Pinnock Clark H Faith and Reason Bibliotheca sacra 131 no 524 O D 1974 303 310外语英文电子书.pdfVIP

Faith and Reason Clark H. Pinnock TH E HISTORICAL CONTEX T The relationship between faith and reason has been a hot sub- jec t for discussion throughout the Christian era . Opinions have ranged along a continuum from extreme fideism which affirms the exclusive sufficiency of faith all the way over to extreme rationalism which comes close to identifying religion and philosophy . Tertullian in the early church represents fideism in his denunciation of natural reason and his insistance on the divine foolishness of Christianity . What has Jerusalem to do with Athens , the Church with the Acad- emy? He stated, I believe because it is absurd ; it is certain be- cause it is impossible! 1 For Tertullian it was enough that God had spoken. Through revelation we have all that we need to know . Beyond that it is better to remain ignorant than risk being seduced by false philosophy . At the other extreme we find Clement of Alex- andria, a contemporary of Tertullian, espousing a vigorous intellec- tualism which viewed pagan thinking as a positive benefit to Chris- tian apologetics . According to Clement, Christ is the Logos, the instructor of all humanity . We should expect, therefore, that even pagans will have apprehended something of Gods truth . Clement believed that God bestowed philosophy on the Greeks