Introduction to Philosophy: A Christian Perspective

by Paul D. Feinberg and Norman L. Geisler

Book Overview

'Written in a lucid and appealing style, this book will benefit those who eagerly wish to anchor reason in Christian faith.' -Reformed Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801038189
• ISBN13: 9780801038181
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fair philosophical evaluation

My assumption is that most of the people reading this review are purchasing this book for a college/seminary level into to philosophy class. This book is certainly a textbook, but do not count it as non-useful outside of the classroom. If you are looking into the book to obtain an understanding of Philosophy this will definitely help. At the beginning of every chapter, a short overview of the chapter is defined, followed by how it will be outlined. This is nice since it allows the reader to see where the author is taking them before just jumping into the topic. Each philosophical thought is explained and evaluated from an evangelical perspective. One of the major benefits of this textbook is its structure. If you were only interested in a topic such as "The problem of evil", you could easily jump to that section of the book, prior to reading the previous sections. The five major sections of the book are as follows.. 1. Introduction to Philosophy 2. What is knowledge? 3. What is reality? 4. What is ultimate? 5. What is good or right? If any of you are wondering, the authors do not present their personal perspective on predestination in this book. They present hard determinism, soft determinism, indeterminism and libertarianism with an explanation of each. They said that topic was "purposely omitted." If you would like something a little lighter / more of an introduction, I would recommend "The Consequences of Ideas" by RC Sproul. If this is a must read for school, you will find it is organized in an easy to learn fashion.

Very useful text 4.8/5

I liked this text a lot. First, there are not so many Introductory Philosophy courses with Christian perspective on different issues. Geisler's text is very good. He's not just presents available options without giving you a clue what fits into Christian Scheme of thought, but he explains which philosophical concepts fit perfectly into Christian Worldview and why. Second, it's pretty exhaustive volume. Even though it is introductory, still it covers a lot. One negative thing is - format and layout. Whoever published this volume should make it prettier :D to read. Content is good but the outlook is quite like an antique... :D Anyways, book is great. Buy it and read it. (as the matter of fact, anything by Geisler is good. Especially his Intro to Ethics and Christian Aplogetics)

good

Norm Geisler never dissapoints. Expect to be a little confused by some of his extremely deep and tough-to-comprehend philosophy. It might be hard for beginners to understand, but not then again not everything is easy to learn in the beginning. I have to add that the most recent review before this one didn't really make much sense to mean. The reviewer complained that this book on Christian philosophy ignored eastern philosophy and Islamic logic (had to say it because it rhymed). Let's think about this. It isn't a book on philosophy in general, or even on religious philosophy, but on Christian philosophy. The author wrote from the Christian perspective because this book is about Christian philosophy, nothing outside of that. Note the title of the book, "Introduction to Philosophy: A CHRISTIAN perspective". No offense to you. I just thought that was a little unfair to give it a bad rating because you would prefer a different subject for the author to discuss. Buy it.

Christianity and philosophy; friends, not enemies

Even though this book is written as a textbook, I found it very useful. The first chapter shows the reader what philosophy is about and its value. Of particular note, is the half page section titled, "The Christian Challenge." Here the authors state their position on the relationship between Christianity and philosophy:"Christianity can stand up to the intellectual challenge mounted against it. The result of such a challenge should not be the loss of faith, but the priceless possession of a well-reasoned and mature faith." (page 22)Before the authors embark on the specific fields of philosophy, a quick sketch is provided of some of the major fields (e.g. ethics, political philosophy, and logic) and the tools of philosophy. This discussion of logic and argumentation includes induction vs. deduction, the existential method, the phenomenological method and the analytic method. Two of the most important chapters for the new philosopher are, "The Tools of Philosophy," and, "The Challenge of Philosophy." The Tools chapter is a discussion of how arguments are constructed and how to evaluate them. The Challenge chapter discusses the goals of philosophy and the role the philosophy plays for the Christian (including "The Biblical Basis for Christian Philosophy")Following this are Parts that focus on the main branches of philosophy:Epistemology (What is Knowledge? How can we know?)Metaphysics (What is reality? Is man free? Does man survive death?)Philosophy of Religion (Does God exist? The Problem of Evil)Ethics (What is the right? Is the Right Universal? Do Moral Duties ever conflict?)The authors general approach is to explain a view point, explain its supporting arguments and then the criticism that have been laid against it. Occasionally, the authors include an explicitly Christian viewpoint that incorporates all the previous views into one comprehensive whole.The best example in the book of a Christian synthesis is the chapter entitled, "What is the Right?" In this chapter, the authors construct a Christian definition for the right, that is both philosophically sophisticated and true to the Bible. This discussion explains how the Christian definition depends on general revelation (i.e. natural law) and special revelation (i.e. the Bible). Two other chapters stand out as well, "Does God exist?" and, "The Problem of Evil." In the, "Does God exist," chapter, the authors evaluate atheism (the view that God does not exist), agnosticism (the view that God's existence is unknown or unknowable) and theism (the view that God exists). Readers of Geisler's other works (notably Christian Apologetics and the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics) will recognize Geisler's superb arguments. He puts all the arguments in a clear, precise form, which makes the arguments easier to analyze. The chapter concludes with the following heading, "We have sufficient reason to believe in God.""The Problem of Evil," chapter follows the typical example of explaining the differ

A must for every serious person

Neutrality is a myth. Everyone, including skeptics, has an opinion. The authors of this book honestly present themselves as Christian philosophers. They actually are very objective, laying out for each issue all the options, and then for each options all the Pros and Cons. Each chapter is then followed by some conclusions that are compatible with Christian Theism. This cannot be a bad choice in my eyes, given that non-Christian philosophies end up either in Postmodernism or in other denials of rationality. Contents: Part one: Introduction to Philosophy 1. What Is Philosopy? 2. Disciplines Within hilosophy 3. Methodology in Philosophy 4. The Tools of Philosophy 5. The Challenge of Philosophy Part two: What Is Knowledge? 6. Can We Know? 7, How Can We Know? 8. Is Certainty Possible? 9. How Do We Perceive the External World? 10. How Are Believes Justified? Part three: .What Is Reality? 11. Is Reality One or Many? 12. The Relationship Between Mind and Body 13. Is Man Free? 14. Does Man Survive Death? 15. Are There Other Minds? 16. What Is Truth? Part four: What Is the Ultimate? 17. The Relationship Between Faith and Reason 18. What Is Meant by ``God''? 19. Does God Exist? 20. How Can We Talk About God? 21. The Problem of Evil 22. Can We Experience God? Part five: What Is Good or Right? 23. What Is the Right? 24. How Do We Know What Is Right? 25. The Relationship Between Rules and Results 26. Is the Right Universal? 27. Do Moral Duties Ever Conflict? The book requires some thinking but is really a delight to read. One feels really illuminated after reading it, and has a deeper look at what he encounter in his own experience. A few places are difficult to follow because they are arduous philosophical problems without a solution (e. g. the existence of other minds). By the way I can recommend the other books of Geisler as well as those of J P Moreland. Bruno Granger The Hague, Hollan