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Six Ways Theology Uses Philosophy Six Ways Theology The Context Since I teach philosophy to seminarians,the UsesPhilosophy questionwhich is often raisedis "how is philosophy used by theology?" My answers,at first, did not David Foster. Ph.D. move pastthe generalitiesthat philosophy is the in- strumentof theologyor that philosophytaught you to Yote: This paper wasfirst presentedin Venice,April, 1996 at think logically. Realizing the inadequacyof those 'he International Conferenceon Preparation for Priesthood answers,I began to study the relationship. with the support of the Wethersfield Institute. As a result,this paperaims to describein betterr detail how theology usesphilosophy. Its main con- tributionsare 1) a descriptionof the instrumentaluses of philosophy,2) the identification of the intrinsic role of philosophy as material to theology. Becauseof the focus on the theologicaluses of philosophy,I will leave aside other contributionsof philosophyto theology students,such as, helping them to understandthe modern world, disciplining their thinking, stimulatingcreative thought, and providing order for a complex world. These contributions of philosophyare important, but are not unique to the- ology. The Traditional Ways Theology UsesPhilosophy Four main uses quickly emergedas a working hypothesis:philosophy serves theology as a preamble, a tool, a bridge, and a shield.2 Theseare the more traditional ways of describing how theology uses philosophy.The list eventually grew to six. Philosophyis a preamblein thatit preparespeople for understandingthe Faith. It is a tool in that it is usedas an instrumentto better understandthe Faith. It is a bridge in that it provides common principles where believer and nonbeliever can meet. It is a shieldin thatit can be usedto defendthe Faith against argumentsof nonbelievers3.The seconduse, as a tool, is the most commonand the most importantto articulatefor theologystudents. As a Preamble St.Thomas says "the existenceof God andother 5l SeminaryJournal like truthsabout God, which canbe known by natural use in mind when he speaksof philosophyas the reason,are not articlesof faith, but preambles are to handmaidor servantof theology. It is the most com_ the articles;for faith presupposesnatural knowledge, mon way that philosophyserves theology and the one evenas gracepresupposes nature.,,a philosophy is a most in needof explanation.I will return to this use preamble to theology by refining conceptssuch as later. God,soul, substance, person, nature, justice, evil, and good. When St. Paul beginsto preachto the Greeks, As a Bridge he can build on the considerablereflection they had Philosophy,as the reflective articulationof the given to eachof the ideasjust mentioned. In Acts 17 common questionsand experienceof mankind,natu_ Luke tells us that Paul had been disputing with the rally provides a common spot where believer and Epicureanand Stoic philosophers in Athens (v.lg). non-believer can meet (a bridge, as it were). Among Later when he is invited to address the Atheniansin those common principles are the following: the spe_ the Areopagus, Paul quotes the third century stoic cial dignity of the humanperson and the recognition poet, Aratus. The scene paul shows St. putting a of rights, as in the UN Declaration of Human Rights; philosophicalpreamble to apologeticuse. that no man is an island and the complementaryprin_ They were to seekGod, yes grope " to for him and ciple that everyone is a unique individual; that we perhaps eventually - to find him though he is not have a natural moral knowledge that judges generos_ really far from any one of "In us. Him we live and ity as good and murder as evil; and that the reasonfor move and haveour being" as someof your own poets human action is happiness.Add to this that none of have put itl /for we too are His offspring.', If we are us are ever completelysatisfied with our happiness in fact God's offspring, we ought not to think of and we havecommon ground to begin a discussionof divinity as somethinglike a statueof gold or silver or God and the things of God. stone, a product of man's genius and his art. Acts This philosophicalbridge can also help the non- 17:21-29. believercross over to faith as in the caseof the young Philosophyis a naturalpreamble to faith and the St. Augustinewho,like many others,was troubledby chosenpreamble to the betterunderstanding of faith. the reality of evil. It was a Neoplatonicinsight that It is partly for this reason that seminariansstudy evil is a privation that helpedhim overcomethe con- philosophyfirst. For seminarians,philosophy is not tradiction betweena loving God and the reality of a preamble to their faith, but to their better under- evil. standing of the faith. Maritain suggeststhat God In 1879Aeterni Patrrs stressedphilosophy's use preparedfor the gospel by making the Greeks the in defenseof the faith. In the presentday, however, chosenpeople just of reason, asHe hadby makingthe the use as a bridgeis more prominent. The outstand- Jewsthe chosenpeople of faith.s If so, theneven God ing exampleis Vaticanll's Pastoral Constitutionon usesphilosophy preamble as a to theology. the Church in the Modern World. Addressed to all humanity, it justifies this addresswith extendeddis_ As an Instrument cussionof the commonhopes and fearsof all people. Theology usesphilosophy as an instrumentto It would be academicmyopia to think thatgood explain and thus developthe depositof faith. The philosophyrather than the faceof Christ won hearts, developmentis organic; philosophydoes not add to but philosophydoes have its roll to play in the New revelationbut helps it to flower. St. Thomashas this Evangelizationcalled for by rheHoly Father.Its roll 52 Six Ways TheoLogyIlses philosophy is partly as a common startingpoint as witnessedby of philosophy by theology as somethingakin to St. Paul'suse of the Stoic Poet(cited above)and the mapping. This simply means that I read through Pope's recentbook Crossing the Thresholdof Hope. theological works from the various periods (being sure to include the various types of works), all the As a Shield while noting where a use of philosophy was found The useof philosophyto defendthe faith is clear and what its characteristicswere. In doing so, I in the tradition. Due to the nature of the times, the identified two common uses which I had not yet encyclical of Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris, stressesthis articulated. use of philosophy. Speakingof Greek philosophy, Leo quotesthis statementby Clementof Alexandria: Material Use "though it does not by its approachmake the truth As the mappingproceeded, I noticeda category more powerful, it has yet been called a fit hedgeand that I had not listed nor heard discussed,i.e., that ditch for the vineyard, because it weakensthe arsu- philosophical terms were sometimesthe matter in ments of sophists against the which theology expresseditself.8 truth, and wards off the crafty Once considered,philosophy as tricks of those by whom the material to theology seemedrather truth is attacked."6 Anytime a philosophy obvious and logically linked to St. Thomas says that if has a true philosophy's use as a preamble. someone insight does not accept the Thosesame refined understandings authority of Scripture into then one the nature of the of man and the world that are a can still show by reason that world and the human preambleto the faith are then used nothing of the faith is contrary by theologiansto expressthe mys- to reason.T The SummaContra condition, it can be of teries of faith. Theology presup- Gentiles is an extendedexample use to posesphilosophy, as faith presup- of philosophy theology. being used to posescommon senseunderstand- defend the Faith. ing. There is no break or even Both the uses as a shield radical shift, but rather the slow and as a bridge have an apologeticcharacter as both refinementof our common understandings. are directed to the nonbeliever. As noted,Vatican II Just as the Gospel presupposesthe common emphasizesphilosophy as a bridge to all mankind. understandingsin which it will expressitself; so the_ Philosophy still functionsas a defenseagainst attack, ology presupposesphilosophy, which refines and but when the attack is not argument but slander, defendsthese common understandings.The images philosophy is not the bestdefense. When the wound of farmers,fishermen, and shepherdshave conveyed is self-inflicted, the Fedrqin€ is nor philosophy but the Gospelfrom its first preachingby Jesusof Na zareth penance. V^erj'b until the presentday. Theseimages have done so with a simplicity, clarity, and profundity that reflect their Further Exploration Divine origin. Theseimages are like sturdy but soft lumber; they are good for framing, they support the Mapping the Use of Philosophy bold truth,but they arenot meantfor detailedcarving. I thought of my effort to find the different uses As the Church preaches,explains, and defends 53 SeminaryJournal the Gospel,it is ableto use(sometimes forcedto use) parisonsare often usedas theologicaltools, and by a philosophically refined understandingsof man and tool'snature once its work is doneit is setapart. peter the world. These understandingsare like hard wood Kreeft makes the following comparison to explain that is able to receive the detailed work of the why we are not able to graspthe reasonfor the ex_ carpenter'schisel. istenceof evil: just aswe cannotcommunicate all we If it is true that philosophical terms are material know to animals,so God cannotcommunicate all He as well asinstrumental for theology,then it shouldbe knowsto us.r0 Justas we cannotexplain to our dog evident by this difference: the material use should why he must get a rabies shot, so the full reality of remain in the theologicalstatement, whereas the in- God's world cannot be explainedto us. Once this strumentaluse remainsonly in the backgroundor, so ideais grasped,the homely imagecan be droppedand to speak, on the shelf. This is becausematerial cause we are left with an inkling of how much the reality is intrinsic to something;whereasinstrumental cause, of God escapesour grasp. Other examplesinclude which is a type of efficient cause,is alwaysother than distinctionssuch as substanceand accidenceor the the thing itself.
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