# Christian philosophy/philosophers



## Rufus (Nov 1, 2011)

What are some good resources on Christian philosophy as well as information on/works written by Christian philosophers. As for the Christian philosophers not just those who dealt with apologetic's but those who actually where also involved in other areas of philosophy and especially those that affected philosophy as a whole.


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## rbcbob (Nov 1, 2011)

Of the many that could be mentioned I would include Carl F. H. Henry. He went toe to toe with Karl Barth and his ilk defending the cognitive, objective, propositional nature of Revealed Truth without which there can be no cohesive weltanschauung.


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## Philip (Nov 1, 2011)

Current figures in Christian Philosophy would be Alvin Plantinga (though he's recently retired), Nicholas Wolterstorff, William Lane Craig, Esther Meek, and Richard Swineburne. 

The only book I can think of off the top of my head is, naturally, Alvin Plantinga's _Warranted Christian Belief_.

If you want historical Christian philosophy, there's the debate over universals between Johannes Duns Scotus and William of Ockham (though it's terribly technical). You might also be interested in Jonathan Edwards and Bishop George Berkeley and their work in the 18th Century on freedom of will and the problem of induction respectively. Of course Thomas Aquinas and Anselm of Canterbury are always fun. Soren Kierkegaard proves an interesting read---if you take his philosophy as a phenomenology of what it _feels_ like to have faith (take him as systematic theology and you'll be a Pelagian by the end of the day).


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## Jesus is my friend (Nov 2, 2011)

Gordon H Clark is a good choice to consider,many of his work are also available in book and free lectures at the Trinity website,he was a solid Presbyterian and someone I learned alot from.

Trinity Foundation Online Store - Christian Philosophy, The Works of Gordon Haddon Clark, Volume 4 (Paperback)


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## Christoffer (Nov 2, 2011)

I would second the recommendation above. Gordon Clark has written a magnificient book called "A christian view of men and things". Now much of what Clark has written is debatable when it comes to theology, but this book contains very little theology. It interacts with major thinkers within the philosophy of history, politics, ethics, religion etc. and shows how the theories either are self-contradictory or lead to absurdity. Clark offers brief christian alternatives to the theories of secular humanism but of course there is a limit to what you can do in 300 pages.


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## jwright82 (Nov 2, 2011)

Bahnsen has written some more philosophical stuff here, as well as mostly apologetical: Free Articles.


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Nov 2, 2011)

Anyone particularly deal with Spinoza?


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## elnwood (Nov 2, 2011)

I highly recommend Colin Brown's _Philosophy and the Christian Faith_. It's an excellent survey of thinkers since the time of Christ in relation to Christianity.


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## Theogenes (Nov 3, 2011)

I agree that Gordon Clark is a good source of what you're looking for. His _Thales to Dewey_ is a great overview of the history of Philosophy from a Christian perspective.
Jim


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## CharlieJ (Nov 3, 2011)

Maurice Blondel, the French philosopher, was hugely influential in the 20th century, particularly in Catholic _la nouvelle theologie_. The work to read is _L'Action_.

Etienne Gilson was one of the foremost Thomistic philosophers and philosophical historians of the 20th century. _Christian Philosophy_ or _The Spirit of Medieval Theology_ would be good.

Richard Swineburne has been influential in the last few decades, but many of his works are apologetically oriented.

Recently, the theological movement called Radical Orthodoxy (John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock, Graham Ward, etc.) has re-opened the relationship between metaphysics, modernity, and the polis. The best intro is _Introducing Radical Orthodoxy_ by James Smith.

Paul Helm does some very satisfying work applying the techniques of contemporary analytic philosophy to historical theology. _John Calvin's Ideas_ is great.

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Also, for philosophy of science, there is Michael Polanyi, Thomas Kuhn (not sure if he's Christian), and Alister McGrath, in that order.


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## jogri17 (Nov 3, 2011)

The best introduction is Sproul's The Consequences of Ideas : Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World
 In my humble opinion


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## Claudiu (Nov 3, 2011)

Greg Bahnsen, Alvin Platinga (in some areas), Gordon Clark, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine. It's difficult to just recommend philosophers. Is there something specific you are interested in?


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## Rufus (Nov 3, 2011)

CharlieJ said:


> Maurice Blondel, the French philosopher, was hugely influential in the 20th century, particularly in Catholic _la nouvelle theologie_. The work to read is _L'Action_.
> 
> Etienne Gilson was one of the foremost Thomistic philosophers and philosophical historians of the 20th century. _Christian Philosophy_ or _The Spirit of Medieval Theology_ would be good.
> 
> ...



The Radical Orthodoxy seems to be considered by some to be a criticism of postmodernism through the usage of postmodern terms*, I've heard bad things about postmodernism, but I myself don't really understand it, can anyone say anything particular on that? This also reminds me (because of the Catholics and Swinburne (a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy) to ask about the relationships between us (Protestants) and them in terms of truth, salvation, and if and how we should use there knowledge (personally thinking about this confuses and troubles me deeply))

My problem is there are a lot of great (and a lot of horrible) Christian philosophers outside of the Reformed as well as outside the Protestant system that I don't know how to deal with, others are within Protestantism but may be rejected by some for certain reasons.
*I did like this from wikipedia:


> The name was also chosen in opposition to certain strands of so-called radical theology, for example those of Bishop John Shelby Spong. Such forms of radical theology asserted a highly liberal version of Christian faith where certain doctrines, for example, the Trinity and the incarnation of God in Christ were denied in an attempt to respond to modernity. In contrast to this, Radical Orthodoxy attempted to show how the orthodox interpretation of Christian faith (as given primarily in the ecumenical creeds) was in fact the more radical response to contemporary issues and more rigorous and intellectually sustainable.


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## jwithnell (Nov 3, 2011)

I don't know if it is available, but C. Van Til taught a course on the history of philosophy at Westminster. The syllabus for the class was supposed to have been a real treasure.


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## CharlieJ (Nov 3, 2011)

Well, I think there's a common conception that since my Christian tradition is the best, obviously it must have all the best philosophers. Well, maybe not. Frankly, I can't think of too many Reformed philosophers in the last century that I think are going to stick in the history of philosophy. For the most part, I think that's because Protestantism in the 20th century was ravaged by the modernist controversies. All the intellectual activity was being devoted to the survival of the faith. 

I'm not terribly turned off by Catholic philosophy. Many of the Reformers were Thomists (Bucer, Vermigli, various later figures). If they do good philosophy, they do good philosophy.


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## jwright82 (Nov 5, 2011)

Rufus said:


> The Radical Orthodoxy seems to be considered by some to be a criticism of postmodernism through the usage of postmodern terms*, I've heard bad things about postmodernism, but I myself don't really understand it, can anyone say anything particular on that?



To answer this question would be too complex for this thread and it would take this thread way off course. So out of fairness to the rules of this site I started a thread just for this question. I hope it helps.


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