Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 272 pages
- Published by: InterVarsity Press January 2004
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0830827390
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0830827398
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Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
- Weighs: 13.4 ounces
Product Description
"What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the church?" (Tertullian, 3rd century).
Such skepticism about the place of philosophy in the life of Christians persists down through the ages. As a student, author Steve Wilkens had deep reservations about studying the works of "pagans" or even "questionable Christians." Now a teacher at a Christian university, Wilkens has developed a deep appreciation for teaching and studying philosophy. In fact, he believes that the life of faith can be enriched by good philosophical reflection. In this book Wilkens helps you begin the same journey.
Using generous quotations from the original sources, Wilkens provides an introduction to the study of philosophy by exploring a single key issue from each of the following philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche and Sartre. The questions considered include
Why ask why?
Is a just society possible?
Is God responsible for evil?
Can you be certain of anything?
Is morality all about power?
Do you really want to be free?
Wilkens encourages you not to be a mere spectator but to actively and critically engage the questions and ideas these philosophers raise. Here is a book for beginning students, thoughtful Christians or anyone who wants to explore life's deepest questions.
About The Author
Steve Wilkens (Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary) is professor of philosophy and ethics at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. He has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at Mount San Antonio College, Glendale Community College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Azusa Pacific University's C. P. Haggard Graduate School of Theology. His books include Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans (2004), Christianity and Western Thought, Volume 2: Faith and Reason in the Nineteenth Century (coauthored with Alan Padgett, 2000) and Bumper Sticker Ethics (1995). He is also coeditor with Paul Shrier and Ralph P. Martin of Christian Calling, Christian College: Higher Education in the Service of the Church (2005).
Reader ReviewsIn this entertaining volume, Wilkens portrays the thought and work of ten well-known philosophers (the Greeks, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Kieerkegard, Nietzsche, Marx and Sartre), and interprets some of their ideas in the light of the Christian truth. Although I have always believed that it is better to read directly an author than a book dissecting that author's work, this book delivers a good amount of pertinent and thought stimulating insights about the relations between philosophy and Christianity. The book has, among many others, two important virtues: Wilkens lets every author explain himself (by quoting a fair amount of their works) and keeps the discussion simple, yet never superficial. This book is a well written, entertaining and very practical work, the perfect introduction to some key thinkers just in case you're not planning to read them soon, or just want to give them a chance in an simple and entertaining way. It is a shame that, apart from Sartre, no other 20th-Century philosopher is assessed. It would be great to have a sequel of this book, dedicated to a Christian evaluation of postmodern philosophers (see Millard Erickson's "Truth and Consequence" in that sense).
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