philosophy and theology

philosophy and theology are similar yet different disciplines (if you can categorise them as such). philosophy is the 'tool by which the christian makes sense out of his faith' (geisler and feinberg) yet christianity is not the tool by which the philosopher makes sense out of his worldview. while philosophy may (and indeed should) align with our christian perspective, it cannot replace the work of the Holy Spirit in the 'commencement of salvation' (spurgeon) - nothing can.

having taken 10 credits (25% of my total work) of reason and argument (the logic of language) this term, i must say that learning about propositional logic has led me to rethink a number of grammatical conceptions, particularly as applied to Scripture. this has widespread implications on the way we think, act and live.

the material conditional

'a is necessary for b' if it is the case that 'b only if a'. for example, where a is "oxygen" and b is "fire", then 'oxygen is necessary for fire' if it is the case that '[there is] fire only if [there is] oxygen'. which it is. this means that we cannot have fire without oxygen.

on the other hand, 'a is sufficient for b' if it is the case that 'if a, then b'. for example, where a is "fire" and b is "light", then 'fire is sufficient for light' if it is the case that 'if [there is] fire, then [there is] light'. which it is. this doesn't mean that we cannot have light without fire (we can still have light by other means, such as the sun - ok, so it is a huge ball of fire after all, but you get the idea), but rather that we cannot have fire without light.

notice that we cannot say that 'oxygen is sufficient for fire' since it is not the case that 'if [there is] oxygen, then [there is] fire'. we can have oxygen without fire, but not fire without oxygen. to this end, oxygen is a necessary but insufficient condition for fire, while fire is a sufficient but unnecessary condition for light.

so what?

without infringing on the respective domains of philosophy and theology, i think that propositional logic helps us to understand certain passages of Scripture better.

necessary but insufficient

"Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."" - Matthew 17:19-20 (NIV)

it was the russian novelist dostoevsky who wrote in the brothers karamazov that 'faith does not, in the realist, spring from the miracle but the miracle from faith'. faith is necessary for miracles to happen, but faith being sufficient for miracles to happen is another thing altogether. a miracle cannot happen without faith being present, but faith can be present without a miracle happening (if it is not God's will).

sufficient but unnecessary

"If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." - 1 John 1:6 (NIV)

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." - 1 John 1:8 (NIV)

these are just two different claims which constitute lying - each is sufficient in itself (and need not require the truth value of the other) to be considered a lie.

necessary and sufficient

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."" - John 14:6 (NIV)

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12 (NIV)

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9 (NIV)

if and only if!

truth and Truth

the more you plumb the depths of philosophy, the deeper you dig into Scripture. taking ethics next term and problems in the philosophy of mind in the following one will both be quite interesting. it's true, it's True.

link: more on philosophy and theology (5 jun 08)