Clear Thinking in a Fuzzy World: Learning to Think Philosophically

Philosophy involves hard thinking about important matters and, given its all-encompassing embrace, thus is unavoidable for any person. Virtually any academic discipline will have a “philosophy of” that particular field. And even theologians recognize that major Christian doctrines—though flowing from Scripture—are shaped by philosophical terms and categories like “essence,” “nature,” “relation,” “person,” and the like. Whatever our discipline may be, philosophical assumptions about reality (metaphysics), knowledge (epistemology), and right and wrong (ethics) will be inescapable. So Christian academics would be wise to understand and accept this, which in turn will enable them to think more Christianly and engage with others more effectively about their own and other disciplines.