Bibl 104 Week 1 Discussion 1 Study Guide

Objection 1. When looking to understand theology, one should not use concepts of philosophy in order to explain its meanings. An example of this reasoning is when Tertullian writes about how, “. . . philosophical reasoning might persuade some who do not accept the authority of purported divine revelation of the claims contained in religious texts” . He wants to say that if one were to rely on concepts that are about theology that have only been explained through philosophical meanings, then they are not really learning about theology. They are, instead, relying on reason, rather than faith, to explain their beliefs. Thus, leading philosophy and theology to not be compatible.

Objection 2. Moreover, the Bible warns its readers not to fall victim

Furthermore, in theology people will not be able to learn everything because we are not worthy. Instead, God will reveal himself to us using divine revelation, and only then will we understand his teachings. Saint Thomas Aquinas says, “hence it was necessary for the salvation of man that certain truths which exceed human reason should be made known to him by divine revelation” . The use of philosophy tries to explain these teachings that we are not prone to knowing. By trying to use philosophy to compare ideas to theology, people will still not fully understand theological teachings, because God has not granted them divine

Theology can be difficult to understand due to its complex nature. By using thoughts and ideas that are stemmed from philosophy, people can interpret them to fit theological teachings. Clement of Alexandria discusses how “philosophy acted as a ‘schoolmaster’ to bring the Greeks to Christ, just as the law brought the Jews” . The Greeks were able to have a greater understanding of concepts due to the use of philosophy. They used theology to explain philosophy and vice versa. Meaning, that they would have to be intertwined and compatible. Plato even uses God as a way to explain his idea of The Form of Good. Shaun Doyle comments, “Plato’s theory of the forms, and especially his notion of the Form of the Good, were ‘rolled together’ into the mind of the God of Scripture” . Again, this demonstrates that the use of philosophy can be used to incorporate and expand on ideas unified in theology.

Reply to Objection 1. One needs to utilize both reason and faith in order to expand in the understanding of both philosophy and theology. One cannot simply choose one over the other while reading the Bible. St. Augustine writes about how he, at first, only focused on the literal sense of the text, or reason . In order to fully understand its meanings, he realized he needed to have faith in the teachings and use ideas from philosophy in order to comprehend what the messages were