Philosophy and Culture

I’ve been reading philosophy lately. One of my physicians suggested I read a book by Jim Holt, Why Does theWorld Exist. Before you pick up a copy be warned. This is a tough read. I find reading Jonathan Edwards easier! (For those who don’t know, Edwards was an 18^th century Puritan whose English is—shall we say—tough to understand) At any rate, Holt does a good job of addressing, in story form, a variety of philosophical themes including the existence of God, the meaning of moral virtue, the reason for existence (the key theme in the book), and perhaps even a smattering here and there of epistomology.

I’m not a philosopher but I’ve been struck during my sabbatical by the extent to which philosophy and culture effect our thinking. In some cases, without us even knowing it, much of what we thoughtlessly accept as common sense in society, from both Christian and distinctly non-Christian world views, are inextricably connected to philosophy and thought in our culture. We are simply parroting what our culture believes and may even do so while uncritically validating it (in some cases this seems to happen in some Christian psychology).

I’ve also finished reading the newest biography on Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas and was struck by the same thing. Barth and Bonhoeffer were both independent thinkers who fought the liberalism of the 19^th century German theologian Schliermacher, etc. but who never got to the same thoeological orthodoxy that some in modern Evangelical America embrace. I’ve also read a short bio of Nietzche, as well which detailed all the ways his philosophy has entered a variety of disciplines in modern thought, to the extent that its become cultural wisdom. For example, the author suggested the idea that, The highest virtue is to be true to oneself as well as You can’t love someone else if you don’t love yourself both come out of Nietzche’s thought. [Of course, one must always be careful with these things. Because even though Nietzche disdained Christianity, when Nietzche and Jesus agree on anything, its probably true! But that’s a different post topic.]

Francis Schaeffer in his book Escape from Reason, describes how this seems to have happened by explaining this as a shift from Grace (The belief that the central theme of our western cultural worldview has to do with faith, God, the heavenlies, the invisible, etc) to Nature (The belief that the central theme of our cultural worldview has to do with the created, earth, the visible, etc). Our current national preoccupation with separating church from state is a product of this. At any rate, its been thought provoking and stimulating.

I think for me, the critical “take away” is awareness and responsibility. Will I be aware of what I’m automatically buying into and believing and search for its roots. And will I take responsibility to be as honest as I can with what I believe to be truth—especially when I preach, teach, or write. I’m writing all this to say that I think that we—that is all of us who are alive right now— are more influenced by our culture than we think. And for that reason, its critical to step back and ask, “Why do I think this way? Why do I  believe this way?” I for one believe that truth is certainly found in reason and science but that complete truth has its roots in revelation—all truth is Gods truth—that goes beyond reason and science. There is simply too much “truth” for even the greatest of minds to assimilate or discover. We need revelation and all of us, even those who disbelieve in God, seek that revelation from somewhere. I, for one, get mine from the Bible. I think that makes sense, more sense than from other sacred writings. Obviously a lot of people, maybe even most, will disagree with me, but I stand on the authority of the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. Otherwise solutions to our greatest problems become arbitrary.

Those are my musings now. More later.