For Christmas a year ago I was given a book called ‘Wisdom for thinkers: An introduction to Christian philosophy’. It’s not a very thick book – under 200 pages – but fairly dense. So, having just finished it, I thought I’d tell you about it.
The book was written as part of a series designed to help Christian students think Christianly about their subject. Subsequent volumes on a Christian approach to politics, theology and psychology have already been published, and there are plans for further volumes on biology and history. The author, Willem J. Ouweneel, is a prolific writer who has three(!) PhDs, in biology, philosophy and theology. As the first volume of the series, this one focuses on philosophy, with a particular emphasis on philosophy of science (taken to mean academic scholarship in a broad sense, as in the German Wissenschaft). As such, this book can be fruitful reading for Christians in a wide range of subject areas.
The first chapter asks the question ‘Does it matter whether there is a Christian philosophy or not?’. The second chapter looks at the concepts of wisdom, knowledge and science and traces how these related to seeing and thinking through the history of Western philosophy.
The next four chapters form the core of the book and provide a concise, readable and accessible introduction to Christian philosophy – in particular, the philosophy of the ‘reformational’ Dutch thinker Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977) and others who further developed his ideas. These chapters provide a philosophical analysis of reality, giving you a framework and terminology with which you can analyse your own area of study, as well as all kinds of societal trends. For instance, the FiSWES group used this framework to analyse the ecosystem services framework and to provide a less reductionist alternative.
The last four chapters of the book move from a philosophical analysis of reality to a philosophical analysis of knowing, and particularly the kind of knowing that goes on in academic scholarship. There is much here that can help in understanding the role that scholarship plays within the wider context of all human knowledge.
I do have some points of criticism as well, though. Overall, the book seemed quite dry – but perhaps just because I was already familiar with much of the content. The transitions between chapters could have been better, which would have greatly improved the coherence of the book. At the end of each chapter there is a list of ‘Questions for review’, but these are all factual questions and do not help the reader to deepen his/her understanding.
Be that as it may, for anyone interested in developing a Christian approach to their subject area, this book has much to offer – not least a framework from which one can begin to understand the focus of their discipline better, and a method to analyse its shortcomings.
Wisdom for thinkers, An introduction to Christian philosophy by WJ Ouweneel (2014, Grand Rapids: Paideia Press)
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