Loving Wisdom: Christian Philosophy of Religion

by Paul Copan

Presenting a distinctively and deliberately Christian philosophy of religion, Loving Wisdom addresses a wide range of topics and questions. Copan acknowledges the difficulties, mystery, and disagreement of religion, and instead of using the language of "proofs," he attempts to show how the Christian faith does a much more adequate job of answering a wide range of questions.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Christian

214 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Paul Copan is a Christian theologian, analytic philosopher, apologist, and author. He is currently a professor at the Palm Beach Atlantic University and holds the endowed Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics.

From 1980-1984, he attended Columbia International University and earned a B.A. degree in biblical studies. Copan attended Trinity International University, where he received his M.A. in philosophy of religion, as well as his M.Div. at Trinity International. Copan received the Prof. C.B. Bjuge Award for a thesis that “evidences creative scholarship in the field of Biblical and Systematic Theology.”

In May 2000, Copan received his Ph.D. in philosophy of religion from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His dissertation topic was "The Moral Dimensions of Michael Martin’s Atheology: A Critical Assessment."

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not very fond of all the writings of Copan, but the topic is of particular interest. Sadly, in the first chapter when he goes into the wisdom concept, he does the Christian philosopher thing and muddles the distinction between philosophy and theology. This means that he also muddle the area between wisdom and faith. I get the reason why, but it’s like cutting the feet of philosophy by moving the whole area of epistemology into the arms of scripture(so that the scripture also becomes the key to metaphysics and ethics as well). Some of the point with philosophy is that it is God agnostic, and from that starting point one should begin. If not, then theologians should stop calling what they do philosophy. Shame on you Copan.

That I wrote after reading the first few chapters. So how do the rest hold? Well, Copan do in some instaces hold to philosophy, but mostly to theology and maybe even more througout the book he is very much an apologetic, making this a that kind of book. He tries to cover a lot within a limited frame, so it becomes pretty packed. The language is not very floating and it has an academic flare in its subjectivity(that it, it is not objective - it is very Christian) making it sometimes a boring read, but mostly it is totally ok. If you have not read any book that covers the God-Jesus-You aspects of Chrisitanity in a slightly philsophical and systematic manner, this may be for you.