Andrew Meredith’s Reviews > The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church > Status Update

Let's cut right to the passage I most take issue with. First in full:

"In one sense, the post-Enlightenment interpreter unfamiliar with the continuity of pre-Enlightenment Christianity could assume that Christianity and Christian Platonism are two separate streams. That is often assumed in the common objection that Platonism is being foisted upon Christianity, as if Christianity is forced to fit the Platonist worldview or even corrupted by the Platonist worldview. That assumption is mistaken, however. The designation “Christian Platonism” merely identifies the metaphysical framework that must be in place so that Christianity—and its many transcendental beliefs—is possible in the first place. Stated otherwise, Christian Platonism does not demand that the Christian impose an unnatural and foreign grid on its sacred text, but it’s logic is original to the text."

Specifically the sentence: "The designation “Christian Platonism” merely identifies the metaphysical framework that must be in place so that Christianity—and its many transcendental beliefs—is possible in the first place."

Christianity is impossible without Platonism? That is the claim. I wanted to highlight that in full context to show you that I am not misquoting Barrett here. I disagree with him (depending on what he means by "Christianity").

The Christian Faith and it's beliefs are fully possible outside of Platonism. They do not depend upon Platonism in any sense of the word. Perhaps they can and have been somewhat helpfully articulated and defended through a platonic framework, but quasi-helpful does not equate to necessary.

The Hellenization of Christianity (or as Barrett wants to argue, the Christianization of Hellenism) has yielded as much bad fruit as it has good. Widespread latent gnosticism being the outstanding example, but there are others.

Here's a concrete example pulled straight from the book:

“All those schools must be ranked below those philosophers who have found man’s true Good not in the enjoyment of the body or the mind, but in the enjoyment of God.” - Augustine

Me: Here is where I have objections. It is impossible to enjoy God except through the body and the mind. To bypass the physical for a bodiy-less, mystical enjoyment of God is gnostic. It compromises the psychosomatic unity of humanity, denies the sacramental nature of creation, and creates a material/spiritual dichotomy where there is none.

You are your body, and your mind, and your soul (and other parts too) all in one, a unity. You are not a spirit that interacts with the world and others through a disposable flesh machine. You interact with everything with all of you.

Hellenistic philosophies like Platonism drive a wedge between your immaterial spirit ("who you really are") and the "mortal coil" (the material) that traps it. It claims that real communion with God (or, perhaps more mildly, the best communion with God) takes place "without words" in a direct, mystical soul-to-God interaction.

This is a lie. This is gnosticism.

Whether it is with God or other people, we can only ever communicate and be communicated to through our bodies, which are us just as much as our immaterial animating selves.

Looking forward to getting there. Almost done with chapter 4. I am on the page where he interacts with Van Til now.

What do you think the relationship should be between philosophy and theology?

I will happily label myself a biblicist when it comes to theology's relationship with any other discipline, philosophy included.

I do think that theology and philosophy are inextricably entangled such that they will inevitably inform one another (there is no such thing as neutrality), but theology as "Queen of the Sciences" should always have jurisdiction.

Part of our task as theologians, then, is to become critically aware of the philosophies that influence our perspectives (especially their shortcomings) and guard against their excesses. Which, of course, is a task we can't do consistently, much less perfectly, hence why theology is an ongoing multicultural, mutligenerational dialectical conversation in the Body of Christ.