+JMJ+ Somebody reading this series (if somebody is reading this series) is probably saying right about now, “But what about Christianity? When are you going to get to that? Why talk about good and goodness? Get on with it already!” Listen, there are some things we need to understand before we get into Christianity itself. And if we just start throwing terms around without defining them or attempting to understand them, we could end up discussing something but it might not be Christianity and that would be not merely a waste of time, it could be downright injurious to souls. God gave us faith and reason and we need both if we’re going to understand what we’re doing, what we’re supposed to be doing, where we came from, where we’re headed, and how best to get there.

Who needs philosophy?

There was a time men studying to become priests had to spend a few years studying philosophy before they began to study theology. Why is that?

People who say that there is no such thing as objective truth, or even no such thing as truth, need to study some philosophy and logic. Then they wouldn’t say such things, failing to realize that they are making a claim about something that they think is true. You can ask them, are you making a claim of stating a truth? And they will not see their mistake.

“There’s no such thing as truth.” “Is that true?” “There’s no such thing as truth!” “That’s your truth, but it isn’t my truth.” 

That one about “your truth” and “my truth” really annoys me. If it’s true, it’s true. If it’s not, it’s not. And so we go in circles until one of us gives up. Most frustrating.

“You and your philosophy. It’s all made up. Who needs it?”

It’s a legitimate question. Who does need philosophy? And the answer is: All of us.

Philosophy doesn’t teach us what to think, it teaches us how to think.

“Philosophy gives us categories, definitions and distinctions and offers us a real framework on which to base our theology. It does not tell us necessarily what to think, but it teaches us how to think. And when we study the history of philosophy, we can see the great interchange that exists between faith and culture. One needs only to look to the formulation of the Nicene Creed to see how much we use philosophical terms to express our theological faith.”

Why Philosophy is Crucial to Understanding Theology, by Father John P. Cush.

“But wait! Didn’t Tertullian warn us not to fool around with philosophy?“

Well, Tertullian did say:

What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the church? What between heretics and Christians? . . . Away with all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic composition! We want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus, no inquisition after enjoying the gospel!

Prescription against Heretics, chapter 7, quoted in Why (and How) Christians Should Study Philosophy, by Taylor W. Cyr. 

But we would do well to remember that Tertullian embraced some strange ideas after all of that hand-wringing. So there’s that. Maybe he needed to study some philosophy after all. From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

To the peculiarities of Tertullian’s views which have already been explained must be added some further remarks. He did not care for philosophy: the philosophers are the “patriarchs of the heretics” His notion that all things, pure spirits and even God, must be bodies, is accounted for by his ignorance of philosophical terminology. Yet of the human soul he actually says that it was seen in a vision as tender, light, and of the color of air!

Catholic Encyclopedia, Tertullian.

“Okay, but St. Paul warned us, too, and he’s in the Bible!”

“Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy, and vain deceit; according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ…”

Col. 2:8, Douay-Rheims Bible, public domain.

All the more reason to study philosophy, good philosophy, so you can spot the bad stuff and not be deceived by it. You see, you really do need to do some thinking, some reasoning, some philosophizing to keep from making some mistakes understanding Christianity. Beware of anyone who tells you that you don’t need to use your reason, your mind. True, we have a tendency, because of sin, to misunderstand things, to misuse them. But this is yet another way that studying philosophy can help us, by helping us to tell the difference between the true and the false, or where there is some truth mixed with some (or more than some) untruth.

Words from Christians Who Are Also Philosophers

Below I’ve linked four articles I found on the web that I read while thinking about writing this post. Three are by Catholics: two priests and a lay philosopher. The fourth is by a philosopher who teaches at Samford University in Birmingham. I don’t think he’s Catholic, I don’t know what his faith tradition is. But all of these articles were helpful to me when I was trying to put things into words, because, let me be clear, I’m writing this for me as much as for you. I’m trying to understand, to see how to go deeper in my understanding of this thing called Christianity, to find a better way to explain it, to make it mine and hand it on, too. Will it be perfect? By no means! But I think it is worth doing.

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. —Chesterton, in What’s Wrong with the World. 

(That’s my motto. If you ever hear my music, you’ll understand. I’ve been playing music badly for many years now.)

Thanks for reading. May this be the year we study and understand and truly live our faith and become the saints we are meant to be. God bless you, every one, and may His peace be always with you. +JMJ+

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Notes and Links

• Why Do Priests Need Philosophy?, by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ.
• Why Philosophy is Crucial to Understanding Theology, by Father John P. Cush
• Why Study Philosophy and Theology? by Peter Kreeft.
• Why (and How) Christians Should Study Philosophy, by Taylor W. Cyr (The Gospel Coalition)
• Catholic Encyclopedia, Tertullian.
• Col. 2:8, Douay-Rheims Bible, BibleGateway.
• If a thing is worth doing: appears in Chesterton’s What’s Wrong with the World, in “Education: Or the Mistake about the Child” at the end of Chapter 14. Chesterton also quoted himself in “When Doctors Agree” in The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond. Paperback, Kindle (Amazon affiliate links, see Full Disclosure below). More books for me to read. Eventually. It never ends.

Image: In the banner, The School of Athens, by Raphael Sanzio, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

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