Existential?
Terry Dashner………….Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken
Arrow, OK 74013
Are you an existentialist? Yes, it’s possible to be one and not
even know it. But more than likely if you are one, you know the
philosophy well. Here’s what you know.
Existentialism is a philosophical movement stressing individual
existence and holding that human beings are totally free and
responsible for their acts—according to Webster’s New World
Dictionary (Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2003). But for those who are
unfamiliar with the movement, have I given you sufficient
information? If not, listen up.
I picked up again an old text book that was assigned to me in
graduate school many years ago. I blew the dust off the covers
and read parts of it again. Why? I did so because, in my
opinion, there is too much bad philosophy attaching itself to
modern day Christianity. For example, my son came home recently
from Oklahoma State University where he is a freshman, studying
business. He is finishing the year with final exams and shows me
his philosophy papers. He is studying Friedrich Nietzsche’s
philosophy. You may recall that Nietzsche told us in the late
1800’s that God is dead and that we killed Him. This is bad
philosophy. I ache that a school like OSU focuses a major part
of a philosophy course on Nietzsche’s failed teachings. History
proved him wrong—Communism, Nazism, and the Jewish Holocaust—are
all products of Nietzsche’s philosophy.
Because I ached, I went back to my old philosophy books to
reread some of the terrible philosophies. Believe it or not,
some of these bad philosophies are still circulating today and
being touted as good Christian doctrine. I want to advise you
regarding some of the subtle teachings of Existentialism and let
you decide whether or not it is good doctrine for the Church.
Here goes.
The book I’m borrowing from is entitled, Existentialism and
Christian Belief—A Frank Appraisal of a Modern-Day Philosophy,
by Milton D. Hunnex (Moody Press 1969). I want to quote from his
first chapter entitled, “A New Reformation or a New Religion?”
In this chapter he critiques Bishop John A. T. Robinson’s book,
Honest to God, a 1963 book that led a revolt against traditional
Christianity. Robinson compares the movement of Existentialism
to the powerful forces triggered by Martin Luther during the
Reformation. This is hogwash. And I think you will agree.
Robinson advocates that the new movement will replace
traditional Christianity in a matter of time. Hunnex responds,
“What is developing before our eyes today could be finally more
significant than the revolt in the sixteenth century. That
revolt sought to restore New Testament Christianity on its own
terms. The revolt today seeks instead to restate Christianity in
nonsupernatural, secular terms. It is a revolt against the God
of authority and the Bible, against the God of traditional
Christianity. ‘That God must die,’ Robinson writes, ‘If man is
to live.’ He is ‘intellectually superfluous, emotionally
dispensable, and morally intolerable.’ The new Christian looks
to a post-Christian faith for the future based on existentialism
and universalism as the basic philosophical moods. Christian
belief has no part of it. Christian belief is an anachronism. It
must be abandoned together with the rest of the past, Robinson
contends.”
Hunnex continues, “Historically theologians have almost always
borrowed the methods and models of philosophy to help them in
their work. While this is to a certain extent necessary, it has
also subjected Christian faith to the influence and fate of the
philosophy. When the philosophy in question is abandoned, the
theology that leaned on it is threatened if not abandoned too.
Platonism in its many forms was the first philosophy of the
Christian theologians, but its dualism and otherworldliness gave
way to the more monistic and naturalistic philosophy of
Aristotle in the thirteenth century. It was partly the
distortions of biblical Christianity introduced by Aristotelian
philosophy that prompted the Reformers to revolt in the
sixteenth century.
“Unable to assimilate either the naturalism or Aristotle or that
of the scientific revolution, Protestant theology eventually
turned to idealism as the modern philosophy best adapted to
Christian belief. Modern liberalism made its home among the
idealists during the nineteenth century. After World War I it
became apparent that idealism was ill suited to the twentieth
century, and theologians as well as philosophers abandoned it.
They turned instead to existentialism as the kind of philosophy
that did appear to fit the mood and needs of the twentieth
century. Existentialism seemed to be the best philosophy for
getting at the problems of men caught up in swift-moving change.”
I could continue but I’ll suffice in saying this: “Harry Emerson
Fosdick once noted that it was not a question of a new or an old
theology but a question of a new theology or none at all. On the
contrary I shall contend, says Hunnex, “that it is not a
question of a new or an old theology but a question of the same
gospel or no gospel at all.” I concur. How about you?
Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming again because
He said He was.
Pastor T.Dash
About the author:
Pastors a small church in Oklahoma.
Author : Terry Dashner
Site : www.goarticles.com