Philosophy and Theology: a Biblical Approach.

The biggest problem, I think, in this whole debate is defining exactly what philosophy and theology are. The etymological route does not work:

Philosophy (φιλοσοφια) means ‘love of wisdom.’ What is meant by ‘love?’ What is meant by ‘wisdom?’ These sorts of questions do not really get us anywhere unless we already have an idea in mind concerning what philosophy actually is.

Theology means study of God (Θεος, and λογος). How do we go about studying God? Through his revelation. But that is a step that is not entailed in the term’s etymology. We have already made a leap, and so strict etymological understanding is of no real avail here.

I woke up this morning (much later than usual since I am on ‘holidays’) thinking ‘since I am a Christian, and my faith is grounded in God’s revelation, the Bible, I wonder what I could find in it on this topic…’ So here is my short attempt, since I have other things I need to do today.

Okay, so I won’t find anything about theology proper in the Bible, since theology’s task is based on the Bible. If the Bible said anything about theology, it would mean that the two are equally prior, which is not the case. However, if I had more time and inclination, I could get into how the Bible uses itself, and see if that helps me figure out what theology actually is. Well, Biblical theology at any rate. But I think that I will stick to giving a very short overview of how the Bible views philosophy.

Using the NIV, philosophy itself (and derivatives) are mentioned in the New Testament a few times (3, actually). But there is also a critique on philosophy, shortly after one of these verses.

Acts 17:16-21 [the reference is in v. 18, the critique in v. 21]

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them [Silas and Timothy] in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” ²¹(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.”

While v. 18 is not entirely elucidating on the matter, v. 21 is. Although, in v. 18, we get the indication that the philosophers thought of Paul as a ‘babbler,’ a derogatory term denoting someone who peddles ideas. Is this the first instance of philosophy and Christian theology ‘mixing it up?’ Concerning v. 21, I. Howard Marshall writes in the Tyndale NT Commentary on Acts: “In a rare aside Luke comments that the Athenians themselves and visitors to the city were moved by sheer curiosity to hear something new, and that they had nothing better to do with their time than to enjoy intellectual titillation. Luke implies that they were not greatly concerned about the truth of what they heard; his tone is distinctly sarcastic.”

This, it seems, sets the tone for the treatment of philosophy and philosophers for the rest of the NT.

1 Corinthians 1:20-25

²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²²Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

I think that I would like to come back to these verses in a moment, because they have given me an idea.

Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

This verse as well illustrates a point brought up in the previous verses, the fact that the wisdom of the world (hollow and deceptive philosophy) depends on human tradition, while what is truly wise, what is true, depends on Christ, God’s wisdom.

Now, the Biblical concept of wisdom is a very interesting one, and potentially quite enlightening on this subject. I cannot go into it in great detail, but I will outline it using a couple of texts.

Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10 both state that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We saw this already in the NT texts we looked at. True wisdom comes from God, not from ourselves or from the world around us. But there is something more here. While it is all well and good to say that true wisdom comes from the Lord, what is this true wisdom?

In the Bible, wisdom is something that is very practical. It is essentially that which enables a person to complete the tasks given to them. If we look at Exodus 31:3 and 6, we can see this. In this context, God is telling Moses who will work on the Tabernacle, and do the artistic work and designs. He informs Moses that he has “filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kings of crafts”, and in v. 6, God tells Moses that he has given skill to all the craftsmen, so that they will be able to do all that God requires. What the NIV translates here (quite poorly) as ‘skill’ is better translated as ‘wisdom,’ since that it the Hebrew word that is used. But it does show that wisdom is something practical, something that can get things done.

Later in Israel’s history, wisdom became connected with piety—a righteous life. Thus wisdom is not simply how to do things, but also, and probably more importantly, how to lead a right life before God. If we read Proverbs or Ecclesiastes, and even Job, we can get this idea. True wisdom is revealed in how a person is able to live before God—wise men lead pious, righteous lives, while fools ignore God (Psalm 14:1).

What, though, does this mean for the topic at hand? I think we can extrapolate from the Biblical evidence, and say that Theology is, or ought to be concerned, with God—in the sense that theology teaches us what we can know about God from his revelation, and how we can lead holy lives before him, in all areas of life. Theology, in this sense, is not merely concerned with studying God’s revelation. It is also concerned with how that revelation impacts on all spheres of life, to borrow Kuyperian and Dooyeweerdian language.

Philosophy, on the other hand, is concerned with life, but from a very different foundation. As we saw in Colossians, philosophy that is based on the principles of the world and human tradition is hollow and deceptive—it is not true wisdom. It, then, does not live up to its name, for it does not love true wisdom. It has, we can say, been derailed somewhere along the line and ceased coming to understand how life is to be lead before God, and began to look into how life is to be led from a merely human, worldly perspective.

Now, I know that I have given this topic very short work, and have not done it justice. But I do have time constraints (I actually have plenty of homework I should be doing), and resource constraints (my personal library is not designed specifically for this question, and I have been at home all week, as Sherri wanted the car).

But all of this now leaves me with a question that I have posed already, but now comes to me in a different form:

If philosophy were to be based on Scripture, would it be theology instead, and if theology were to loose its basis in Scripture, would it become philosophy instead? Another way of asking this would be as I did before (and answered positively, but now I am not so sure): Can there be Christian philosophy? I had answered with a resounding “Yes” before. But now my “Yes” is a little less resounding, and a little more hesitant. I cannot answer this question conclusively. There is too much grey area.

And I still don’t know exactly how philosophy and theology are related, or if they are just two very different ways of looking at the same questions (which I sincerely doubt—it is more complicated than that). All that I know now is that I am in a better position to have something to learn this coming Saturday at the conference, and it was a very fun journey, insofar as I have travelled it. I still have quite a ways to go, I think…