50 Key Concepts in Theology

Summa Contra Gentiles
).
St Augustine (354–430) noted the remarkable similarity between Plato’s
philosophy and elements of Christian theology: ‘with the change of a few
words and opinions many Platonists have become Christians’ (On True
Religion). This illustrated, for Augustine, the coherence of faith and
reason/philosophy.
Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970) was typical of the logical positivists in

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arguing that the role of philosophy is to demonstrate the inadequacy of all
theological claims, which he regarded as ‘metaphysical pseudostatements’.
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) called faith ‘the mortal enemy’ of
philosophy (Phenomenology and Theology) because religion has pre-packed
answers to the meaning of human existence, and therefore does not engage in
philosophical analysis of our existential condition: ‘there can be no such thing
as a Christian philosophy; that is an absolute “square circle”.’ Elsewhere
Heidegger comments that ‘the Christian experience is so completely different
that it does not need to enter into competition with philosophy.’
Jean-Luc Marion (1946– ) argued in God Without Being that philosophy
and theology operate in different domains.
St Paul (3–65) held discussions with ‘certain Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers’ at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:18). He argued that the
God reached by philosophy can be the same as the God reached through
Christian revelation.
IDEAS
Analytical philosophy of religion: tests the adequacy of all theological
arguments by the standards of formal logic. The vast assumption of the
analytical approach is that theological truth is indeed logical. If theological
truth has a rationality which is not simply ‘logical’ – say, a poetic rationality –
then the analytic approach has rather missed the point. Richard Swinburne is
the leading exponent of analytical theology.
Apologetics: the defence of theology from its critics.
Philosophical theology: the branch of theology that tries to explain
religious belief in rational terms, summed up in St Anselm’s motto: ‘faith
seeking understanding’. Although philosophical theology shares the same
subject-matter as the philosophy of religion, philosophical theology aims to
defend a theological viewpoint, but the philosophy of religion subjects all
theological viewpoints to philosophical questioning and critique.
The Socratic method: the question-and-answer method (or dialectical
method) of philosophising used by Socrates. Jesus uses the Socratic method
in many of his conversations.
Sophistry: a form of philosophy that tries to advance its case using
rhetorical tricks and false reasoning.
Theodicy: the justification of God’s ways to humanity.

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BOOKS
George Pattison, A Short Course in the Philosophy or Religion (SCM,
2001)
Brian Davies (ed.), Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and
Anthology(OUP, 2000)

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