Apologetics Application Essay; Secular Humanism

Introduction

This paper seeks to analyze the worldview secular humanism and test it to see if it contains the truth about human origins and purpose. In analyzing this worldview, it will be beneficial to compare it with the Christian worldview to see which one better explains the human condition. Because the search for truth is the highest goal, this paper will attempt to compare the truth claims of secular humanism to see if it fits with reality and if it has any explanatory power. To start off, this paper will include a description and summary of the worldview and an overview of its major tenets including: its view of ultimate reality, its source of ultimate authority, its understanding of epistemology, its ontological view of human beings, and lastly its source of morality (if any).[1] After summarizing those tenets an evaluation of the worldview will include an analysis of that worldview including: how well it explains what it ought to explain, the worldview’s logical consistency or lack thereof, coherency of the view, its factual adequacy, its existential viability, and intellectual and cultural benefits (if any). As part of this analysis, this paper will also look at whether the worldview has had to radically change based on newly discovered counter-evidence and whether it provides the simplest yet complete explanation of all the facts.[2] After thoroughly summarizing and analyzing secular humanism in that way, the same evaluative analysis criteria will be applied to Christianity as a worldview in order to compare the two views. The final sections will be a defense of how Christianity and concluding whether or not it is a better worldview.

Summary of the Worldview Secular Humanism

Ultimate Reality

The first step in summarizing any worldview is to look at its understanding of ultimate reality, to understand what that worldview sees as really real. For the secular humanist ultimate reality is purely physical. Secular humanism is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get view of reality. It can be taken one step further, though philosophically minded secular humanists resist this, and can be expressed as only things provable by scientific inquiry are real. For the secular humanist God and anything non-physical does not exist.[3][4] Ultimate reality is nothing more than just physical objects such as sub-atomic particles, protons/neutrons/electrons, and other physical objects. Minds, God, spirits, and anything non-physical does not exist.[5] Carl Sagan is famous for the quote “The Cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be,”[6] which sums up the secular humanists’ view of ultimate reality quite succinctly. The secular humanist view of reality leads directly to the only available source for ultimate authority, mankind.

Source of Ultimate Authority

For the secular humanist, mankind is the measure of all things. And, for mankind, science is the ultimate authority, including on moral issues.[7] There is no “ultimate authority” in the sense that there is some higher authority. There is only what we can see, feel, taste, touch, sense, test, measure, etc. There is no non-physical realm or authority stemming from such realm. Mankind is the only known intelligent being capable of making rational decisions about anything. And, as such is the only authority in anything, but that authority is not based on mankind’s ontology or by virtue of being human. That authority is merely a product of mankind’s ability to analyze information and apply the scientific method to the data and come to various conclusions. As such, the secular humanist can say that “science” is the ultimate authority. In addition to being secular humanism’s ultimate authority, science is secular humanism’s only source for epistemology.[8]

Understanding of Epistemology

When asked how one can know what is true, the secular humanist must answer, “Science!” This leads to science (whatever that means) is also the answer to the question of what grounds knowledge. For many popular secular humanists, Bill Nye and Neil DeGrasse Tyson come to mind, this is the one-word answer to everything but particularly how we know anything. However, this philosophical position, scientism, is rejected by many philosophically-minded secular humanists, but it is still popular with social media atheists and the so-called “New Atheists.”[9] This position, scientism, fails its own test because the statement “Science is the only source for truth,” is not a statement of science. There is no way to scientifically test that statement. But, to continue summarizing secular humanism one must turn to how that worldview understand human beings.

Ontological View of Human Beings

In many ways humans in secular humanism could be compared to God in the Christian worldview. Humans are the source of ultimate authority, science, morality, and the reason to do anything. The litmus test for moral actions is whether or not it will bring well-being for others, particularly humans.[10] Also, under secular humanism humans are merely the product of time, chance, and natural pressures. There is nothing special or unique about humanity and it will someday be supplanted by a better species. Humans are nothing more than somewhat advanced animals with the curious ability to self-reflect and consider their actions with a wide-ranging view of its effects.[11] Since humans are the sole source of authority in the secular humanist worldview it actually makes sense that humans are the source and authority for all moral issues as well.

Source of Morality

In keeping with humans being the sole authority for morality, Harris, as seen in the subtitle of his book The Moral Landscape makes the case that science can give us morality and value.[12] A position, no doubt that Dennett would support as he attempts to derive meaning from evolution.[13] The position of secular humanism is that one is obligated to treat humans well. In many ways secular humanism is a kinder, gentler version of atheism. A version of atheism that says one must be kind to humanity. Harris’ whole moral edifice is built on this idea that human wellbeing is paramount and that the moral thing is to follow one’s biological directive to increase one’s own wellbeing as well as that of the human race.[14]

Summary

In summary, secular humanism is the view that there is nothing but material reality to the universe, that humankind is the ultimate authority, that science is the only source of knowledge, human beings are merely highly evolved animals, and morality is a sort of scientifically derived rules that say to treat humans kindly.

Evaluation of the Worldview

Explains What It Ought to Explain

The first question in evaluating any worldview is whether or not it explains what it ought to explain. Secular humanism as a worldview fails to explain several features of reality that we know and experience all the time. For example, anything non-physical like mental activities, cannot be explained at all through this worldview.[15] Also, as we explore more and more into the quantum realm even physical reality is seeming less and less explicable from a purely physical standpoint.[16] Also, there are numerous features of the physical world that clearly cannot be explained by purely physical responses. For example, the existence of the physical universe itself fails to explain itself. More and more discoveries surrounding Big Bang cosmology are defying scientific explanation.[17] Therefore, secular humanism fails to explain anything with metaphysical concepts at its core. There is no room for the metaphysical in secular humanism.

Internal Logical Consistency

With the abandonment of any semblance of metaphysics there is one major logical inconsistency that is clear, ontology in general fails for secular humanism. Ontology is a metaphysical concept; therefore, it is not acceptable in secular humanist thought. Also, the epistemology of secular humanism, without any ontological grounding, is merely science as the only arbiter of truth, but that view cannot be tested by science itself and indeed is borrowing from the ontological ideas of religion to progress at all.[18] If science is the only way to analyze truth, then the foundation of science is philosophical, not scientific and the system collapses without an internal logical consistency. Though it may be logically inconsistent, the next question must be whether it is it livable or existentially viable.

Existential Viability

While at first glance, and by their own insistence, this view is existentially positive in nature, but in reality, they have to steal an important position from the Christian worldview. The secular humanist has to steal the idea that humans are valuable from the Christian worldview.[19] Under secular humanism there is no ultimate reason to treat other humans well. This is merely an assertion that many people have rejected. This completely ad hoc assertion that one must treat other humans well leads to the next criteria in evaluating a worldview.

Radical Ad Hoc Readjustment

One must ask if secular humanism has or needs to offer some radical ad hoc readjustment after new scientific findings have been made. There is at least one point where this view has sought to radically readjust itself. Before Big Bang cosmology was established those who rejected God as creator of the universe could rest comfortably assuming there was no ultimate beginning, which implies a creator. However, since science has fairly firmly concluded that there was an ultimate beginning, scientists have scrambled to find anything that will allow the dismissal of an ultimate beginning (Hawking’s rounded boundary for the universe, multiverse theories, etc.).[20] The multiverse theory is another radical ad hoc readjustment to Big Bang cosmology and the apparent design of the universe. One area where secular humanism claims victory is in simplicity, which is the next and last question in this analysis.

Simpler Explanations Are Better Than Complex Ones

We take this idea for granted and secular humanists definitely tout this as a strength, that simpler explanations are better. Secular humanism claims to have simpler explanations than Christianity in nearly everything because it omits the Creator. However, there are two problems with this. One, just having a simpler explanation is not enough. It has to be a simpler explanation that also sufficiently explains all the facts. Secondly, removing God as an explanation seems like it would simplify things but it does not because it adds needed explanatory factors. Removing a creator means that in order for biological life to be come to exist time, chance, and natural pressures. Those are three (insufficient) explanatory factors, however, with Christianity only one explanatory factor is needed, God.

Summary of Evaluation

In evaluating the worldview of secular humanism, it is clear that it fails every portion of the test. It is not able to explain existence or answer questions about why we are here and what we ought to do now that we are here. It fails to maintain a logical consistency since it has a logically incoherent epistemology and ontology. It is existentially unviable because it has no basis by which one ought to behave well and borrows from other worldviews to build that part of its worldview. It has gone through major turmoil with the discovery of Big Bang cosmology and has sought to redefine that aspect of its views in various ways. And lastly, it is not really simpler or at least not simpler in a satisfactory manner. In many areas it requires outside inputs to move forward and cannot explain anything fully within itself.

Evaluation of Christianity

Explains What It Ought to Explain

In order to fairly judge between secular humanism and Christianity one must subject both to the same evaluative criteria. So, in asking whether or not Christianity explains what it ought to explain we see that Christianity explains the human condition, sinfulness, and its uniqueness being made in the image of God. It also explains the source of all reality, God, and the source of morality, also God. In addition to explaining the human condition of sinfulness, Christianity gives a method of redemption and an explanation of the end of the problem with God making all things anew without the problem of sin. What else can be added to these questions? It seems as if Christianity certainly has the answers necessary here, but one must also ask if it is consistent.

Internal Logical Consistency

Though many have attempted to point out logical inconsistencies with the Bible and with Christianity in general, it has stood the test of time and analysis. All of the supposed biblical inconsistencies are almost always due to an extremely literalistic reading of the biblical narrative. Also, though some have attempted to show a logical incoherence in the existence of God and evil, these attempts have failed.[21] The same is true for attempts to show an inconsistency in the concept of omnipotence, they all fail. Christianity offers logically consistent responses to those arguments as well. Not only is Christianity logically consistent it is certainly existentially viable.

Existential Viability

The Christian life is existentially viable in every way as it is consistently lived out by millions of happy, well-adjusted, thoughtful Christians all around the world in every level of social structure and in every cultural milieu. Not only is it existentially viable, it is existentially preferable. Christianity gives deeper meaning and goal-oriented life to its adherents. It gives a deep and meaningful source for humanity and an ultimate goal of loving God and following God’s guide for proper human living. Christianity is not just logical and preferable, is also is consistent.

Radical Ad Hoc Readjustment

While some have felt the need to radically readjust Christian views (modern, ultra-liberal Christians), there is no need to nor is there any such readjustment in orthodox Christianity.[22] [23] In fact, the very concept of orthodoxy resists any such readjustment. The goal of many thoughtful theologians is how we can incorporate new information into orthodoxy not radically readjust our views. In many ways consistency is what is needed in this troubled world and Christianity can be that answer, but there is one more question to analyze in Christianity.

Simpler Explanations Are Better Than Complex Ones

Is Christianity simpler? Though this may seem like “cheating” the Christian worldview can actually give the simplest explanation of all, “God did it.” However, clearly that answer can be a discussion-killer and need not be used for everything or indeed anything. In fact, this is a common criticism of Christianity, that it relies solely on a God-of-the-gaps explanation for everything. However, this is unnecessary as God has given us enough information and we can coherently combine that information with natural studies to come to logical and coherent views of virtually every facet of human existence. We might not know how God did it, but we can easily infer that God did it and that is the only explanation that can cover all the facts.

Summary of Evaluation

While secular humanism failed in every aspect of evaluation, Christianity has passed and passed with flying colors. As Christ said that He had come that we “may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10, NASB)[24] As part of that abundant life Christians have explanations for all the important facets of life, logical consistency, existential consistency, stability, and simpler explanations that deal with what they must deal with to be worthwhile explanations. There are, of course, arguments against Christianity and it is to those one must turn next.

Defense of Christianity

Problem of Evil

One of the most popular and in some ways difficult to answer criticism of Christianity (and theism in general) is the problem of evil. However, as Craig and others have shown Christianity’s answer to the problem of evil is superior in every way to secular humanism and indeed every other worldview. Although secular humanism gives no account for what it means to be evil at all, and secular humanism must rely on moral relativism which is a self-defeating view of morality, Christianity has no such problem. Under secular humanism nothing is actually right or wrong if there is no objective ontology for moral truth. The secular humanist view is that humans are the sole source for what is evil and the sole judge of what is evil, then what is evil today at one point was not evil at all. What is good today may someday become evil. This inconsistency is particularly clear in the moral problem of evil, but with the natural problem of evil is it also true. For the secular humanist, there is no evil in nature. In fact, without death and disease in nature evolutionary progress is impossible. On the other hand, Christianity has a knock-down argument concerning the existence of evil: “1. If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist. 2. Evil exists. 3. Therefore, objective moral values exist (some things are evil!). 4. Therefore, God exists.”[25] Christianity takes the so-called problem of evil and makes it an argument for God. That is because if God does not exist, then objective morality and evil would not exist. Therefore, there really is no problem of evil for the Christian. At least not philosophically. There is an existential version of the problem of evil. That version is about degrees of evil. The problem there is in subjectivity. The existential version asks why there is so much evil in the world if there is a good God who could stop it. However, this fails because it is impossible to define how much is too much evil. Also, when exploring how God could eradicate evil without causing evil or removing free will there is no good answer. That is just one argument for God, there are others that one can look to that make the existence of God and the truth of Christianity more secure.

Arguments for the Existence of God

First, the cosmological argument (Craig espouses what he calls the Kalam cosmological argument): “1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. 2. The universe began to exist. 3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.”[26] Next logically follows concerning the universe and how it is arranged. The teleological argument can be phrased: “1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either law, chance, or design. 2. It is not due to law or chance. 3. Therefore, it is due to design.”[27] These two arguments taken together do not get to the truth of the Christian worldview. However, the absolutely essential argument for the Resurrection of Christ will put the nail in the doubting coffin.[28] There is not space to go through all the parts of the arguments here but the basics are simple. There are no alternative explanations for the Resurrection. The various alternate explanations have been defeated in various ways and in various locations.[29] There is much more to be said about the arguments for God but those three and the turned-on-its-head argument from evil are more than enough to establish the reasonableness of the Christian worldview.

Defense of Objective Truth and Moral Values

Before concluding, a short word should be said about truth with regards to the Christian worldview. Objective truth and moral values can only be found in theistic worldviews and Christianity gives the most coherent version of this. In dualistic worldviews the idea fails because they allow a space for an equivalently-powered being to contradict the “good” version of God in every way. If there are two equally-powered beings, one good and one bad, one could never know if the revelation one is receiving is from the good version of god or the bad. However, Christianity offers a consistent position that God in his ultimate goodness and authority is the sole ontological source for objective truth and moral truths.

Conclusion

Clearly, with the abject failure of secular humanism and the success of the Christian worldview one is only left with one remaining question, “What should you do if Christianity is true?” The only reasonable answer seems to be to embrace Christ. Once one does so, one “in Christ, is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17b) There is new life and as mentioned before, life abundant. If Christianity is true why not embrace it? Truth the ultimate goal of this paper. If one has found “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6) in Christ, one only has repentance and acceptance remaining to join the family of Christianity.

Footnotes:

[1] Douglas R. Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011), 75.

[2] Ibid., 53-60.

[3] "Definition of Humanism," American Humanist Association, accessed December 14, 2018, https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/definition-of-humanism/.

[4] Marc Kreidler, "What Is Secular Humanism?" Ingersoll Biography - Council for Secular Humanism, August 16, 2018, accessed December 14, 2018, https://secularhumanism.org/what-is-secular-humanism/.

[5] Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design (Place of Publication Not Identified: Transworld Digital, 2015).

[6] Agarthas888, Cosmos 1 - "The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean,” December 18, 2017, accessed December 14, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCc7ZJjHiM.

[7] Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (London: Black Swan, 2012), 2.

[8] Helen Longino, "The Social Dimensions of Scientific Knowledge," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, April 12, 2002, accessed December 14, 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-knowledge-social/.

[9] James E. Taylor, "The New Atheists," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed December 14, 2018, https://www.iep.utm.edu/n-atheis/. The section of this article entitled “Works About the New Atheism” has a high quality selection of apologetic responses to New Atheists in particular and secular humanism in general.

[10] An interesting side note is that, as Bush states, in the secular world humans are losing their humanness.

[11] L. Russ Bush, The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 33.

[12] Harris, The Moral Landscape 2.

[13] Daniel C. Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster 1996).

[14] Harris, The Moral Landscape 1.

[15] Also, in many ways these cannot be studied by science, which is secular humanism’s sole arbiter of truth.

[16] Bush, The Advancement 54.

[17] Stephen J. Williams, What Your Atheist Professor Doesn't Know (But Should). (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013), 32.

[18] Frank Turek, Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2015).

[19] Ibid., 92.

[20] S.W Hawking et al., Brief Answers to the Big Questions (London: John Murray, 2018), 47.

[21] William Lane Craig, On Guard Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision (Colorado Springs, Co.: Cook, 2010), Foreword and elsewhere.

[22] John C. Lennox, Seven Days That Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 15. This first chapter of Lennox’s book draws an interesting parallel between the Copernican revolution of the moving earth and possible readings/understandings of the “days” of creation in Genesis.

[23] Bush, The Advancement 55.

[24] All Scripture references will be in New American Standard unless otherwise noted.

[25] William Lane Craig, On Guard Chapter 7.

[26] William Lane Craig, On Guard Chapter 4.

[27] Stephen J. Williams, What Your Atheist Professor 123. This text also has the most impressive listing of delicately balanced constants of the universe for life to exist.

[28] Douglas R. Groothuis, Christian Apologetics 529.

[29] Lee Strobel and Jane Vogel, The Case for Christ: A Journalists Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017).

Bibliography

Agarthas888. Cosmos 1 - "The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean.” December 18, 2017. Accessed December 14, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCc7ZJjHiM.

Beckwith, Francis, and Gregory Koukl. Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-air. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.

Bush, L. Russ. The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003.

Craig, William Lane. On Guard Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. Colorado Springs, Co.: Cook, 2010.

Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. London: Black Swan, 2016.

"Definition of Humanism." American Humanist Association. Accessed December 14, 2018. https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/definition-of-humanism/.

Dennett, Daniel C. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Dillahunty, Matt. YouTube. October 05, 2016. Accessed December 14, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKlycI9ZKsY.

Grayling, A. C. The Good Book: A Humanist Bible. New York: Walker &, 2014.

Groothuis, Douglas R. Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011.

Harris, Sam. The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values. London: Transworld Publishers, 2012.

________. Waking up a Guide to Spirituality without Religion. London: Black Swan, 2015.

Hawking, S.W, Eddie Redmayne, Kip S. Thorne, and Lucy Hawking. Brief Answers to the Big Questions. London: John Murray, 2018.

Hitchens, Christopher. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. London: Atlantic Books, 2017.

Kreidler, Marc. "What Is Secular Humanism?" Ingersoll Biography - Council for Secular Humanism. August 16, 2018. Accessed December 14, 2018. https://secularhumanism.org/what-is-secular-humanism/.

Lennox, John C. Seven Days That Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.

Longino, Helen. "The Social Dimensions of Scientific Knowledge." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. April 12, 2002. Accessed December 14, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-knowledge-social/.

Plantinga, Alvin. Warranted Christian Belief. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Russell, Bertrand. Why I Am Not a Christian; An Examination of the God-Idea and Christianity. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Jullius Company, 1929.

ScienceToday. YouTube. May 21, 2017. Accessed December 14, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=711VklH-4fA.

Strobel, Lee, and Jane Vogel. The Case for Christ: A Journalists Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017.

Taylor, James E. "The New Atheists." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed December 14, 2018. https://www.iep.utm.edu/n-atheis/.

Turek, Frank. Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2015.

Williams, Stephen J. What Your Atheist Professor Doesn't Know (But Should). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.

Faith and Reason in Christianity

Much like the previous entry, I'm sharing some essays I've written for my classes. This is one that I wrote for an apologetics class.

Introduction

The word “faith” has had a difficult run the past few years. What with so-called “New Atheists” and typical internet activist atheists battering and changing the word to mean what they want it to mean, namely, blind faith.[1] Christians need to shake off the anti-intellectualism that has taken root in the Church in order to meet those kinds of challenges.[2] The Christian faith is completely different than what its adversaries make it out to be. Unfortunately, many Christians also struggle to define faith properly, and with an inadequate understanding of faith there is no hope for the anti-intellectual Christian to properly balance faith with reason. Therefore, before discussing the role of reason and the balance of reason with faith in Christianity, one must first understand faith itself. Then, after a thorough understanding of faith then one can proceed to attempt a balance, and lastly, this discussion must turn to applying these ideas in local churches and around the world.

Defining Faith - Introduction

With so many wrong ideas out there on both sides, what really is Christian faith? In some ways trying to nail down a definition of faith, even among Christians, is difficult. What is particularly difficult about this is reading detractors of Christianity. Atheists, particularly Boghossian, and the like want to use one particular definition of faith.[3] Are these valid definitions? Should Christians allow the opponents of Christianity to define faith? The definition of Christian faith includes three facets: a cognitive component, how faith means to believe certain things about God; a relational component, how faith is a type of trust in God based on beliefs; and a behavioral component, the response in faith to God. These three components come together to defy how opponents of Christianity define faith. Though these three together are a much more reasonable understanding of how Christians have and exercise faith, it is the relational component, faith that is more akin to trust, is the most important of the three.

Defining Faith - Cognitive Component

The cognitive component of faith is probably what most non-Christians and non-philosophical Christians think of when they think of faith. It fits with Boghossian’s redefinition somewhat in that this is about epistemology.[4] This idea of faith could also be called the doxastic theory of faith.[5] That theory is defended in many places but do those positions truly represent the Christian faith fairly? Malcom and Scott’s critiques of non-doxastic views of faith, which this paper will support, all seem to fall flat.[6] Their critique of “the argument from doubt” seems to not take the position seriously. Their critique of “the argument from linguistic data” has the same problem. It does matter how people use the word. If one consistently uses the word faith to reference a sincere trust in something for which they have some, little, or no evidence for, does have an important bearing on the meaning of faith. Then when critiquing “the argument from pragmatic faith,” though they describe the idea fairly well, they straw-man the idea, offering a syllogism that seems like one that no supporter of non-doxastic faith views would support:

[1] Pragmatic faith is faith.

[2] Pragmatic faith is not constituted by belief.

[3] So, faith is not constituted by belief.[7]

Clearly, this is a viciously circular argument for pragmatic faith that no proponent of a pragmatic view of faith would support. The next critique offered relies on there being imposter faithful. But, what does the possibility of imposters have to do with those that claim to have faith that is more like trust? The possibility of imposters does not detract from the actual faithful. The possibility of imposters only effects our ability to distinguish truly faithful from the fakes, not the actual existence of faith based on something other than mere belief. Though Malcom and Scott claim to be supporting a “belief-plus” paradigm of faith, they treat every argument for the non-doxastic theory of faith as belief only. Also, the paper even admits that they are only concerned with “faith that” ideas, ignoring “faith in” ideas.[8] Craig uses a different phrasing, but the concept is similar. He uses the difference “. . . between knowing Christianity to be true and showing Christianity to be true.”[9] In knowing Christianity to be true we can trust (used somewhat ironically there) the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, by which, Craig here references but seems to agree with Plantinga that the witness improves upon the sensus divinitatis.[10] What then is the conclusion for this component? The key here is the word, “component.” The Christian faith is multi-faceted and this is only one part and not even the most important part.

Defining Faith - Relational Component

Having looked at the epistemological ideas behind what many think of as faith, it is important to turn to the relational component of faith, which is trusting in God based on what one believes. One thing that sits strongly in favor of the Christian view of faith as “trust” is that the online dictionary lists “belief and trust in and loyalty to God” (emphasis added) as one of the first definitions. In fact, if one consults the dictionary provided automatically (by Google) one sees it as even more supportive of this view, “complete trust or confidence in someone or something” as the first definition given.[11] Though it is encouraging to read articles like Buchak’s “Can it be Rational to Have Faith?” even there she admits too much of the epistemological side of faith, wherein she says that “. . . faith seems to involve going beyond the evidence in some way.”[12] Unlike the Malcom and Scott essay, Buchak at least allows for more than just belief. Also, unlike the Malcom and Scott’s essay where non-doxastic faith was circular and irrational, Buchak’s position is that faith can be rational. Faith, to be rational, must be “based on a large amount of evidence.”[13] To take it one step further down the route toward a non-doxastic view of faith, Katherine Dormandy’s paper presents faith as primarily evidence-seeking.[14] Dormandy’s analysis of the story of Job is particularly interesting because Job is often taken as an example of blind faith. However, Job does seek some support for his faith and he is driven to worship God because he rationally believes that God is good and just.[15] Dormandy’s article expertly dismantles a common theme with Christians as Christianity has gone down the road of anti-intellectualism.[16] More and more Christians are thinking less and feeling more. Seeing faith as seeking evidence is a great way turn the tide against anti-intellectualism. This component of faith, even taken alone, is the closest to seeing faith as a strong synonym to trust, which is really the way Christianity uses the word. It is still one component if it is the most important, so there is one more component to consider before closing.

Defining Faith - Behavioral Component

Faithfulness in one’s response to God is the final component, the behavioral component of faith. Daniel Howard-Snyder’s article about propositional faith defines this well, “Propositional faith is not a proposition, state of affairs, process, or journey; it's an attitude, an attitude that is not to be identified with knowledge or assent; it need not be based on authority or testimony, and it need not involve certainty, eagerness, generation by an act of will, or entrusting one's welfare to someone.”[17] This attitude of propositional faith, the behavioral component, is longstanding. It can face adversity and doubts.[18] Given one’s faith (that is, trust) in God, how does Howard-Snyder’s syllogism end if the proposition is “God exists”? (S = subject) If the subject believes that God exists, then, given the Subject’s goals, aversions, and other cognitive stances, the subject will tend to act in appropriate ways.[19] This component is one of attitude, not belief and not relational in nature. Of course, that does not mean that the Christian faith is one of these components at the expense of the other.

Defining Faith - Conclusions

The worst mistake one can make is pigeon-holing Christian faith into one of the components mentioned in this essay. The Christian faith is all of these components and more. One would do well to take a page out of Hegel’s dialectics and take these seemingly opposing components and synthesize them together.[20] Perhaps it would be easier to say what the Christian faith is not. It is not: the absence of doubt, mere belief (pure doxastic faith), merely relational, or merely behavioral. None of these components are sufficient on their own. They must be put together and lived out. False caricatures of faith like those presented by Boghossian and other opponents of Christianity.[21] This is only one side of the equation, next is reason.

Defining the Christians’ Use of Reason

On the one hand, reason is fairly easily defined as properly applying logic and right thinking.[22] Being reasonable is rightly applying logic and rational thought to various issues. One cannot think rationally without first studying logic and philosophy. The use of reason does not diminish one’s faith. Indeed, as one can see in the behavioral component of defining the Christian faith, faith is closer to trust than the epistemic concept of faith. Christian faith is truly non-doxastic. The Christian faith, is not merely belief, it is trust and obedience to Christ. Therefore, one must exercise one’s reason to have faith. Reason is an exercise that one must practice. It cannot simply be learned; it must be applied. There are many ways to learn and practice one’s reasoning skills. There are online courses available for free that teach the basics of philosophical thought and reason, and the best way to apply the lessons learned is to go out and meet with and dialogue with others about one’s thoughts, beliefs, and ideas.[23] Engaging others in dialogue is another important part of building and exercising one’s reason. That can also be done for free and through numerous online resources. The easiest of which is social media. Particularly, there is the high-quality Christian Apologetics Alliance Facebook page where one can meet with other reason-oriented Christian apologist and discuss defending the faith reasonably.[24] These are just some of the ways one can exercise one’s reason with regards to Christianity, but how does one balance just using reason and faith? That is where this paper turns next.

Balancing Reason and Faith

The issue here is how can one balance reason and faith in one’s worship of God. Unfortunately, this is this not a regular practice and well understood throughout Christianity. It is not common in many Christian churches, at least not in the U.S. Midwest. In a typical church in the U.S. Midwest one will probably not hear anything about apologetics or the use of one’s reason in worship regularly if at all. How many churches recommend reading works like C. S. Lewis’ masterwork, Mere Christianity or Geisler and Turek’s I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist? This is not to say that every member of every church need be educated to the level of a Master’s of Divinity in Christian Apologetics. It is saddening that this kind of introductory apologetic education not a regular part of church education. Pastors and other church leaders do not (typically) discourage reason or apologetics, but there is generally little to no interest in apologetic teaching/learning. Churches can incorporate apologetics into both sermons and general church educational programs. But, so far, this is a huge failure of the Church today; apologetics should be an important part of every church’s educational programs, particularly for young people.

Christ’s admonishes all His followers to, “… love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30, NASB)[25]. This is something that is sorely missing from the typical Western church today. So, not only has the Church failed in loving Christ with their minds and teaching they have failed to heed 1 Peter 3:15 and give a defense for the faith. On the one hand, one might understand some reticence to study or encourage the study of philosophy/apologetics. However, it seems like so many churches have overemphasized a misunderstanding of Colossians 2:8 and overemphasized an emotional response to Christ.

As Wolterstorff mentions the condemnation of Galileo and the Copernican view of the solar system as, “the most famous instance of the Church's scrutiny of the affairs of natural science.”[26] This wording could be improved and made stronger as this is the most infamous example of the Church’s insertion of itself into the affairs of natural science. In many ways the Church has never really recovered from this ignominy. Indeed, the age of the earth debate within the Church is the modern age’s Copernican model debate; Professor John Lennox’s text, Seven Days That Divide the World makes this very point.[27] Because the Church is suffering from anti-intellectualism it seems that the Church has backed itself into a corner over the issue of the age of the earth. People have even gone as far as to make this the only issue in science and philosophy worth engaging. The Church needs to be given an apologetic for learning and teaching apologetics. This can be the first, and most important step in balancing reason and faith. Of course, this is not the only way the Church can balance reason and faith, but it is most certainly the most important first part of a never-ending discussion within the Church about the relationship between faith and reason. Apologetics and philosophical study in general, can give us a way to balance critical thought and faith. It is also through such studies that one can increase in one’s faith because knowing Christianity is true can increase one’s trust in Christ, that is, one’s faith.

Conclusions and Application

How can we apply this balancing act? Well, my personal goal is directly related to how I want to use my MDiv degree. I and my classmates can be the change we want to see in churches everywhere. I personally want to be a chaplain in the armed forces and then a pastor who uses, teaches, preaches, and encourages philosophical inquiry, apologetics, and other ways to love God with our minds. I have started some of this as a layman in the church. To do this I have taught a book study on Koukl’s superb text, Tactics. It is such an important and practical text for Christian apologetics and evangelism that encourages questions and seeking the truth. It is so important that I recommend every church study and teach such a practical text about loving God with your mind and using your mind to reach the lost. There is also a need more books that teach and encourage Christians to use their minds to defend the faith and reach the lost with reason.

Footnotes:

[1] Peter G. Boghossian, A Manual for Creating Atheists (Durham, NC: Pitchstone Publishing, 2013), Chapter 2. Also clearly exhibited by atheist Aron Ra in this debate: The Bible and Beer Consortium, YouTube, June 28, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQBFY1z_RvI&t=5882s.

[2] James Porter Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind the Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul (United States: Navigators, 2014).

[3] Boghossian defines faith in his own special way as, “Belief without evidence” and “Pretending to know things you don’t know.” Boghossian, A Manual for Creating Atheists, Chapter 2.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Finlay Malcolm and Michael Scott, "Faith, Belief and Fictionalism," Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 98 (2016): , doi:10.1111/papq.12169.

[6] Finlay Malcolm and Michael Scott, "Faith, Belief and Fictionalism."

[7] Ibid., 267.

[8] Ibid., 271. This is in note #1. It seems very odd that they would chose to write and even admit this. Basically the paper ignores what many consider the more important concept of “faith,” that is, faith in something/someone rather that faith that something will happen or someone will do or is such-and-such.

[9] William Lane. Craig, Reasonable Faith - Christian Truth and Apologetics (Intervarsity Press, 2008), 43.

[10] Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith, 42 and James Porter Moreland and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017), 141-155. The whole chapter is a study on religious epistemology and includes Plantinga’s use of sensus divinitatis.

[11] "Faith," Merriam-Webster, accessed June 8, 2019, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith. And "Faith," Google Search, accessed June 8, 2019, https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&q=Dictionary#dobs=faith.

[12] Lara Buchak, "Can It Be Rational to Have Faith?" Probability in the Philosophy of Religion, 2019, 227, doi:10.1002/9781119420828.ch8.

[13] Ibid., 246.

[14] Katherine Dormandy, "Evidence-Seeking as an Expression of Faith," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 92, no. 3 (2018): doi:10.5840/acpq2018514154.

[15] Ibid., 416.

[16] James Porter Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind the Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul (United States: Navigators, 2014).

[17] Daniel Howard-Snyder, "Propositional Faith: What It Is and What It Is Not," American Philosophical Quarterly 50, no. 4 (2013): 359. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24475353.

[18] Ibid., 358.

[19] Taken from Daniel Howard-Snyder, "Propositional Faith . . .” 359; altered to fit the proposition that God exists.

[20] Julie E. Maybee, "Hegel's Dialectics," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, June 03, 2016, accessed June 8, 2019, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel-dialectics/.

[21] Boghossian, A Manual for Creating Atheists.

[22] My own definition combined from various places.

[23] Some quality resources would be on https://www.coursera.org/ and numerous philosophical and educational YouTube channels. There are numerous other free resources online, one only need to search for them.

[24] The link to that group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/caalliance/ in order to join one must answer some questions about one’s faith and assent to following the group guidelines.

[25] Unless otherwise noted, Scripture references will be taken from the New American Standard Bible.

[26] Wolterstorff, Nicolas (2018). Reason within the Bounds of Religion (p. 16). Wordsearch. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.com.

[27] John C. Lennox, Seven Days That Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).

Bibliography

Boghossian, Peter G. A Manual for Creating Atheists. Durham, NC: Pitchstone Publishing, 2013.

Buchak, Lara. “Can It Be Rational to Have Faith?” Probability in the Philosophy of Religion, 2012, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604760.003.0012.

Consortium, The Bible and Beer. YouTube. June 28, 2019. Accessed July 2, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQBFY1z_RvI&t=5882s.

Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith - Christian Truth and Apologetics. Intervarsity Press, 2008.

Dormandy, Katherine. "Evidence-Seeking as an Expression of Faith." American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 92, no. 3 (2018): 409-28. doi:10.5840/acpq2018514154.

"Faith." Google Search. Accessed July 2, 2019. https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&q=Dictionary#dobs=faith.

"Faith." Merriam-Webster. Accessed July 2, 2019. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith.

Howard-Snyder, Daniel. "Propositional Faith: What It Is and What It Is Not." American Philosophical Quarterly 50, no. 4 (2013): 357-72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24475353.

Lennox, John C. Seven Days That Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.

Malcolm, Finlay., and Scott, Michael. (2017) Faith, Belief and Fictionalism. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 98: 257– 274. doi: 10.1111/papq.12169.

Maybee, Julie E. "Hegel's Dialectics." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. July 2, 2016. Accessed June 8, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel-dialectics/.

Moreland, J. P. Love Your God with All Your Mind the Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul. United States: Navigators, 2014.

Moreland, J. P., and William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017.

Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Reason within the Bounds of Religion. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2009.

Christian Apologetics in the Early Church

Since I haven't written anything here for a VERY long time and I'm taking a break from classes and I thought I'd share a couple essays I wrote for my previous classes. This first one is a research paper I submitted for my History of Christianity class a while back.

Introduction

The apologetic arguments of the early and medieval church fathers are still useful today. This short paper will discuss some of the history of the early and medieval church fathers as apologists and some of their major arguments and how modern apologists can use those arguments still today. This paper will go through Justin Martyr, Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas; concentrating on these writings: Martyr’s First and Second Apology, Augustine’s Confessions, Anselm’s Monologium, and Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. In these works, some arguments are no longer used, some are still in use, and some should be revived. This paper will attempt to show that there are various arguments and styles that historical apologists used that have fallen out of style but should be revived. Some of these are specific arguments and some are styles. Modern apologists are removed from the Church Fathers not only in time but in desires, thoughts, attitudes, and arguments. These trends are some things that should be changed in modern apologetics.

Justin Martyr

As is appropriate this paper will open with the oldest of the Church Fathers that is well known for his apologetics, Justin Martyr (c. 100-165).1 Justin studied Greek philosophy including stoicism, Aristotelian philosophy, Pythagorean philosophy, and Platonism before becoming a Christian.2 However, as Lane says, “[Justin] was not just a Christian seeking to relate Christianity to Greek philosophy. He was a Greek who had come to see Christianity as the fulfillment of all that was best in philosophy, especially in Platonism.”3 This is reminiscent of a great quote from a modern Christian philosopher, William Hasker, as he writes in his short book on Metaphysics, “[I am] a Christian who loves philosophy and would like to consider himself a philosopher; [I am] a philosopher who loves Jesus Christ and wants to be known as a disciple. A Christian first, a philosopher second—but neither one at the expense of the other.”4 This modern quote seems to reflect the ideas of Justin Martyr. Justin himself clearly held a high view of philosophy and Greek philosophers. In his first Apology, he references philosophy quite often and even writes a chapter saying that Plato’s Timæus referenced the image of the cross from the Old Testament story of Moses and the serpent lifted up in the desert.5 How well this works as an argument is not so clear. However, Justin does write quite a bit in defense of Christians that were being unfairly mistreated. Justin countered ideas like how Christians were called atheists, and he argues that Christianity is the true philosophy.6 One of the key points that can be clearly seen in Justin’s “short” works (the first and second Apologies) is his extensive use of non-Christian writings and thoughts. He is not afraid to reference various Greek writings. If anything, he seems to like co-opting Greek philosophers in his writing. It seems that most modern apologetics works use Greek terminology, but do not often reference Greek or other non-Christian writing to co-opt them into their writings. Modern apologists could do well to use the philosophy of non-Christian writers against them. Christianity does have the most consistent philosophy and modern apologetics writers would do well to emphasize that and demonstrate it using both biblical arguments and non-Christian philosophy.

Augustine

Augustine (Bishop of Hippo) lived about 189 years after Justin had died (354-430)7 and is probably one of the most famous of the Early Church Fathers to this day.8 Augustine studied Neo-Platonism and became a Christian after following Manicheism for a time and was a prolific writer over a wide range of subjects.9 His most famous work, Confessions, is a somewhat dense autobiographical work that starts with his childhood in book one and progressing through his life and confessions/theology to book thirteen.10 Like Justin, Augustine seemed happy to incorporate certain (Greek) philosophical ideas into his own. And, he wrote of his struggles using Neo-Platonic thoughts and terminology.11 These influences may or may not have been a good thing, but Augustine and others that were influenced by Greek philosophy still seem devoted to building their theology on the Bible. Augustine’s apologetic writing is as varied as his theological works are, but his famous line, “Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee”12 is an early version of C. S. Lewis’ argument from desire. “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”13 Also, Augustine’s view that evil is “nothing but a privation of good,” is a kind of answer to the “problem of evil.”14 Augustine also referenced Romans 1 as a kind of cosmological argument.15 The lessons of Augustine are less in the form of what he writes about, rather in how he writes. Augustine’s writings are very personal in nature. Augustine also quotes the Bible very often. Many modern apologetics texts tend to not reference the Bible hardly at all. So, modern apologetics writers ought to follow Augustine’s example in how he writes from personal experience and how he utilizes biblical arguments throughout his work.

Anselm

Anselm has somewhat of a bad reputation among many apologists today as he was one of the first, and certainly the most famous for using, the “ontological argument.” Anselm lived in the early 11th century (c. 1033-1109) and wrote creatively as the Bishop of Canterbury.16 As mentioned above his most famous argument comes in the form of the ontological argument. The argument, found in the Monologion:

[A]ll other goods are good through another being than that which they themselves are, and this being alone is good through itself. Hence, this alone is supremely good, which is alone good through itself. For it is supreme, in that it so surpasses other beings, that it is neither equalled nor excelled. But that which is supremely good is also supremely great. There is, therefore, some one being which is supremely good, and supremely great, that is, the highest of all existing beings.17

This argument has been reworded, reformatted, and argued by multiple writers since Anselm penned it. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy lists such writers as “St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Gassendi, Spinoza, Malebranche, Locke, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, … Charles Hartshorne, Etienne Gilson, Maurice Blondel, Martin Heidegger, Karl Barth, Norman Malcolm, and Alvin Plantinga.”18 Unfortunately, though that is an impressive list of writers, it is not considered a very good argument by many apologists today. Many think of the ontological argument as defining God into existence. And, though that is a fair critique, others, most notably Alvin Plantinga, have revived the argument with some success. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online) has an entire article devoted to this argument that often references Plantinga’s version.19 It is the position of this paper that apologists have too long ignored this argument, which in its own way also reflects the ideas expressed in Romans 1. All people actually know intuitively that God exists and this argument can move other arguments into the realm of possibility. It can establish the idea that belief in God is reasonable, because after all it is possible that there is a “Best Being” (God), to use the term “good” that Anselm uses, and if it is possible that such a being exists, then it is at least reasonable that it be so. This argument can be used as a stepping stone. If one can get a skeptic to at least admit that it is possible for such a being to exist, then one can move on to other arguments like the cosmological arguments, which were very popular for the next apologist this paper will discuss.

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, who lived from 1224-1274, is well known for his use of Aristotelian philosophy.20 This may be a weakness of Aquinas because critics of Christianity often say that it is unduly influenced by various Greek philosophers and there are even some Christians who disagree with the Greek influences and refuse to listen to anything written by such theologians because they deem them unbiblical in their reliance on Greek philosophy.21 Aquinas was so enamored with Aristotle that he took to simply calling him “the Philosopher.”22 Aristotle not only heavily influences Aquinas, but Aquinas heavily referenced the writings of Anselm and Augustine (though not always agreeing with them).23 He was and still is revered, particularly by Roman Catholics, as the best philosopher/theologian/apologist of his time, perhaps of all time.24 Undoubtedly, Aquinas’ most famous and influential apologetics work is in his “five ways.”25 The "first way:"

It is certain, and evident to our senses, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is in motion is put in motion by another, for nothing can be in motion except it is in potentiality to that towards which it is in motion; whereas a thing moves inasmuch as it is in act. For motion is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality. … It is therefore impossible that in the same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e. that it should move itself. Therefore, whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another. If that by which it is put in motion be itself put in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover; seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are put in motion by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is put in motion by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.26

This is just the "first way" and each of the other arguments are just as powerful. They each deal with different aspects of the universe, so they could be taken together as all cosmological arguments. The "second way" deals with efficient causes (again using Aristotelian terminology); the "third way" deals with the nature of being and not being; the "fourth way" deals with the gradation of goodness in everything (somewhat similar to Anselm’s ontological argument); and the "fifth way" is an argument from design.27 What can one learn from Aquinas’ apologetics? Clearly, there is a ring of confidence in the way Aquinas writes. So, perhaps the best point to learn from Aquinas is his tone. He writes as one having authority, interestingly, as Jesus was described (Matt. 7:29 and Mark 1:22).

Lessons

The lessons we can learn from these great masters are too many and too powerful for this short paper to express. However, let us try to sum them up here. Justin Martyr has a few weaknesses. His weaknesses are not born out of his inabilities or anything like that; it is just that he was writing to a different audience in a different time period. In fact, when he was living/writing the canon had not even been established yet.28 Justin’s weaknesses are that he appeals almost exclusively to the Scriptures to make arguments. But, this is also a strength. Modern apologists have been drawn to a style the reflects that of Aquinas, who relies more on philosophical argument to make apologetic points.  But, Augustine is not without his weaknesses as well. He had an unfortunate emphasis on Church authority that Counter-Reformers latched on to, as well as a view of faith-leading-to-salvation that Reformers admired.29 Perhaps the best lesson in that is for modern apologists to be careful not to espouse overly contradictory views. Regardless, Augustine’s candor and self-reflection are things that modern apologetic writing would do well to emulate. When one comes to Anselm there is much to be said (indeed much has been said), but one of his weaknesses could be that his work is dense; it is nearly impenetrable. It takes scholarly work well beyond the scope of this short paper to truly understand even small parts of this master’s work. Despite being opaque with difficult phrasing Anselm certainly has a powerful apologetic tool in the ontological argument. Modern apologists should follow Plantinga as he follows Anselm in pushing this argument as a starting point. Lastly, this paper explored some of Thomas Aquinas’ work and it is certainly tough to find a weakness here. Perhaps the only one, as has already been mentioned, is Aquinas’ near infatuation with Aristotle. Aquinas’ style of authority is certainly to be respected and emulated, but there is a danger in speaking too authoritatively as well. That style can push away people seeking God. Yes, as previously mentioned, Aquinas’ strength is his confidence, but that strength can be a liability. It can push people away.

Conclusion

This paper is too short to contain all that is needed to really make the point expressed in the introduction. However, it should be clear that these four and many other major Christian Church thinkers/apologists/theologians of the past should still be studied today. There is much we can still learn from these masters. That is indeed why they are often referred to as “masters.” This paper on Justin Martyr, Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas is just the tip of the iceberg concerning Church history with regards to apologetics. It is great thinkers like these that should encourage all of us to do our research and learn from these masters as they have learned from the Master.

Notes:

1 Robert C. Walton, Chronological and Background Charts of Church History (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005) Chart 1.

2 Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007), 10.

3 Ibid., 10.

4 William Hasker, Metaphysics: Constructing a World View (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Pr., 1989), 25.

5 Justin Martyr, The Apologies of Justin Martyr, trans. Rev. Alexander Roberts, and James Donaldson, Suzeteo Enterprises), Kindle Locations 1038-1054.

6 "3. A Brief History of Apologetics," Bible.org, accessed July 10, 2018, https://bible.org/seriespage/brief-history-apologetics.

7 Walton, Chronological and Background Charts, Chart 1.

8 Lane, A Concise History, 47.

9 "3. A Brief History of Apologetics."

10 A concise summary and the full text of each book can be found here: "The Confessions," Catholic Encyclopedia: Miguel Hidalgo, accessed July 10, 2018, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1101.htm.

11 Mark A. Noll, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 85.

12 Augustine and E. B. Pusey, The Confessions of St. Augustine (No publisher information), Kindle Edition, 1,

13 C. S. Lewis, The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 2007), 58.

14 Augustine, The Confessions, 20.

15 "3. A Brief History of Apologetics."

16 Walton, Chronological and Background Charts, Chart 1.

17 Anselm of Canterbury, Monologium, (The Fig Classic Series, 2012), Kindle Locations 72-75.

18 Greg Sadler, "Anselm of Canterbury," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed July 10, 2018, https://www.iep.utm.edu/anselm/.

19 Graham Oppy, "Ontological Arguments," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, February 12, 2016, accessed July 10, 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/.

20 Walton, Chronological and Background Charts, Chart 1.

21 This observation is based on years of interacting with various believers and unbelievers on social media platforms about theology and philosophy, and some of the comments in this article: Paul Vincent Spade, "Medieval Philosophy," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, March 15, 2016, accessed July 10, 2018, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-philosophy/.

22 This series of lectures from Recorded Books give a very thorough treatment of Aquinas’ philosophy: Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas Course Guide (Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2009), 38.

23 Ibid., 7.

24 Ibid., 6.

25 "3. A Brief History of Apologetics," As the footnote on that page says there is an abundance of literature written about the “five ways.” There is no way to capture all of that here.

26 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (Complete & Unabridged) (Coyote Canyon Press.), Kindle, 10.

27 Kreeft, The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, 17-19.

28 "3. A Brief History of Apologetics," though to be fair, this is true of many of the Early Church Fathers.

29 Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought, 47-48.

Bibliography

Anselm of Canterbury. Monologium. The Fig Classic Series. Kindle, 2012.

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica (Complete & Unabridged). Coyote Canyon Press. Kindle.

Augustine. The Confessions of St. Augustine, trans. Edward Bouverie Pusey. No publisher information available. Kindle.

"The Confessions." Catholic Encyclopedia: Miguel Hidalgo. Accessed July 10, 2018. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1101.htm.

Hasker, William. Metaphysics: Constructing a World View. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Pr., 1989.

Kreeft, Peter. The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas Course Guide. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2009.

Lane, Tony. A Concise History of Christian Thought. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.

Lewis, C. S. The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 2007.

Martyr, Justin. The Apologies of Justin Martyr, trans. Rev. Alexander Roberts, and James Donaldson, Suzeteo Enterprises. Kindle.

Noll, Mark A. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012.

Oppy, Graham. "Ontological Arguments." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. February 12, 2016. Accessed July 10, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/.

Sadler, Greg. “Anselm of Canterbury.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed July 10, 2018, https://www.iep.utm.edu/anselm/.

Spade, Paul Vincent. “Medieval Philosophy.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. March 15, 2016. Accessed June 10, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-philosophy/.

Unknown Author. “3. A Brief History of Apologetics.” Bible.org. Accessed June 10, 2018. https://bible.org/seriespage/brief-history-apologetics.

Walton, Robert C. Chronological and Background Charts of Church History. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

Review of Bertrand Russell's Lecture "Why I am not a Christian" Part 2

Here we go again! Let's finish this. I started review/critiquing Bertrand Russell's lecture and I highly recommend that you read part one before continuing here. Without any more intro, let's jump right back in.

"The Moral Arguments for a Deity" -- His understanding of the argument is fairly rudimentary, but I agree with this first part, "One form is to say that there would be no right and wrong unless God existed." The way Dr. William Lane Craig phrases the argument is actually in the negative form: "If God does not exist, then objective moral values and duties do not exist. Objective moral values and duties do exist. Therefore, God does exist." So, his phrasing isn't a problem at the outset. Then he goes into this:

"I am not for the moment concerned with whether there is a difference between right and wrong, or whether there is not: that is another question. The point I am concerned with is that, if you are quite sure there is a difference between right and wrong, then you are then in this situation: is that difference due to God's fiat or is it not? If it is due to God's fiat, then for God himself there is no difference between right and wrong, and it is no longer a significant statement to say that God is good. If you are going to say, as theologians do, that God is good, you must then say that right and wrong have some meaning which is independent of God's fiat, because God's fiats are good and not bad independently of the mere fact that he made them. If you are going to say that, you will then have to say that it is not only through God that right and wrong came into being, but that they are in their essence logically anterior to God."

Here's the problem I have with this section. It's all stolen. It's basically a modern version of Plato's famous Euthyphro problem (often called the Euthyphro dilemma). To boil it down, either God commands goodness, or God is subject to goodness. This is a problem for the Christian making the moral argument because the crux of the issue is "objective moral values." If God commands goodness then is it "objective"? Russell doesn't have much more to say, other than it could very well be some other source of morality, he calls it a "superior deity." There are lots of good answers to the Euthyphro problem and I don't want today's issue to be as long as yesterday's so I'll merely point you to my two previous writings on the subject and this other post.

"The Argument For The Remedying Of Injustice" -- Here we come to what seems like the least invested of Russell's arguments. He says that, "they say, that the existence of God is required in order to bring justice into the world." The odd thing that doesn't make sense in this argument is I can't see where one can conclude, "therefore God exists." Maybe one might conclude, "therefore it'd be better if God existed." Essentially, we have a cruel world where is seems that bad people are rewarded and good people suffer. I don't see this as a very strong argument so Russell's critique is fair. He uses this analogy: "Supposing you got a crate of oranges that you opened, and you found all the top layer of oranges bad, you would not argue: 'The underneath ones must be good, so as to redress the balance.' You would say: 'Probably the whole lot is a bad consignment;' and that is really what a scientific person would argue about the universe." Even though I don't think the argument can conclude that God exists. I do think the existence of Heaven/Hell does make living more comfortable for the Christian. Think about it, if bad people are guaranteed to get their comeuppance, that could give some comfort to believers, but not necessarily.

Here is seems that Russell finally tips his hand. He says, "What really moves people to believe in God is not any intellectual argument at all. Most people believe in God because they have been taught from early infancy to do it, and that is the main reason. Then I think that the next most powerful reason is the wish for safety, a sort of feeling that there is a big brother who will look after you. That plays a very profound part in influencing people's desire for a belief in God." Basically, Russell seems to portray a level of omniscience here. Has he interviewed every believer ever? Interesting though, surely Russell knows of the Apostle Paul. Paul is well known as one of the most prolific Christian missionaries, and he certainly didn't seem to have a wish for safety. Paul lists the "safety" that he was enjoying as a Christian teacher in 2 Cor. 11:24-31. It's only the modern "prosperity gospel" teachers that really state that Christianity really brings a comfortable life. Still none of this concludes, God does not exist or even that God does exist. In fact, this is a textbook kind of genetic fallacy. Even if every Christian everywhere only believes in God because of emotional desires and because they were "taught from early infancy to do it," that doesn't mean that God does not exist. What does it matter why people believe in God?

"The Character of Christ" -- This series of arguments are, again, rather unconvincing to the existence of God, though they are aimed directly at Christianity. As I said in part one, if Christ isn't divine, then Christianity is worthless/false. This leads to an interesting conundrum though, because Russell freely admits that he just doesn't agree with some of the teachings of Christ. This whole bit is just Russell's opinion. Also, this is just Russell saying, in a sense, I don't like these teachings. This also wouldn't conclude, "Therefore, God does not exist." The best one could conclude is that Russell doesn't like the teaching of Jesus. He starts with the "turn the other cheek." But, he dismisses this by saying that it wasn't original to Christ. Does Russell really think that an itinerant rabbi in first century Israel would steal a teaching (or even know, without being divine)? This is a teaching that Russell says came from "Lao-Tse and Buddha some 500 or 600 years before Christ." Which is more reasonable, that Jesus simply taught this or that he somehow had access to Far Eastern thought and teaching centuries before the rest of the Western world? I guess this is just Russell complimenting Jesus' teaching, but then dismissing it because others have had similar teachings. Next he takes aim at, "'Judge not lest ye be judged.' That principle I do not think you would find was popular in the law courts of Christian countries. I have known in my time quite a number of judges who were very earnest Christians, and they none of them felt that they were acting contrary to Christian principles in what they did." So, Russell likes this teaching but has a problem with Christians following His teaching!? This, like so many other things in Russell's lecture, betrays a serious lack of logical reasoning. This is kind of like Russell saying that because Christian judges ignore Jesus' teachings, Jesus wasn't a good teacher. Clearly that is a total non-sequitur. One last thing that Russell likes, "Then there is one other maxim of Christ which I think has a great deal in it, but I do not find that it is very popular among some of our Christian friends. He says, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor." That is a very excel ent maxim, but, as I say, it is not much practiced. All these, I think, are good maxims, although they are a little difficult to live up to." Again I have to ask, what does this prove?

"Defects In Christ's Teaching" -- Here Russell falls in with some extremely outlandish views. "Historically, it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him, so that I am not concerned with the historical question, which is a very difficult one." Why would he go and say a silly think like the existence of Christ is doubtful? The existence of Jesus Christ is one of the best attested things in history. There is more textual evidence of the biographies of Jesus Christ (the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament) than there is anything else of that age. We have more evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ than is necessary to conclude that Jesus certainly existed. His first actual problem with Christ's teaching is, "[Jesus] certainly thought his second coming would occur in clouds of glory before the death of all the people who were living at that time. There are a great many texts that prove that." Here's the kicker for Jesus' supposed claim that His second coming would be soon. The key phrase in the passage is that certain things will not happen until "the Son of Man comes into His kingdom." What exactly does Jesus mean by "come into His kingdom"? Now, clearly some in the early Church thought this was true. However, Paul specifically taught early Christians at the church of Thessalonica that they need to not live lazy lives just waiting around for Christ to return. So, sure Christians in the early Church thought that Jesus was returning in their time, but just because people have misunderstood this teaching doesn't mean that it was false. One interesting point though, Russell quotes Jesus as saying, "Take no thought for the morrow," but like so many before, Russell is taking a verse out of context. But, here it's used to deceive. The context for Jesus instructing his followers to not worry about tomorrow is not in the context of the Second Coming.

"The Moral Problem" -- Russell now aims his criticism of Jesus' teaching to what he calls moral deficiencies. He says, "There is one very serious defect to my mind in “Christ's moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person that is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment." So, despite Russell previously saying that Christians don't have to believe in Hell to be Christians and that he's not going to criticize that view, he now says that Christ can't be moral if He teaches about Hell. Russell also seems to have a problem with how Christ speaks to those with whom He disagrees. He compares Jesus' harshness with Socrates, but again this is a misunderstanding of Christian theology. Jesus doesn't level criticism toward those that merely disagree with him. That's not what salvation in Christianity is about. You don't have to "agree" with Jesus to be saved. Sure, if you are a Christian you will agree with Christ's teachings. But, salvation is a matter of accepting the teaching that Christ is the payment for one's sins, not just agreeing with Jesus' teachings. This doesn't sound like a convincing argument, "I really do not think that a person with a proper degree of kindliness in his nature would have put fears and terrors of this sort into the world." Russell doesn't think that a kind person would preach in a way that makes people afraid!? I've  heard this analogy a few times so I don't remember the exact source. Imagine you know that someone is walking towards a cliff. Is it a kind person who just lets that person walk off the cliff? Is there even a time when telling someone that they might die that might be scary for that person? Is that okay? Again, the kind person would be the one that tries to keep the person from dying, even sometimes using fear.

His other criticism was fairly personal. He doesn't like Jesus cast out demons into some pigs that then run off a cliff. He thinks that wasn't very nice and that a kind person wouldn't do that. Same with the withered fig tree. A kind person wouldn't do those mean things. These are petty and not very powerful arguments against Christ's teaching. Just because you don't like the way Jesus did things doesn't mean that he wasn't kind. Russell's opinion, for what that's worth, is clear, "I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to History. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in those respects."

"The Emotional Factor" -- "One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous," I think Dennett stole this (at least I don't recall him giving credit to Russell). He talks about this in his work Breaking the Spell. Why does this seem to be an unspoken, often spoken of, rule? If anything, Christianity has welcomed a huge history of probing and analyzing of its claims. It's also interesting to note that the very existence of the supposed New Atheists is the 9/11 attacks. The New Atheists responded to the 9/11 by trying to debunk all religion as dangerous. Please convince me that religion makes men virtuous and yet, is somehow the cause of more bloodshed than anything else and dangerous. Either Russell is wrong, or the New Atheists are wrong (they could both be wrong). Here again Russell fails in his rhetoric, "That is the idea -- that we should all be wicked if we did not hold to the Christian religion. It seems to me that the people who have held to it have been for the most part extremely wicked. You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and the more profound has been the dogmatic belief, the greater has been the cruelty and the worse has been the state of affairs. In the so-called Ages of faith, when men really did believe the Christian religion in all its completeness, there was the Inquisition, with all its tortures; there were millions of unfortunate women burned as witches; and there was every kind of cruelty practiced upon all sorts of people in the name of religion." He contradicts himself. We can't attack religion because it keeps people behaving morally, but people behave very badly when they are religious. He insists that Christianity is morally bankrupt: "I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world." Dawkins rips off this idea in The God Delusion. He refers to a moral zeitgeist. That morality is progressing, but Christianity is holding it back. Funny word though, progress, what would it mean to progress morally? Progress implies an intended direction. Where are we heading morally speaking?

"How The Churches Have Retarded Progress" -- Here is the main quote:

Supposing that in this world that we live in today an inexperienced girl is married to a syphilitic man, in that case the Catholic Church says, 'This is an indissoluble sacrament. You must stay together for life,' and no steps of any sort must be taken by that woman to prevent herself from giving birth to syphilitic children. This is what the Catholic church says. I say that that is fiendish cruelty, and nobody whose natural sympathies have not been warped by dogma, or whose moral nature was not absolutely dead to all sense of suffering, could maintain that it is right and proper that that state of things should continue.

But, we don't really have a good accounting for what is moral or immoral action. This critique of the "Catholic Church" (by which I assume he means the Roman Catholic Church) is nothing more than, Russell doesn't like the presumed teachings of the Church. This is nothing more than Russell's opinion. As such, it doesn't really deserve a response. Just as the previous issue, if we don't know where morality is progressing, we can't say that the Church is retarding its progress.

"Fear, The Foundation Of Religion" -- Russell says, "Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing -- fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand-in-hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things." Again, mere speculation. Is this really the truth? How does Russell know that Christianity is based on fear? Sure, there can be aspects of Christianity that are scary, but really, does Russell think that it's all about fear? Russell says that science can alleviate these fears, but how is that? He doesn't explain what science has to do with alleviating fear.

"What We Must Do" -- Finally, we come to Russell's conclusion and not a moment too soon. Russell says, "We want to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world -- its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness; see the world as it is and be not afraid of it." (Emphasis mine.) Again, what's the meaning of "good"? Russell hasn't given us what goodness means, so these are just his opinions. Also, facts cannot be good or bad, they're just facts. This final quote I completely agree with, except the idea that Russell is implying that Christianity is what's wrong with the world and it is what needs changing/abolishing. "A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence. It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time toward a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our intelligence can create." I find a bit of irony in Russell implying that Christianity is full of "ignorant men." Christianity has long been a bastion of education. Maybe today it's not as focused on education as it has been in the past, but it definitely isn't full of "ignorant men." In this final thrust, we have another genetic fallacy. Even if Christianity were full of and lead by only ignorant men, that wouldn't make it false.

Let's wrap this up. I don't have much more to say. This lecture was pretty sad. If anything it was like Dawkins' book The God Delusion. Just like that book, reading this lecture actually strengthened my faith. If this lecture represents the best arguments against Christianity, then Christianity is almost definitely true.