PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION (2nd edition)
Thinking about faith
By C. Stephen Evans & R. Zachary Manis
IVP. 208 pages. £11.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-399-5
There are evangelical preachers — whom I know and respect — who have an instinctive hostility to philosophy of religion. It seems too arcane, too unbiblical and far too intellectualist.
Philosophy conjures up images of men in togas reasoning their way to the knowledge of God. And the word ‘philosophy’ in Scripture is associated with Stoics, Epicureans and other hollow and deceptive thinkers. So I can understand why many Christians guess that philosophy of religion has nothing to say to them.
But, as evangelical philosophers, C. Stephen Evans and R. Zachary Manis make clear, in their excellent little introduction to this subject, that there are many kinds of philosophy and not all are hollow and deceptive. In fact, the analytic philosophy recommended by Evans and Manis simply means clarifying and defending our beliefs. Philosophy of religion is merely critical thinking and not an attempt to reason our way to God.
