Loving Wisdom A Guide to Philosophy and Christian Faith Second Edition Paul Copan William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, Michigan Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 www.eerdmans.com © 2020 Paul Copan All rights reserved Published 2020 First edition published by Chalice Press 2007 Printed in the United States of America 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 1234567 ISBN 978-0-8028-7547-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Copan, Paul, author. Title: Loving wisdom: a guide to philosophy and Christian faith / Paul Copan. Description: Second edition. | Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publish­ ing Company, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Presents a biblical philosophy of religion, addressing a wide range of topics and questions as they arise in scripture”—Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2019047949 | ISBN 9780802875471 (paperback) Subjects: LCSH: Christianity—Philosophy. | Theology. Classification: LCC BR100 .C77 2020 | DDC 230.01—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2o19o47949 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the NEW AMERICAN STAN­ DARD BIBLE*, Copyright © i960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Christ... in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2b-}) To Stuart C. Hackett—my first philosophy professor, whose wisdom, intellect, and faithfulness to God inspired me and so many others Contents Preface xi Acknowledgments xv PRELIMINARIES ON PHILOSOPHY AND FAITH i The Blessings of Philosophy 3 2. Philosophy and Scripture 11 3- Faith and Religion 17 4- Kings and Priests 25 5- The Need for God 32 6. Wired for God 42 I GOD 51 7- The Triune God 53 8. Talking about God and Knowing God 61 9- The Divine Attributes (I): Perfection, Necessity, and Self-Sufficiency 68 io. The Divine Attributes (II): God and Time, Omniscience, and Human Freedom 74 11. The Attributes of God (III): Omnipresence, Incorporeality, Beauty, Omnipotence 85 12. The Attributes of God (IV): Immutability, Impassibility, Simplicity (?), Humility 93 vii CONTENTS 13. The God ofTruth (I): Truth on the Decline 102 14. The God ofTruth (II): The Inescapability ofTruth 108 II CREATION 117 15. Moving toward God: Reasoning, Imagining, Seeking 119 16. God—the Best Explanation (I): The Problems with Naturalism 130 17- God—the Best Explanation (II): The Naturalists Are Declaring the Glory of God 138 18. The Reasons for God (I): God as the Cause of the Universe 150 19- The Reasons for God (II): God as the Designer of the Universe 158 20. The Reasons for God (III): God as the Source of Goodness 170 21. Science, Nature, and God 185 22. Miracles 198 Ill FALL 209 23. The Problem of Evil (I): Introductory Matters 211 24. The Problem of Evil (II): Evils Logical and Probabilistic 217 25. The Problem of Evil (III): Evils Natural and Demonic 226 26. Primal Sin 232 27- Original Sin 237 28. HeU 246 viii Contents IV REDEMPTION AND RE-CREATION 259 29. The Incarnation 261 30. The Cross of Christ 270 31- Jesus’s Uniqueness and the Plurality of Religions 281 32. Body, Soul, and Immortality 294 Afterword 305 Discussion Questions 307 Notes 323 Index 351 ix Preface Despite the claim that philosophy of religion isn’t really philosophy, such a view ignores the philosophy’s actual history going back to ancient times.1 What’s more, the number of Christian philosophy of religion volumes has burgeoned over the past few decades and shows no signs of letting up. Many of them are well written and are characterized by rational coherence and clarity of expression, and they exhibit just how intellectually fruitful the Christian faith is. So why a new one then? Well, it isn’t quite new. This is a second edition, although very thoroughly revised and expanded. A lot has happened since the first edition in 2007. On Philosophy and the Biblical Metanarrative The book has certain key emphases. First, this book is a guide to Christian philosophy that engages with the biblical story or metanarrative and with texts of Scripture. I have a background in biblical studies and theology, and I find this quite helpful as I reflect and write on philosophical topics. Though many fine Christian-authored philosophy of religion books exist, I try to interact more with biblical texts and with scriptural themes as they have a bearing on philosophical topics and discussions.2 To reinforce this Scripture-philosophy combination, I’ve structured the book around the biblical “grand story” or “metanarrative”—beginning with the triune God and moving from creation and then the fall to redemption and re-creation in Christ. This is indeed “the story of reality.” Various philosophical topics are incorporated into the structure of this book. For example, part III on the fall includes topics such as the problem of evil, primal sin, original sin, and hell. Second, this book attempts to make important philosophical themes accessible to a popular audience and present them from a distinctively Christian perspective. Over the years as a Christian philosopher, I’ve engaged in the task of reading, reflecting on, distilling, and summarizing the work of other philosophers in order to reach a wider, more popular-level audience. One key subgroup is the church. I’ve attempted to show how ideas have consequences, how the academy influences the culture, and how Christians should be attuned to these realities in order to think through and live out their faith before a watching world. As is evident in this book, I greatly appreciate the work of Christian phi- xi PREFACE losopher Alvin Plantinga. He has observed that many academicians have a disdain for the term popularizer. However, he urges Christian philosophers not to leave their work “buried away in professional journals” but to make it available to the broader Christian community. If they don’t connect their work to the life of the church, then they “neglect a crucial and central part of their task as believing philosophers.”3 Third, this book offers insight on how to think Christianly about important philosophical matters in our day—and to live out their implications personally and existentially, in relationships, and in our spheres of influence. “Jesus is Lord” (see Rom. 10:9) was a very early Christian confession. The implications of this terse declaration are immense. Jesus is ruler over all things—from every choice we make in life and how we use our time to every discipline in the academy to every particle in the universe. The earth is the Lord’s, and everything it contains (Ps. 24:1). Yet plenty of Christians engage in “sacred-secular" com­ partmentalizing: “Reading the Bible and praying are spiritual while painting houses or repairing cars isn’t,” or, “Being a pastor or missionary is sacred, but studying biology or being a politician is secular.” This is a huge error. C. S. Lewis noted that while personal holiness and evangelism are important, they can’t be cordoned off from the broader culture. If we do that, we’ll just create a narrow, inferior, irrelevant subculture of our own. If Jesus is Lord over all things, we must bring him into the marketplace, the academy, and the politi­ cal realm to show how in Christ all things hold together and are illuminated. The wisdom of Christ, the foundation of his Word, and the power of the Spirit present us with robust resources to be world-engaging. Ours is a faith seeking understanding (fides quarens intellectum), as the philosopher­ theologian Anselm maintained. All creation belongs to God; we can appreciate and study this world, and God can reveal something of himself through even the birds of the air and the lilies of the field (Matt. 6:26-28). The hymn “This Is My Father’s World” fittingly declares: “He speaks to me everywhere.” Even the lessons a farmer learns about how to plant and harvest can be said to be the result of God’s instruction and teaching (Isa. 28:23-29), whether the farmer is a believer or not. The church father Augustine affirmed that all truth is God’s truth. Yes, God has spoken to us through his incarnate Son (Heb. 1:3) and in his written Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17); this is special revelation. Here God reveals himself about his specific workings in history through national Israel and the Christ-event to reconcile hopelessly lost human beings to himself; along with this, he shows us how to live increasingly transformed lives shaped by the life, cross, and resurrection of Christ. But that’s not all. God’s revelation has an even wider xii