We now come to the conclusion of our series on Herman Dooyeweerd’s In the Twilight of Western Thought. It is in this final chapter (8) that the full weight of Dooyeweerd’s critique of historicism specifically and Christian attempts to engage in unbiblical scholarship is revealed. The conclusion of Dooyeweerd’s argument is Read more…
In teaching elementary probability and statistics to undergraduates, I’ve been reading about some of the great mathematicians who are commemorated in the names of functions and constants. This has led me to ponder the role of religious worldviews in mathematical genius, and it’s on that topic that I’d like to share a few Read more…
For anyone seeking an overview of Western philosophy from a Christian perspective, Bartholomew and Goheen’s latest book will be a welcome starting point. Written in an accessible and entertaining style, it takes us from the Pre-Socratic philosophers to the present day with illuminating commentary that reveals the authors’ wide-ranging expertise as philosopher-theologians in the tradition Read more…
Where does science come from? Historically, the predecessor of what we now call the sciences was natural philosophy, which was, evidently enough, a branch of philosophy. But when we study science at school and university, it’s rare to hear much mention of any continuing dependence on philosophy. We seem to Read more…
I’m pleased to announce that the Church Scientific project, which began in Leeds in 2016, is beginning a new phase this month with a series of six workshops about Christian philosophy for scientists. These will improve on the course that was delivered last year – thanks to input from last year’s participants and Read more…
For the key to the icons, see this post on the multi-faceted meaning of life. We’re beginning a series exploring the outlines of a Christian philosophy of the sciences. Not, I hasten to add, the Christian Philosophy of Science (as I know there’s a tendency for the tag “Christian” to evoke a sense of dogma!). Rather, Read more…
For Christmas a year ago I was given a book called ‘Wisdom for thinkers: An introduction to Christian philosophy’. It’s not a very thick book – under 200 pages – but fairly dense. So, having just finished it, I thought I’d tell you about it. The book was written as part of a series designed Read more…
Our “Christian philosophy in diagrams” series began with an ontology: things in relation over time. After ontology (what there is), philosophy typically looks at epistemology (how we know). This week I want to share a proposal based on the following diagram: The oval represents what goes on in my mind, and it’s Read more…
Last Saturday Faith-in-Scholarship hosted a workshop about Christian philosophy with Dr Jeremy Ive. Having asked what “Christian philosophy” might be, I’m now going to share the basics of a proposal concerning the structure of our experience. For now this framework is presented in Jeremy’s thesis awaiting publication… so remember, you heard Read more…
Having “Christ as Lord over x” has been extensively discussed in recent posts. We have seen that explaining what this means within whatever sphere of life or study we find ourselves in can be difficult but also rewarding. Philosophy is no exception. Christian Philosophy[1] began to make a comeback some thirty Read more…