Classical Theology

J. BRIAN HUFFLING, PH.D.

#Philosophy #Apologetics #Biblical

Classical Theology

Very early in my seminary training I realized that if I was going to do apologetics or theology well, I was going to have to learn philosophy. I had no idea how indispensable (unavoidable) philosophy is. Even biblical studies and hermeneutics are indebted to philosophy (e.g. the philosophy of language). Philosophy is certainly the handmaiden to the queen of the sciences, i.e. theology.
While I went to Southern Evangelical Seminary to study apologetics with Dr. Norman Geisler, I added philosophy (and biblical studies) as a major—and fell in love with it. I particularly fell in love with what philosophy can tell us about God, not just his existence, but his attributes. I went on to complete a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion, and have dedicated my academic career, and life, to studying God through his Word and creation.

There are many philosophers of religion and many different views about God in the Protestant, evangelical world. The 20th and 21st centuries have seen a dramatic shift away from classical theism. For example, the traditional doctrines of divine simplicity, immutability, eternality, and impassibility have been increasingly rejected. The result is a movement in Protestant evangelicalism that is more akin to process theology. It has been said (I believe by Dr. Geisler) that there are only two views of God: classical theism (seen through the works of Thomas Aquinas), and process theology. I believe this is true as God is either simple or complex, unchangeable or changeable, eternal or temporal, impassible or passible. The former options are those of classical theism while the latter are those of process theology.

It is my desire to use this site to defend a classical view of God through traditional moderate realist metaphysics, as seen in the works of Aristotle and Aquinas. This will lead to a moderate realist view of morality as seen with natural law, a classical approach to apologetics, and the view that there is a fixed meaning in the biblical text that can be understood through sound hermeneutics and exegesis (as opposed to most of culture and sadly even the Church, which deny an objective meaning)

Thanks for visiting!

#Book

God, Evil, and Morality:
A Debate

by J. Brian Huffling

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