John Lennox: The Oxford Mathematics Professor Who Defends Christianity
Body
“In his view, religious belief is entirely compatible with the scientific quest.” - National Review
As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“In his view, religious belief is entirely compatible with the scientific quest.” - National Review
“[M]any postmoderns who promote a purist school of deconstructionism are fed their just desserts when their own paradigms are deconstructed. American university students have perceptibly recognized the inherent tension within a school of thought built on cynicism and suspicion.” - American Conservative
“In a recent op-ed for The Washington Post, Michael Gerson critiques those who prize ‘authenticity’ and uncensored ‘passion’ over self-control and contemplative restraint. He contrasts two philosophical systems, one reliant on Aristotelianism, the other derived from Jean-Jacques Rousseau.” - Amer. Conservative
“In his most recent book, Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology, Moreland reminds readers that the Christian faith is a matter of knowledge, which has the support of reason and evidence; caricatures notwithstanding, faith isn’t mere emotion or opinion.” - TGC
“In this short book, Daniel Mahoney brilliantly lays bare the shallow and facile but dictatorial modern religion of optimistic humanitarianism: shallow and facile because it does not acknowledge the depth and persistence of human evil, and dictatorial because it will brook no rival.” - National Review
“Taking a hint from Hegel, Kojève devoted his life to preparing the way for the universal state he believed would crown the end of history. Yet what is most remarkable about Kojève’s conception of a new world order is the candor with which he acknowledged its dehumanizing qualities.” - National Review
Reposted with permission from Proclaim & Defend.
Read Part 1.
There are all kinds of philosophies which the Christian should avoid. The Apostle warns,
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col. 2:8)
A worldview is the perspective through which one views the world. By definition, a biblical worldview is derived exegetically from the pages of the Bible. Philosophy and theology have long been perceived as rivals in worldview, but if we define those terms lexically and through a Scriptural lens, then we find no friction between the two disciplines. In fact, the two are complementary.
Philosophy as a discipline is recognized as “the systematic and critical study of fundamental questions that arise both in everyday life and through the practice of other disciplines.”* Philosophy the discipline is often confused with philosophy as a worldview. The discipline is informed by the worldview (or the perspective by which the philosopher is viewing philosophy), but the discipline is distinct from worldview.
For example, many of the early Greek philosophers set out to find answers to life’s great questions using only naturalistic evidences. To their credit, they were in part motivated by a desire to move away from superstition and unwarranted belief in a pantheon that was hardly explanatory. The naturalistic worldview of these thinkers shaped much of what we understand as philosophical inquiry, but it is important to note that it was their worldview that was naturalistic, not the discipline of philosophy itself.
Discussion