For those of you who are interested in studying philosophy, how did you get interested in studying it? I became interested in philosophy when I was in college. It captured my interest after I read some apologetics books and learned about the creation vs. evolution debate.

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Curt Hayashida
member, Community Bible Church (Non-denominational)
Vallejo, CA

a combination of intro to philosophy in college and epistemology issues in presuppositional apologetics.

i think a hurting brain may be as addictive as coffee.

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"Bible knowledge without repentance, will be but a torch to light men to hell. -Thomas Watson
United Through Christ
Ricky Heeb
Grace Reformed Church (RCUS) Lancaster, CA

I see no conflict between philosophy and theology. Theology provides the answers to questions raised by philosophy. Philosophy provides categorizations for understanding and applying theology.

If one spends a few years studying philosophy, they will discover that without revelation, the epistemological search for the answer to the question, "How do we know anything?" ultimately ends in skepticism or nihilism.

Unfortunately, during the age of the Enlightenment faith was relegated to religion and reason to science creating an epistemological divide (as if faith and reason are two different spheres of knowledge) that has yet to be bridged. Progress is being made and we see hints that science without faith is a handicapped endeavor.

Yet, it is the church that has often, and erroneously I believe, claimed to possess truths that are beyond any truth-testing criteria, thereby elevating itself beyond reasoned criticism. Instead of the church being the "pillar and ground of truth", what followed, in my opinion, is the anti-intellectualism of the evangelical movement. Men like Jonathan Edwards have been ignored in favor of appeal to popular culture. One need only look to the open theism movement to see this appeal at work. The church today needs to revisit I Timothy 3:14-15; 1 Timothy 4:12-16; 2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; and 2 Timothy 4:1-6, where we find the mind is also in need of training and discipline.

The Reformers understood that Christianity was superior epistemologically, for they demonstrated that only Christianity offers a unified view of knowledge. The Reformers did not fear philosophy, but instead used its very tools to proclaim the fundamental truths of reality. The current evangelical movement has taken Colossians 2:8 and made it a shibboleth against anyone who would dare to think deeply and even draw upon philosophy to support Christian doctrines. This is surprising given that the passage is eschewing worldly philosophies (systems) and not the discipline of philosophy. Paul was not simply quoting Scripture when he spent every week reasoning in the synagogue in Corinth (Acts 18:4). Paul's theology employed reason in the process, but not as a source of truth, of understanding Truth.

The use of rational argumentation is not a foreign concept in the Bible--see the use of apologia in Acts 19:33; Acts 22:1; Acts 24:10; Acts 25:8; Acts 25:16; Acts 26:1-2; 2 Timothy 4:16; Philippians 1:7; 1 Peter 3:15. It is from revelation that God, and thus Truth, is known. It is from reason that God, and Truth, becomes knowable.

AMR

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Patrick
Member, PCA
Chandler, AZ
ReformedTheologyInstitute.com

I fear explanations explanatory of things explained.

Read up on logical fallacies which led me to logic which led me to philosophy. Since I am joining the Army chaplaincy I am looking at enrolling in SBTS modular Christian Philosophy program in a couple of years. I pray it's still around and flourishing.

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Frank
Under Care
P.C.A.
Maryland

Because I like being right.

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Jacob
Sovereign Grace Ministries
Covenant Fellowship Church
WTS M.A.R. in Theology student
West Chester, PA

"Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace." ~ John Owen
"Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace. It is glory in its infancy." ~ John Flavel
Blog - The Strasbourg Inn

you're at Sovereign Grace....

I got started on philosophy in High School in the midst of a great books course that included Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and Anselm, among others. I was also listening to R. C. Sproul and John Gerstner on philosophy and apologetics and between all these different things, I decided to major in philosophy.

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Philip
Potomac Hills Presbyterian Church (PCA) Leesburg, VA
Attending Reformed Presbyterian Church, Lookout Mountain, GA
Student Covenant College

The Importance of Being Orthodox

In one sentence, Van Til's call for Christians to become "epistemologically self-conscious."

More generally, I was impressed by how seriously Reformed thinkers took philosophy and non-Christian philosophers, like Van Til (even Calvin and the other Reformers, see Calvin and Classical Philosophy by Partee, Peter Martyr Vermigli's Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Philosophical Works, as well as the relevant discussions in Muller's Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics).

Additionally, many theological debates led me right to philosophical issues/works, such as Arminianism's use of libertarian freedom (and the best defenses of this freedom come from philosophers, not theologians, from what I've read), process theology's use of Whitehead and process philosophy, and Molinism's use of philosophy of time, to name three examples.

(Also, Amen to everything Patric/Mr. Religion, above, said)

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Patrick
Covenant (OPC), Brighton, MI

It all started when my 7th grade science teacher said she was using the "Socratic Method" on us poor dolts. Then she said we should all go to the library and read the Dialogues of Plato. It turned out that I was the only one to do so, and I got hooked.

So I read The Republic and it scared me. That led me to read Aristotle some for balance, and then, for a real scare, I turned to Nietzsche. By the time I was in 9th grade, I actually started to think Sartre was the most grounded. Not exactly the makings for an insouciant adolescence.

But, happily, I spent an equal time on tractors and digging post holes as I did reading, so the real world kept me from going too far afield. I took on reading DesCartes in French in College, read Russell and thought he was a good mathematician but a poor thinker, stumbled onto Kant and Kirkegaard and got lost.

Around age 23 I gave up for a while and decided to come up with my own sort of philosophy. It gradually developed to what I later came to realize is similar to Scottish Realism.

Since God brought me to light when I was in my 40s, it's been a wonderful journey working backwards through all this self-directed effort.

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Raymond Victor Bottomly
Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Tacoma, WA

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