Philosophy: A Christian Introduction

by James K. Dew Jr., Paul M. Gould

Two experienced educators offer an up-to-date introduction to philosophy from a Christian perspective that covers the four major areas of philosophical epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and ethics. Written from an analytic perspective, the book introduces key concepts and issues within the main areas of philosophical inquiry in a comprehensive yet accessible way, inviting readers on a quest for goodness, truth, and beauty that ultimately points to Jesus as the source of all.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology

291 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 2, 2019

Reviews

[Ionia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a student looking at Christian philosophy as a potential career, then you need this book. If you are a lay reader and want to read something interesting that will teach you something, then you want this book. Frankly, you just want this book. Really, I said so.

There are a lot of philosophy books on the market for the beginner or inexperienced Christian philosopher, but my problem with most of them is that they are little more than a few flash words and a very basic description of what they mean. This book goes way beyond that. If you are new to this field and you want a good understanding of what you are getting yourself into, then this book will be a great guide for you as you begin your journey.

I'm not a newbie to this field of study, but I learned a lot from this book anyway. The authors are great at giving you new ways to look at things and providing you with opportunities to think for yourself and decide what you believe is a logical outcome after doing so. They not only explain what terms mean, but delve into them deeper than a surface glance in order to help you fully understand them.

This is truly an invaluable book. The section on Metaphysics is also one of the best I have seen in any books. Any author that can make that easy to understand gets my thumbs up.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

[Evan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Christian Philosophy primer. The writing style is casual and approachable, but it’s still not going to be for EVERYONE. But I’d be certain that anyone can (an maybe should?) give a try and come away having learned a thing or two where they read 2 chapters or the whole book. I read this book for a seminary class, and Dr. Dew was my prof, so there was a fair amount of overlap between his lectures and the book. Overall it was a book that did what it sets out to do, and it’s not as painstaking of a read as one would expect, so it’s a solid 4 stars.

[Shelby]

Never sure how to rate books like this... But, I recommend this read to anyone who wishes to gather a birds-eye-view of Christian philosophical conversations. Written by the current president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (where I am enrolled & attend Dr. Dew's philosophy course) and Paul Gould. I am grateful for the easy-to-understand way these authors explain challenging concepts.

[Lukas High · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this introduction. The authors cover a wide variety of philosophical concepts and briefly introduce points/counterpoints. Some of the concepts were much easier for me to understand than others, though perhaps that’s due to the depth of philosophy rather than the accessibility of this volume.

[Mikhail Abakumov · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good intro, written in simple language and giving a basic understanding of the main ideas and questions.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good introduction. Impressed.

[Coleson White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good

[Declan Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was certainly philosophy, and Christian, but I'm less sure about the "introductory" part of the title...

In general, this was a good, detailed overview of various philosophical topics with a focus on Christians working in the field. It was well written and quite open about the various views available to Christians.

On some topics, I would have liked more development of various ideas. Moreover, some sections, especially the chapters on universals and particulars, were quite high-level. I would hesitate to recommend this as the first philosophy book somebody reads!

[Doris · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be fair, this is a well written book. Philosophy is just not my cup of tea.

[Chico Collie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elsewhere, I stated how I considered apologetics to be one of the most underappreciated and least engaged fields of study among the general Christian populace. In retrospect, I’m glad that I was graced with the foresight not to definitively settle on the superlative because the field of philosophy is well worthy of consideration.

Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria, was a 2nd-century AD Christian theologian and philosopher credited for describing philosophy as ‘the handmaiden of theology’. This designation illustrated two points. The first is the relative primacy of theology over philosophy. The second, however, shows the complementary nature between revelation and reason in historical Christian thought – a model of convergence endorsed by great Christian intellectuals of the past such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, and continued by many present-day Christian theologians and philosophers.

Unfortunately, many Christian laypersons compartmentalize, or worse yet, antagonize theology and philosophy, disregarding the rich Christian intellectual tradition, sabotaging their preparation for ministry, and ignoring a vital tool in spiritual formation. This may in part be due to the cognitive strain associated with learning philosophy, a field of inquiry popularly perceived to be immensely abstract. Hopefully, this introductory book by James K. Dew Jr and Paul M. Gould, tailored to a Christian audience, can overcome some of these challenges.

Philosophy is “The pursuit of knowledge and wisdom for the sake of flourishing”

Here, philosophy is discussed as a first-order discipline by focusing on some of its main branches: epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and ethics. The authors offer a fair representation of the various schools of thought and are transparent when opinions are provided on a particular view. There are places where the concepts discussed remain asymmetrically challenging such as in the chapter on ‘Properties and Universals’. I’m unsure if this is due to the authors’ delivery of the content or the complexity of the topic itself. Moreover, the discussion on the branch of Logic seems conspicuously abbreviated with a notable absence of a treatment on fallacies.

Overall, I found the book to be an engaging and, for the most part, well-written introduction to the field, that was otherwise presented at an undergraduate college-reading level. I recommend it to the appropriate Christian reader who is in search of an introduction to the field of philosophy.


Rating: 4.5/5

The originally reviewed can be found at maygp.org/reviews

[Holland Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow!!! 3 stars on a Philosophy book, color me impressed. Ok ok, so I still dislike philosophy, and I actually didn’t enjoy reading this book…

BUT it was readable which made me decide to give it three stars. There was even a chapter where I was somewhat invested in what I was reading!!!

Here’s the bad stuff. It was too introductory. It just gave VERY broad strokes and many of the things you really weren’t even introduced to anything other than the term itself. Like Calvinism was given two paragraphs… homie can’t even describe TULIP in two paragraphs like what.

So yeah, I wouldn’t read this if you wanted to learn about anything haha. But I would read this if you wanted just a familiarity with different terms and MAYBE a small understanding of what people are talking about when they say certain words. That’s like it though. Low key thinking about changing this to two stars after writing this review. I think I’m just a little happy I’m done with it which is why it has 3.

[David Bruyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really thorough treatment of the major philosophical topics with strong Christian foundations. Only thing missing is a treatment of aesthetics.

[Clark McGehee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this and thought it was a very approachable introduction to understanding philosophy and its connection to Christian philosophy.

[Collin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philosophy is difficult, but this was a good introduction with a focus on defending the Christian worldview.

[lansteld · Rating 2 out of 5]

philosophy > theology

[Braley Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction to philosophy from a Christian perspective. My only gripe is that the section on metaphysics is way too complex for an intro text.