Christian Philosophical Problems

I mentioned in an earlier post, that over the centuries, Western philosophers have engaged five big problems:

1. The problem of morality and the human condition (laws of morality)

2. The problem of infinite regress (the origin of the universe)

3. The problem of teleology (laws of nature)

4. The problem of consciousness (the existence of the self)

5. The problem of ontology (meaning and significance of human beings)

I have attempted to show that Jesus and the Bible have encountered all of these major issues.  Belief in the God of the Bible in general and Jesus in particular has great explanatory power when it comes to the major philosophical questions of the ages.

The Christian faith, however, also presents at least four philosophical problems of its own:

1. The doctrine of the Trinity

2. The theodicy (the problem of evil)

3. The divinity of Jesus

4. Hell

These are difficult teachings.  To the skeptic, they may appear to offer problems with incoherence and non-contradiction in the Christian faith.  For example, as regards number 4 above: how can God be good and loving and still be sending people to Hell?  Isn't the notion of a loving God incompatible with the doctrine of Hell?

Over the next few posts, I plan to try to answer the rational objections to each of these traditional Christian doctrines, to show that they are not internally self-contradictory with the basic ideas of the Bible, and that they are coherent. 

This blog article is an excerpt from my book: Five Languages of Evidence: How to Speak about Reasons for Christianity in a Post-truth World.  Not yet published; available upon request.  

Next post: Christian Philosophical Problems: the Trinity