Christianity Of Philosophy By David Gilson

To begin, it is important to understand and analyze what philosophy is and ultimately what a philosophical question is. Philosophy is a quest after knowledge. Philosophy is the action of thought and analysis, in fact, it is a pretty unique type of

According to Simon Blackburn, philosophy can be different things depending on how it’s used, and it can be used many different ways. When used as a method, philosophy studies the same world as science, but uses rational arguments as proof rather than scientific observations. Although, when thought of as a subject matter rather than a method, philosophy becomes a specific area of study, trying to answer questions that have not yet been answered and concern humanity using the three foundational philosophical questions: what exists, what do we know, and what should we do. These are the basic questions philosophers use to prove their arguments. The third way to use philosophy, according to Blackburn, is

The statement “philosophy of Christian education” contains much information to be unwrapped. The term philosophy literally means, in the Greek, “love of wisdom.” In this case, the study of philosophy involves a “critical

Having discussed what philosophy is, we now consider why it is important to study philosophy. We will divide our discussion into 2 parts: (1) Why is it important for all persons in general and (2) Why is it specifically important for Christians to study philosophy? We begin, in true philosophic fashion, by examining the question itself: what we do mean by philosophy being important and we introduce the idea of the philosophic mindset. We then examine 5 reasons why it is important for all persons to adopt the philosophic mindset. We will end by providing an overview of the different branches of philosophy.

The meaning of philosophy is the love of wisdom, questioning everything including ourselves. Philosophizing is about questioning the meaning of life.

During the Medieval Times the philosophical project was does the Bible contradict reason? St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the popular thinkers of that time, incorporated Christianity with Platonic views. During the eighth century schools were formed universities opened, and huge cathedrals were built. Later, the Arabs came in from Spain and brought the Aristotelian ideas back to Europe. this brought up a new question, “When should one attend to Aristotle the philosopher, and when should one stick to the Bible?”

Philosophy is one of the most important subjects taught today. Philosophy can teach us things as broad as secrets of the universe and as personal as knowing right from wrong. In the following paragraphs, I will explain each concept, as well as its importance to myself.

In our unit on Christian philosophies, one thing that we learned about was the influence that Plato had on Christianity. Plato took the idea of one's "self" as split between the physical body and the soul. Also, his theory of the forms basically foreshadowed the Christian idea of a divine heaven, of which the real world where we currently live is strictly a mirroring image. Both views of the world show an assumption of stagnant reality and complete truth, preparing people for the coming of Christianity. Augustine, who came at the end of the line where Plato existed, took both reasoning and logic as complements of faith, and that this pair would define Christianity.

Throughout time, there have been deep misconceptions on who the fathers of philosophy and greatest contributors to civilization. In the 1954 book, Stolen Legacy, George James, a Guyanese historian and author, argued that the highly acclaimed Greek philosophy actually originated in ancient Egypt. James’ arguments on Ancient Egypt being the basis of Greek philosophy will be discussed as it relates to the goals of Egyptian theory of salvation and Egyptian Mystery system.

Medieval philosophy deals with the great attempts by Christian, Jewish, and Arab thinkers to synthesize their religious faiths with Greek and Roman philosophy.

A theologian and philosopher, Augustine dithered between an earlier, positive Hellenistic outlook, and a pessimistic Christian outlook later on in his life. Shifting from one extreme to another, Augustine accommodated several diverse disciplines and philosophies into his comprehensive yearning to understand a world which seemed so beset with loss, trouble and discord, in theory as well as practice. Therefore, one of Augustine’s most admired traits, and inventive elements of his written documents, is that he could connect diverging characteristics of the four Hellenistic schools of philosophy (Platonists, Epicureans, Skeptics, and Stoics) with various Christian ideological doctrines.

There has been a lot of controversy over whether philosophy is needed or should be a part of Christianity. An early church father Tertullian said that we only needed the Bible and that we did not need philosophy at all. He said the Bible was enough. Clement of Alexandria believed that Greek philosophy was the handmaid of theology. “…before the advent of the Lord, philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness. And now it becomes conducive to piety; being a kind of preparatory training to those who attain to faith… philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and primarily, till the Lord should call the Greeks. For this was a schoolmaster to bring “the Hellenic mind,” as the law, the Hebrews, “to Christ.” Philosophy, therefore, was a preparation, paving the way for him who is perfected in Christ.” Justin believed that all

The fields of philosophy and theology are often grounds of debate. While some hold these two to be relevant and dependent on each other, others find them to be completely independent of each other. In John D. Caputo’s work, Philosophy and Theology, he expresses his view of these fields as companions. Caputo states, “Think of philosophers and theologians as fellow sailors on [the] ocean,” depicting his view of the interdependence of these two fields (Caputo 69). Through his illustration we can find the influence philosophy and theology can have on each other in facilitating our toleration of such a mysterious future and world.

Philosophy can be viewed in so many different ways, with so many different aspects looked at and critiqued. The simple statement, “eventually the sun will burn out and the Earth will cease to exist” can produce a rousing philosophical conversation. When having a philosophical discussion the people ‘philosophers’ involved must take a look at all

This essay is reflection about my understanding from what I have learned during this class about what philosophy is. Philosophy is a broad topic and can be hard to understand. What we learn is class about philosophy defiantly makes me think and makes my brain turn all the time, but so far, my understanding is that philosophy is the study of knowledge. It breaks down what everything is. Examples used in class are chariness, deskness, and the main one sued in class “cupness”.