Jesus and Philosophy
Over the centuries, Western philosophers have engaged five big problems:
The problem of morality and the human condition (laws of morality)
The problem of infinite regress (the origin of the universe)
The problem of teleology (laws of nature)
The problem of consciousness (the existence of the self)
The problem of ontology (meaning and significance of human beings)
Over the next several posts I hope 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 issues raised in these posts are not usually expressed in terms of explanatory power. Rather, in apologetics we typically see them as arguments for the existence of the God of the Bible. An alternate way to perceive these arguments, though, is as solutions to problems. For example, we can read the “argument from morality” as an argument for God’s existence; or we can read it as a philosophical problem to be solved: Morality exists; from where does it come? This will be my approach here.
Philosophers find that Jesus addresses each of the five problems with satisfying, though not exhaustive, answers. Let's explore why.
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.