Theology and Philosophy

Theology is not philosophy, and philosophy is not a substitute for religious convictions. But whereas religion can exist without philosophy, and philosophy without religion, theology cannot exist without recourse to each of the other two. Philosophy is critically concerned with argument and the attempt to solve conceptual problems - and conceptual problems face theology in all areas of its reflective labour. This book is about this relationship between theology and philosophy in the Christian tradition. It explores some of the most important ways in which theologians and philosophers past and present have conceived of the place and role of philosophy within Christian thought: and it discusses some of the problems which arise from this exchange. It examines in a historical and systematic way problems of perspective in Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, and Enlightenment, Schleiermacher and Barth, together with the issue of reflection in Descartes, Ward, Kant and Hegel and Louergan. Professor Dalferth argues that theology has to integrate external perspectives in order to develop a genuine philosophy of religion.