[PDF] A Christian Introduction to Philosophy

INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN
FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY
(ESSAY 2)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Philosophical challenges to religious understandings of the concept faith............................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Christian philosophy is a concept that is characterised and based on biblical revelation
which almost every Christian follows in his/her life. Basically, it represents an entire world’s
view that is consistent with the Bible throughout. Philosophy is a way of life and the Christian
believes that they have the true way for living their life. Faith is a belief which a person has on
something very strongly. Both these concepts, i.e., philosophy and faith is related to the Bible
belief which is written in it. Present report will discuss about philosophical challenges to
religious understanding of the concept, faith in individual and its importance.
MAIN BODY
Philosophical challenges to religious understandings of the concept faith
Philosophy of religion is the philosophical learning of the meaning and nature of different
religions. It can include the analysis of spiritual concepts, their beliefs and terms, arguments and
practices of religious adherents. It is related with various theistic religions. Philosophy of
religion can have various aspects which are present in it. For example: it involves all the main
areas of philosophy like metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics and value theory, the
philosophy of language, philosophy of science, law, sociology, politics and history. The range of
those engaged in field of philosophy of religion is broad and diverse as well as include
philosophers from analytic and continental traditions, Eastern and Western thinkers, religious
believers and agnostics as well as atheists. Philosophy of religion draws on all the major areas of
belief as well as other relevant fields including theology, history, sociology, psychology and the
natural sciences (Baker, James and Reader, 2016). In philosophy, there are various categories
which can be included in this like diversity in religion, concept of God and arguments for and
against the existence of God, religious language and belief along with the problems of evil and
suffering, miracles, etc.
Faith is considered as a source for the justification of person's religious belief for their
God according to The Bible. It is a central concept for Judaism and Christianity. The challenges
which modern culture provides is the belief in concept of Faith. In other words, it helps the
individuals in donating trust, belief or confidence. It is believed that the dynamics of faith is
determined more by its object, i.e., the one who believed in, than its subject, i.e., the one who
believes. In Christian religion, the importance and dynamics of faith is determined by the One
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we believe in i.e. God, Holy Spirit, Creator of universe and Saviour of humanity (Baker, James
and Reader, 2016). For the people who believe in God has a strong faith as compared to one who
does not believe in them. Philosophy and faith are both interrelated to each other.
There are various philosophical challenges which can be presented in context of religious
understandings of concept faith which can affect the thinking pattern of any individual. For
example: there are many people who have a strong faith on the existence of God or who believes
in Deity. These types of people are known as Theist (Edwards, 2016). It can become a big issue
as there are many other people also who do not believe in the existence of God known as Atheist.
Christians are heavily influenced by the practice and procedures of our non-Christian peers.
There are so many chances to have issues in between these two groups based on their faith or
belief. "It is not enough to condemn philosophy; we must have a truly Christian philosophy in its
place" (Seres, Vass, and Mirnics, 2017: pp. 263-269). In many cases, their assumptions and
presumptions do not easily match with Christian philosophy which is a great challenge for them
to manage.
Another issue which can arise is that sometimes, it becomes very difficult for the person
to make everyone to believe in their faith. Philosophy of religion addresses social and personal
practices of an individual (Ellis, 2018). Therefore, it is relevant to practical concerns. In
Christianity, faith plays an important role because they consider faith as a belief in Jesus which
will bring them eternal life. Regardless of which approach of faith a Christian take, all agree that
the Christian faith is aligned with the ideals and the example of the life of Jesus. To a Christian,
faith is not static but causes one to learn more of God and to grow individually. Christian faith
has its origin in God that is mentioned in The Bible. In Christianity, they must understand the
meaning of this before applying it in their life (Philosophy and Christian Theology, 2014).
The primary challenge which philosophy offers to the concept of faith is that it is itself
the part of a historic-cultural process which is influenced by Christian faith. Philosophical
challenge can have a huge negative impact on the belief of an individual. There has been lot of
debate and logic which is to try to absolve God from the responsibility for choosing state for the
majority of his human creation (McGrath, 2016). Existence of God is itself the biggest problem
to resolve as it is very difficult to prove his existence since it can neither be seen, hear, taste or
smell by anyone. Faith and philosophy have been considered to be the source of justification for
religious belief because both serves the same function.
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Based on the fact that there are two different categories on the principle of faith, some
have held that there can be no conflict in between the two if faith is properly understood and will
never produce contradictory or competing claims whereas, others have maintained that faith and
reason can be in genuine contention over certain propositions or methodologies which reject this
concept of believing in God (McIntosh, 2017). Many Protestants and Roman Catholic
theologians in the twentieth century responded to the criticisms of religious belief based on a
new understanding of Christian revelation. Nowadays, there are majority of groups who do not
believe in the existence of God without any proof which can give them a strong reason to believe
in. So, it is difficult to make them understand in the religious value of faith (Migliore, 2014).
Most philosophy of religion in the west is focusing on different versions of theism. It is
purely based on the thinking pattern of an individual which can affect the overall impact of his
living. According to the people, religion is superior to everything and for them, it has to be
maintained properly. Another philosophical challenge which can questioning the religious
understanding of concept faith can be related to the classical and contemporary arguments for
specific views on God (McGrath, 2016). There are various arguments related to this topic like for
example: ‘cosmological argument’ which is given to understand the concept of God or proof of
God. This argument helps to build a religious faith in an individual.
There are various models which can be used to understand the reasons behind these
philosophical challenges which is occurring nowadays such as The Psychological Model. This
model deals with the human mind or psyche to find out the explanation of their opinion related to
their preferences (Faith and Reason, 2014). This will help them to better understand their faith
towards the belief which will be very useful to minimize the effect of philosophical challenges.
This model is very useful in understanding concept of term ‘faith’. Another model which can be
studied to understand this challenge is the social model which can help them to understand the
philosophical challenges which is affecting the social life of an individual. These models play an
important role in the upliftment of an individual without affecting their faith or belief in God.
To avoid such challenges, scientific thinking can play a huge role in understanding the
term ‘faith’ more precisely. According to this, there are some beliefs or faith that are simply
more apt to be adopted or rejected in certain situations than others. It can be changed according
to the time and place as well as situations. "Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be
upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful" (Gioia, L., 2018: pp. 52). It is very
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crucial to emphasis on the importance of religious experience and the individual interpretation of
beliefs to understand it well and which can help any individual to have a strong faith in his/her
belief. It can only be achieved by implementing all these qualities (Novak, 2017). There are
many books and articles which are related to this topic and have arguments related to the
existence of God and represent it as a superficial power.
The main reason behind this for and against case of the god's existence are mostly
cumulative because of the concept of foundationalism. It is a process which concerns
philosophical theories of knowledge resting upon justified belief or some secure foundation of
certainty. It is very important for every person to understand the nature of all individual and
should respect their belief and faith (Ormerod, 2017). This will help in reducing the challenges
which is arising in understanding each other's religious faith. This has to be done carefully in
order to live in harmony and peace.
Sometimes, it can become a tough challenge to make others understand what the other
person is trying to convince. There are various approaches which can be used by an individual to
deal with these philosophical issues. For example: they can communicate with different people to
resolve the issues and problems related to their religious faith or belief (Wilhelmsen, 2017). As
both the concepts i.e. philosophy and faith are related to each other, so it becomes tough to
manage the balance between them. Some applications which can be applied in an individual’s
personality to reduce this philosophical issues can include, firstly, making every individual aware
of about their religious morals and values which can help them in understanding it well
(Peterson, 2018). These can then help other people also to increase the awareness about their
religion. This practice can be achieved by various ways such as through organizing campaigns
which can give information related to this challenge by people who have great knowledge on
philosophy. "The Word of God puts the evilness of philosophy to shame. Remember there's a
way that seems right that leads to death" (Gioia, L., 2018: pp. 52). To minimize the effect of this
impact, it is very important to educate people from their young age so that they can better
understand their religion and God which will help them in obtaining faith (Faith and Reason,
2014).
Apart from this, it can also be obtained by reading and understanding The Bible which
will help them to give all the solutions related to their issues and can help them in giving
solutions to their problems. It will be a great option to choose for (Schleiermacher, 2016).
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Increasing the moral value within the individual will also have a positive response in resolving
this philosophical challenges in understanding the religious importance of faith. To conclude the
whole concept, it all depends upon person to person thinking. It can be both positive and
negative response as there are mixture of feelings in which some people will believe in the
existence of Deity and others won't believe in God's existence. Respecting each other's feeling
and faith will definitely reduce or minimize the effect of philosophical challenges which can
arise in better understanding of each other's religious faith and belief in God's existence.
Applying all these factors in an individual personality will help in understanding this issue and
can help in reducing this maintain peace and harmony among people who have different opinion
on faith and belief (Walls, 2015).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that it is very important to have a good
knowledge of Christian Faith and Philosophy. This report explains about the concept of
philosophy in religion in Christianity and the way it affected living pattern of people who
strongly believe in this practice. It also explained about the two different types of people who
have different opinion on God. These two categories have created so many philosophical
challenges to understand the religious concept of faith in human beings. This report has
concluded overall impact of the concept which is known as Faith in an individual. This also
discussed about various models to understand the human nature which is very useful in
minimizing impact of philosophical challenges which arise in religious understanding of faith in
an individual.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baker, C., James, T. A. and Reader, J., 2016. A Philosophy of Christian Materialism: Entangled
Fidelities and the Public Good. Routledge.
Edwards, R. B., 2016. Reason and religion: an introduction to the philosophy of religion. Wipf
and Stock Publishers.
Ellis, R. M., 2018. The Christian Middle Way: The case against Christian belief but for
Christian faith. John Hunt Publishing.
McGrath, A. E., 2016. Christian theology: An introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
McGrath, A. E., 2016. The Christian theology reader. John Wiley & Sons.
McIntosh, M. A., 2017. Divine teaching: an introduction to Christian theology. John Wiley &
Sons.
Migliore, D. L., 2014. Faith seeking understanding: An introduction to Christian theology. Wm.
B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Novak, M., 2017. Belief and unbelief: a philosophy of self-knowledge. Routledge.
Ormerod, N., 2017. Faith and Reason: The Possibility of a Christian Philosophy. Fortress Press.
Peterson, M. L., 2018. God and Evil: an introduction to the issues. Routledge.
Schleiermacher, F., 2016. Christian Faith (Two-Volume Set): A New Translation and Critical
Edition. Westminster John Knox Press.
Walls, A. F., 2015. Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of
Faith. Orbis Books.
Wilhelmsen, F. D., 2017. Christianity and Political Philosophy. Routledge.
Seres, J.Z., Vass, Z. and Mirnics, Z., 2017. Experience of God, Reflected by Projective
Drawings. In The Immediacy of Mystical Experience in the European Tradition (pp. 263-
269).
Gioia, L., 2018. WORD OF GOD AND MONASTICISM IN KARL BARTH. One in Christ,
52(1).
Online
Philosophy and Christian Theology. 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/christiantheology-philosophy/#PsyMod>.
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Faith and Reason. 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.iep.utm.edu/faith-re/#SH7b>.
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