Dooyeweerd on Rome and Nature and Grace

So many gems in Dooyeweerd's In the Twilight of Western Thought: Studies in the Pretended Autonomy of Philosphical Thought.  This summer I benefitted from reading Leonardo De Chirico's book Evangelical Theological Perspectives on Post-Vatican II Roman Catholicism. I found it to be a very helpful read, and I am still reflecting on De Chirico's insights.  At the heart of De Chirico's book is the argument that to truly understand Roman Catholicism, one must grasp its systemic nature, and in particular the existent of two key axioms at the heart of the system: (1) Rome's understanding of the relationship between nature and grace; and (2) Rome's understanding of the Christ-Church relationship, where the Church is seen as the continuing of the incarnation.  With this summer reading still in my mind, I found the following in Dooyeweerd's In the Twilight of Western Thought, which seems in fundamental agreement with De Chirico.  Dooyerweerd suspects that there is a slide toward "pretended autonomy" (or we might say, a "functional autonomy") in Thomas Aquinas' understanding of the relationship between nature and grace.  Dooyeweerd is concerned that in Thomas' understanding, the notion of a "natural sphere" which can be understood "by the natural light of human reason alone" eventually leads to a form of (pretended) philosophical autonomy.  Dooyeweerd writes:

"This scholastic motive of nature and grace, which entered Roman Catholic doctrine, deprived the central theme of the Word-revelation--namely that of creation, fall into sin and redemption by Jesus Christ in the communion of the Holy Spirit--of its radical and integral character.  By accepting a natural sphere of life, which was supposed to be related to the human intellect alone and apart from any religious presupposition, it paved the way for a philosophy which did not acknowledge any other authority than human reason." (p. 47)

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Published: 26 August 2015 26 August 2015

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Dooyeweerd on Descartes on Creation

I am currently reading Herman Dooyeweerd's In the Twilight of Western Thought: Studies in the Pretended Autonomy of Philosophical Thought (the subtitle alone is worth the price of the book).  There are so many gems in this book.  Dooyeweerd is attempting to show that modern philosphical thought (in general) pretends to be autonomous and neutral, but is nothing of the sort.  All philosophical thought is ultimately rooted in and driven by some set of religious convictions or axioms.  Dooyeweerd speaks in terms of "ground motives".  Here is Dooyeweerd on the pretended autonomy of Descartes, and the implications of Descartes' project:

"Humanist philosophy eliminated the so-called supra-natural sphere.  Nor would it accept a given world-order founded in divine creation.  This was incompatible with its religious basic-motive which implied the absolute autonomy of human reason.  It could not accept any order of the world that does not originate from from the autonomous and free human reason itself.  Therefore, the Cartesian philosophy started with a methodological, theoretical destruction of the world as it presents itself in the given order of human experience.  After this methodical destruction of the given world, only the thinking human ego with its innate mathematical ideas is left.  And this thinking ego, which seeks the criterion of truth only in itself, sets itself the task of recreating the world in the image of its mathematical pattern of thought" (p. 48)

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Published: 25 August 2015 25 August 2015

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Letham on the Old Testament and the Trinity

Students:  Here is Letham's chapter on the Old Testament and the Trinity, until your books arrive.

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Published: 22 August 2015 22 August 2015

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Thomas Oden on the Nature of Theology

Attached is a brief piece by Thomas C. Oden on the nature of theology.

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Published: 19 August 2015 19 August 2015

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