“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” – CS Lewis

Some Christians unfortunately think that believers have no business studying philosophy. Hwever, philosophy is a powerful aid in apologetics. It helps the church in polemics. Whereas apologetics involves the defense of Christian theism, polemics is the task of criticizing and refuting alternative worldviews. Philosophy is a central expression of the image of God in us. It is difficult to come up with an airtight definition of the imago dei (image of God), but most theologians agree that it includes the ability to engage in abstract reasoning, especially in areas having to do with ethical, religious, and philosophical issues.

But what about Col 2:8? See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Does this mean Christians should not practice philosophy? No. In context, Col 2:8 refers to heretical philosophy that is antithetical to the Christian worldview. Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga has remarked that philosophy is just thinking hard about something. If that is the case, then doing good philosophy will be a matter of learning to think well.

Philosophy permeates systematic theology and serves as its handmaid in several ways (i.e., it can show that the doctrines of the Trinity and the incarnation are not contradictory; it can shed light on the nature of human freedom, it can explore the distinction between divine sovereignty and man’s responsibility, etc.) The discipline of philosophy can facilitate the discipline of study, cultivating skill in framing an issue, solving problems, learning how to weigh evidence and eliminate irrelevant factors, cultivating the ability to see important distinctions instead of blurring them, etc.

The discipline of philosophy is absolutely essential for the task of “integration.” To integrate means to blend or form into a whole. In this sense, integration occurs when one’s theological beliefs which should primarily be rooted in Scripture, are blended and unified with propositions judged as rational from other sources into a coherent, intellectually adequate Christian worldview. Remember that Scripture is not the only source of truth, but the final arbiter of truth (see here.)

Alvin Plantinga is a good example of a strong Christian philosopher.

GotQuestions has a useful post on philosophy here. As they note, “Philosophy can be used to build beautiful and enlightening arguments based on what is revealed by God to be true, or it can be used to deconstruct a confused and fallen mind that trusts itself rather than its Creator.”

Amen. In fact, philospohy has built some powerful arguments in classical apologetics using general revelation. An example is Tom Dallis’ beautiful and brilliant argument from Counterfactuals.