J.P. Moreland has an excellent post today in which he uses Scripture to show how Jesus used logical forms and laws in his thinking and reasoning:
Today there is widespread indifference to, even downright hostility towards logic and the fundamental laws that govern it. We are sometimes told that logic is a Western construction invented by DWEM’s (Dead White European Males such as Aristotle), that in a postmodern world, story and narrative have replaced a cold-hearted, logical approach to life, and that Jesus was a prophet for the common man, not a logician for the “wise and intelligent.???
I could not disagree more. Logic comes from the very nature of God Himself, its employment need not be cold and impersonal, it can be expressed through story and narrative as C. S. Lewis’s works of fiction nicely illustrate, and Jesus used logic with “the common man??? every bit as much as he did with the “wise and intelligent.??? In what follows, I shall unpack these assertions by doing two things: present a primer on logic and God, and explain and illustrate Jesus’ skill in using logic. Read more »
Well, even though I do agree with Moreland’s assertion that Jesus used logic in His arguments and teachings; I do not like grouping Jesus in context with “thinkers”. Who gives a crap about Jesus being a great thinker? That does not make him God. But then agian, I suppose that Moreland was merely attempting to give credibility to logic by showing Jesus as having employed it; not attempting to give Jesus credibility by demonstrating that he was logical in his thoughts. But I still don’t see the point, since Moreland also stated that everyone employs logic in their process of thinking; whether they know it or not. Nevertheless, thank you Michael for the post. Perhaps a good idea will come to me soon that I feel compeled to write about.
@David
Rereading Moreland’s last paragraph points me to why I think we should regard Jesus as a great thinker:
I don’t think Moreland is merely grouping Jesus with great thinkers, I see him as offering evidence for Jesus being the greatest thinker who has ever lived or ever will live.
Furthermore, I appreciate Moreland’s advocating that just as Jesus employed logical forms and sound reasoning, so to, we should go and do likewise. Logic is one of the tools that God gives us for tearing down strongholds or false arguments (2nd Cor. 10: 3 - 5).
I’m afraid I disagree, Michael. Moreland certainly offers no evidence for Jesus being the greatest thinker ever. By showing that Jesus used logic in His communications with others does not offer a shred of evidence to the claim of being the greatest thinker. What makes you appreciate Moreland for advocating us to use logic just as Jesus did. In my opinion all this does is open up the possibility for the prideful intelectual to think that winning arguments and employing logic is carrying out Christ’s commandments to us. It is indeed sneaky to use a phrase that Jesus used to give a command, “go and do likewise”, to expound what Moreland would encourage us to do. I would think that you would be offended at such a thing, since you hold tightly to not saying anything beyond what the Scriptures explicitly say. I however see nothing wrong with doing such a thing, as I assume Moreland does not either. But, I do disagree with his use of the Lord’s way of commanding to command what he thinks we ought to do.
I do however believe that we should use logic in our communications and thought processes, but not to endorse such a thing that is indeed used for evil as if it was entirely divine.
David
In your latest comment you present a lot of avenues of thought. Keeping that in mind, at some point I hope to respond to all of the different points that you make; however, as I don’t have much time, I would like to begin my reply by asking you about one aspect of your comment. You closed by saying:
When you say that you think that we should “not endorse such a thing,” is the “thing” that you are referencing merely the use of logic itself, or are you speaking of the more general issue of Moreland saying that Christ used logic and we should do likewise? Or, do you have some third meaning in mind?
The “thing” I was referring to is logic itself, because Moreland gives the impression that it is explicitly divine simply because Jesus used it.
David,
Based on your comment, I believe that we may each be working off of a different set of foundational premises. Please correct me if I am wrong, but it seems like you are implying the following:
A: Anything created by men is evil.
B: Logic has been created by men.
C: Therefore, logic is evil.
Michael,
You are misunderstanding me.
A. Logic has been given by God.
B. Logic can be used for good or evil by man.
C. The use of logic does not necessarily implicate goodness.
David, thanks for being clear and succinct. If that is what you have meant, I agree with you.
See! A misunderstanding can be worked out via “comments”. It just takes a little time and patience. Thank you Michael for allowing me the opportunity to clarify my position. Peace.
ps. What about my comment on L.O.I? What do you think?