What is philosophy? Many Christian parents wrestle with this question, wondering the meaning of philosophy and if studying philosophy will strengthen their child’s faith or lead him or her away from biblical truth. Secular philosophy often promotes ideas that seem to contradict Scripture, leaving parents concerned about how to approach this subject in their homeschool.
Reasoning Together Philosophy, a new Classical Conversations curriculum used in the Challenge III program, provides a solution by integrating classical learning with a Christian worldview. By studying history’s great thinkers through the lens of Scripture, students can develop wisdom, discernment, and a deeper understanding of truth.
In this article, we’ll explore how Reasoning Together Philosophy helps students engage with philosophy while remaining firmly rooted in their faith.
The Foundation of Wisdom
Reasoning Together Philosophy’s first chapter includes King Solomon’s helpful proverb: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” (Prov. 9:10a) For a new student of philosophy, there is no better foundation for understanding the world than placing it into relationship with its Creator. All efforts to acquire true wisdom apart from acknowledging the One who truly knows all things is folly.
As a Classical Conversations curriculum element, Reasoning Together Philosophy aims to integrate a Christian understanding of life with a classical approach to learning. Therefore, Christian authors are woven throughout the text, which is mostly comprised of original works by thinkers from the ancient world through the present.
Acknowledging the Creator in Philosophy
Just as the Psalmist makes it clear that the heavens also declare the glory of God (Ps 19:1), Paul demonstrates that the general knowledge of God’s creation imposes a burden on the creation to acknowledge the Creator and that to do otherwise bears dire consequences. (Rom 1). No one on earth is exempt from this obligation because all know about God, even if she buries that knowledge below a midden heap of sin or erect intellectual walls denying His existence.
The writings in Reasoning Together Philosophy represent the thoughts of men and women either acknowledging godly wisdom or seeking worldly wisdom apart from God. Still, all are useful for the student to understand how people have thought to know the world throughout the ages.
Themes and Thinkers in Reasoning Together Philosophy
Upon a foundation of faith, Reasoning Together Philosophy introduces the student to various writers from those who lived centuries before our Lord walked the earth through living and breathing authors. Beginning with Solomon and Paul’s instruction on the nature and source of wisdom, the reader is introduced to themes like friendship, government, and the value of books, each theme explored by different writers through the ages.
Each chapter contains writings by a pair of authors, each exploring the theme of the chapter through agreement or disagreement, helping the reader to also look to add his or her own understanding to what is being read. Some of the philosophers’ ideas are wonderful and true. In contrast, others miss the mark and reveal a fallen and erroneous worldview that the reader should take as a cautionary tale when weighing against the wisdom that God has revealed.
A Classical Approach to Christian Philosophy
Reasoning Together Philosophy begins with the Scripture but ends with two modern Christian authors, Dorothy Sayers and Anthony Esolen. Sayers’ famous lecture on education (you can read the whole article HERE) sounded a warning bell in the middle of the 20th century. She was warning against the rise of the utilitarian lapse from the kinds of education that gave us the brilliant minds of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Sayers calls us to consider the real purpose and form of education in light of how God made humans. Like CS Lewis’ view of his own terrible education experience, which he incarnated in Eustace Scrubb in The Silver Chair, Sayers calls for a return to older ways of learning that align with the nature of children and the way that God has made us.
The other author in the final chapter, Anthony Esolen, balances hope against endurance, encouraging the reader to consider how to live in a fallen world. He points Christians to the fact that heaven is our land of citizenship and that this world is a pilgrimage, just a brief stay on the road to paradise. In that light, he calls the reader to live in this world but to be of the heavenly realms and to align all of life’s activities along that axis.
The Value of Wisdom and How to Gain It
Thus far, we have explored how Reasoning Together Philosophy explores the theme of the fear of the Lord as fundamental to gaining wisdom. Yet Solomon doesn’t stop with the fear of the Lord. He also teaches that “Though it costs all you have, get understanding.” (Prov. 4:7) The acquisition of wisdom might be likened to a long-term savings account. While compounding interest is powerful, without a deposit of a substantial sum or ongoing additions to the capital, the interest will not amount to much.
The first steps in gaining wisdom are often difficult. Much wisdom is gained through trial and error. Some of us only learn to trust mom’s wise counsel after getting our hands burned on the hot stovetop.
But how much better is it to gain wisdom without personal pain? Diligent efforts to read great literature and philosophy can give insights into the consequences that others have incurred through their own trial and error. Mistakes in romantic relationships and finances are particularly painful, and understanding the powerful forces of love and the power that consumes one with the love of money can help the reader govern his own passions before suffering those consequences personally.
Lessons from Literature and Philosophy
Philosophy is often incarnate in stories in addition to essays and lectures. In Reasoning Together Philosophy, the reader encounters the twisted logic of power in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, where the Grand High Inquisitor claims that freedom of choice is the greatest unkindness a ruler can extend to his people. These kinds of stories demonstrate the cause and effect of a character’s philosophy, the choices he makes, and the outcomes, making the connection between philosophy and consequences clearer.
Reconciling Differing Philosophical Views
Readers who come to Reasoning Together Philosophy will encounter real-world and relatable thorny problems, like the right role of government in a world broken by sin. They will read and seek to understand:
- John Locke’s view of the ‘good’ government upon which the American founding fathers relied heavily.
- Thomas More’s satirical commentary in Utopia lampooning a government that works against its people.
- The logic of Machiavelli, who argued that what is good for the ruler is what is good for the state.
- Francis Bacon’s conclusion that ‘knowledge is power.’
- How rebellion against a king is necessarily evil and bad for everyone, including the rebels, according to Thomas Hobbes.
Making sense of this wide variety of philosophies prepares the student to think beyond the moment in their own life- seeking to know what is good in government beyond simple policies or specific rulers.
Testing Ideas Against Truth
Reconciling differing opinions is not easy, but practicing the skill of analyzing arguments and testing them against truth is the beginning of wisdom. Early readings in Reasoning Together Philosophy explore how Christians can use the wisdom gained from unbelievers. This includes reading one of Plato’s most valuable contributions to Western thought, the ‘Allegory of the Cave’ from his great work The Republic.
The reader will also be asked to weigh science against humanities in education, the importance of the freedom of information against controlling propaganda, and whether what is observed is more reliable than what is learned by reason alone.
So if Solomon tells us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and so striving to get wisdom, which is true? Is the font of wisdom faith or is it working hard to get it?
Learn more about our classical philosophy curriculum, Reasoning Together Philosophy.
The Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdom
Reconciling these two statements requires wisdom and demonstrates the path toward wisdom. One cannot gain wisdom with a ‘let go and let God’ attitude, but there is also no way to grow in true wisdom apart from the enlightenment only God can give. Finding that ‘middle path’ between error on both sides is the wisdom that Solomon highlights throughout his writings in the Scriptures.
The pursuit of wisdom is a lifelong pursuit of detecting foolishness and rejecting it. Seeking God’s wisdom guards against deception- “the heart is wicked and deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our own foolishness is often the hardest to see and the hardest to root out.
Growth in wisdom also requires investment, beginning with small things—like reading Reasoning Together Philosophy. Small things compound into great things over time, so start building your own investment account of wisdom.
Equipping Students with Wisdom: A Biblical Approach to Philosophy
Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom, the study of fundamental truths about life, knowledge, and existence. As Christian homeschool parents, we want our students to develop a worldview grounded in biblical truth rather than being swayed by secular ideas. Ignoring philosophy does not protect our children—it leaves them unprepared to discern truth from falsehood.
Instead, we should equip them to think critically, engage with ideas, and measure them against God’s Word. Reasoning Together Philosophy provides a solution. By integrating classical learning with a biblical foundation it allows students to explore philosophy while remaining rooted in Scripture.
By studying the great thinkers of history through a Christian lens, students gain the wisdom, discernment, and confidence needed to navigate the world with a firm reliance on God’s truth.
We think Philosophy is pretty important in education! Dive into the ways we study philosophy with these resources:
- Why Study Philosophy? Christian, Know Thyself!
- Soul of Science: The Philosophy of Science
- Step 1 in Math is Philosophy
- What’s the Use of Philosophy?
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