problem. It has exceedingly far-reaching practical consequences. For example, in trying to straddle the fence one is likely to find oneself in difficulty on one hand with a church that views philosophy at best as a tolerable nuisance, and at worst as a demonic enemy; while on the other hand, ridiculed by philosophers who regard one’s theism as outmoded at best, and at the worst as downright anti-intellectual.

The very juxtaposition of “Christian” and “philosopher” as in the title of this paper strikes many Christians and philosophers as odd. I can not believe that the disjunction

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between Christianity and philosophy is as radical as either the church or modern philosophy has made it appear. I frankly subscribe to a position which sees all truth as one coherent body, whether derived by faith through properly interpreted revelation, or by reason through properly critical observation.

The Problem in Historical Perspective

Historically, the church developed four classic answers to the problem. In the order of their appearance they may be illustrated by reference to the thought...