Archaic Greek Philosophy for Postmodern Western Christianity

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	• Philosophy for Understanding Theology, Second Edition Diogenes Allen, Eric O. Springsted Westminster John Knox Press, 2007 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

learn philosophy and theology well

this is a good book for diving into the crux of philosophical issues in relation to christian theology through the centuries. A very good overview and in some detail. This book is not for beginners though, despite it's medium size. One needs to have some philosophical and theological familiarity in order to plow through this work. Another good one, and a bit more manageable, is: Consequences of Ideas by R.C. Sproul.

A masterful introductory text

Allen is remarkably clear and easy to read, yet he does not sacrifice scholarship or content to be so. This volume packs an amazing amount of material in its 280 pages, containing every big name in the history of philosophy. Yet this book is not simply a historical overview of the major tenets of the discipline; it is focused at every turn on showing how philosophy has impacted Christian thought. While Allen covers all one would expect from Plato and Artistotle to Hegel and Kant, he makes a deliberate effort to show how such leading Christian thinkers as Augustine and Aquinas interpreted and applied philosophy to their theology. This text is a superior introduction to the relationship between philosophy and theology. Highly recommended.

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Illuminative!

Not only does Diogenes Allen deliver what he promised (i.e., an explanation of those philosophic systems pertinent to theology) but he delivers a history of philosophy (albeit restricted) from the pre-socratics to the present that is easily understood and enjoyable!

Outstanding

Allen, of Princeton Theological Seminary, writes here of the interrelatedness of philosophy and theology within the history of Christian thought and ideas. He covers the important influence of philosophical thinking on theology from the early years with Plato and Aristotle up to today. A must read for all serious about maturing in their theology. A very helpful book for those wanting to begin the process of being theologians themselves. We are in Allen's debt for writing such an informative and readable book.

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Archaic Greek Philosophy for Postmodern Western Christianity

"Philosophy asks unanswerable questions; theology gives unquestionable answers." Quoted in John Caputo, Philosophy and Theology,

Prologue:
Before starting this book review, I acknowledge with Sir James Jeans, "I need hardly add that my acquaintance with philosophy is simply that of an intruder, and nothing could be further from my intentions than to pose as an authority on questions of pure philosophy." Preface, Physics and Philosophy. It is also in order to share with Professor Sidney Griffith, Catholic University of America his declaration in a book review, "One does not mean to complain immoderately, nor to appear ungrateful for what is on its own term a good study of a timely and an important topic; nor does one want to review a book the author never intended to write."

Theology's Philosophic Languages:
In recent decades, members of the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches have met, coming together to a clear conviction that both branches have always maintained loyalty to the same Orthodox Christological faith, with an unbroken continuity of the apostolic tradition, though they may have used differing terminologies in different ways (of differing philosophical traditions). The 'Joint Commission of the Theological Dialogue' between the Eastern and the Oriental Orthodox Churches', for the first time since the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when division started within the Orthodox Church due to differing Christological expressions (on confessions of the nature of the Christ), has stated after fifteen centuries that, "On the essence of the Christological dogma, we found ourselves in full agreement! Through the different terminologies used by each side, we saw the same truth expressed!"
This is a very good example why Professor Diogene Allen was to write his book, to explain "How Philosophy Shapes Theology,'" as written by Frederick Sontag fifteen years earlier. But did the eminent Princeton philosophy professor provide what he promised, in the title, to clarify Christian dogma with the tools of them prevailing philosophic systems?

Faith & Understanding:
Faith in search of understanding, therefore, writes Jaroslav Pelikan, had the duty of clarifying these various senses in which words were used. he quotes Maximos Confessor, "To say something without first distinguishing the meanings of what is said is nothing less than to confuse everything" and to obscure instead of clarifying. ... but one had to be careful to note the distinctive meaning acquired by such philosophical terms when they were employed for Christian doctrine." The Christian Tradition II
"Philosophy and theology enjoy a peculiarly intimate relationship because they have been traditionally concerned with many common issues: the existence and nature of God, the postmortem survival, free will and human responsibility, and a host of questions about ethics of life and ways of living. Such familiarity breeds territorial disputes and theologians have sometimes been annoyed with us for messing with their stuff." Harriet Baber, Professor of Philosophy, U. of San Diego

Foundation of Theology:
Many contemporary theologians regard North African Tertullian as the first Western Christian to write theology, defending Christians against the hostility of the Roman Empire, while he argued against Marcion, Praxeas and theosophical fantasy. But the first great systematic theologian, is reckoned by most as Origen of Alexandria, (ca. 185-214), who invented the word 'theologia', he constructs on the foundations laid by Clement, in late second century Alexandria, who wrote a substantial trilogy of which Paedagogus an ethical guide, and Stromateis which he written to provide biblical themes in the language of Greek philosophers. Origen, no doubt, is the father of Theology, the language of Christian faith; he is par excellence, the founder of both speculative and Patristic theology brought to perfection three centuries later, by his Alexandrine school while retaining the seal of his genius. Most distinguished and influential of all the theologians of the early church, were his pupils, including Athanasius, Basil, the Gregories, Dedymus the blind, Cyril of Alexandria, Augustine, and Pseudo Denis Areopagite. Origen was the first to establish church doctrines laying the foundations of the science of Biblical criticism, of the Old and New Testaments. He built on earlier generations of Alexandrine philosophers, Philo, Athenagoras, Pantaenus, and Clement, who struggled with the problem of defining a philosophic basis for an intellectual expression of Christianity. Together with Amon Saccha, his pupils Plotinus, Longinus and Origen contributed to develop Neo Platonism, the vehicle of Alexandrine theological expression, and Orthodoxy until Thomas Aquinas retrograded to Aristotelian philosophy. Eusebius of Caesarea, Church historian and Origen's admiring biographer, who lived a generation after, devotes nearly all of Book VI of his Ecclesiastical History to the life of Origen.

Issues for Clarification:
The book failed to underline that Christianity, a Hebrew Messianic hope expressed in Greek ideas by the Oriental Church fathers, led by clement who were keen to defend orthodoxy contra Gnosticism and mystery religions. Christian Theology was established by the great Alexandrine Church teacher Origen, whom the author ignored, although his theology was propagated by his disciples allover the Mid Orient. They debated the basic Christian Doctrines of formidable Alexandria who utilized its own Neoplatonic terms to establish and defend Christian Orthodoxy against the Antiochine school in Aristotelian language. Neoplatonism (reformed Middle Platonism) was in fact an Egyptian reformation of the archaic Greek philosophy launched by Amon Saccha and his school in second century Christian Alexandria.
Augustine is a good example, against the book exposition, converted from Manichaenism to NeoPlatonism on reading Victorinus, Origen's student, before becoming a Christian Augustine's views on Free Will and Predestination were not biblically anchored or philosophically defended, and never considered Orthodox by the Eastern Churches. As for Thomas Aquinas, Allen may have raised him from Chesterston dumb Ox to the holy Ibis of Theology and Philosophy. He tried to defend him as the rescuer of Aristotle from Averroes, and failed to mention what is common knowledge, that Aquinas used John Philoponus own commentaries on Aristotle, to achieve his goals.
These are few examples of his reluctance to tell the full story, as W. Kaufmann warned three decades earlier, "It is easy to underestimate the originality of St. Thomas because he seems to synthesize Scripture and Aristotle, making ample use of all the labors of his predecessors. Butas Gilson says..., St. Thomas made "Aristotle say so many things he never said." Critique of Religion & Philosophy, pp.144

Philoponus' Philosophy Revolution:
"To treat the nominalism of the fourteenth century in a chapter ... may seem strange," is what the crafty author wrote, pp.151, and he is right. He quotes the eminent historian H. Butterfield for an assessment of the scientific revolution. Butterfield who though started logically with the historical importance of Philoponus' Impetus Theory, as the breakthrough point in the obsolescence of the body of Aristotelian physics, he failed to identify Philoponus, who effectively deconstructed it into rubble in sixth century Alexandria. In 'The Copernican Revolution', Kuhn wrote on page 119 that, "John Philoponus, the Christian commentator who records the earliest extant rejection of Aristotle's theory, ..."
It was known when this book was written, that John Philoponus (490-570), was not only a millennia ahead in his scientific genius, but was equally so in articulating Orthodox doctrines, of 'Creation ex Nihilo,' and the 'Resurrection.' His 'Diaetetes', was adopted later, by John of Damascus in his 'Doctrina Patrum.' In the 'Tmemata,' his polemic against Chalcedon, written at the time of the second Council of Constantinople (553), he implied a condemnation to the Chalcedonian pseudo-Nestorian expression, by citing Cyril's twelve anathema. He condemned the Chaledonian canons and criticized Leo's Tome exposing its philosophical inconsistency, and theological weaknesses.

Theology & Postmodern Philosophy:
The second part of his book, which is well written, is too condensed to be of real help to the ordinary reader who looks for modern philosophy to understand the Postmodern theological currents of the day. Recent strides in physics and developments in philosophy have superseded some of the scientific and philosophical concepts that were foundational for the modern world view. So, Whitehead, in a most explicit statement on the end of the modern era, in a critical evaluation of William James' essay on 'Existence of Consciousness, 1904', Whitehead infers as the denial of any difference in its essence from the core and milieu of the physical, suggesting that, with his formulation of a dualism between matter and mind, can be considered the thinker who pioneered the modern epoch, with his challenge to Cartesian dualism, starting a new chapter in philosophy. Having categorized the thought of that period as distinctively modern, scientific philosophy, Whitehead own philosophy, that united the philosophical implications of relativity and quantum physics wrapped into James' rejection of dualism, implied as distinctively postmodern, without using the term.
We are suspicious of religious authority since the 'Age of Reason', but we despair of the rescue of reason. Kant foretold us, the present legacy of postmodern skepticism, that theology must be confined within the limits of reason alone. Yet, Nietzsche has demonstrated that a boundary guard reason has failed to deliver on its promises, for its claims are but disguised power plays. Accordingly, it would seem that neither philosophy nor theology can avail, and we are left merely with a heap of unanswerable questions striving to shout out unquestionable answers.

Epilogue to a review:
This good introduction to philosophy falls short, according to the book intended scope, of justifying any of the basic Christian Doctrines. While the first part took many pages in explaining irrelevant concepts, the second part of the book, though well crafted, is too concise, and not as thorough as Colin Brown's 'Philosophy & The Christian Faith,' or could hardly be recommended to serve as introduction to Malcolm Diamond's Contemporary Philosophy and Religious Thought. A pitfall of the suggested reading list, of which a majority is overlapping, was to ignore Walter Kaufmann's Critique of Religion and Philosophy, and the indispensable reference work of Yale's Jarslav Pelican, 'The Christian Tradition', in 5 volumes.

On Christian Theology (Challenges in Contemporary Theology)
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reviews: page 1, 2

"This book goes a long way toward showing...that philosophical knowledge enables one to appreciate more deeply the meaning of virtually every major doctrinal formulation and every major theologian".---Eternity.

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