Jesus, the Great Philosopher
When you think of Jesus, what do you usually think of him as? Savior, Lord, prophet, king? These are all good answers, but in Jesus the Great Philosopher, Jonathan Pennington suggests a surprising alternative: philosopher. Pennington’s suggestion is not random, nor wishful thinking. Evidence from the early church suggests that it was common for early Christians to think of Jesus as a sage, and Christianity itself, as a whole-life philosophy that provided lasting and enduring answers to life’s biggest questions. He says, “Christianity is the true philosophy that through faith and the power of the Spirit enables people to see the world in a certain way and to live accordingly. It is the way to the truly Good Life” (7).
Philosophy
Pennington begins by describing the current philosophical situation in contrast with the ancient one. Today, what is commonly called philosophy, is what ancient thinkers referred to as “skills.” Doctorates in Philosophy today typically concern niche topics, but in ancient philosophy, thinkers reflected on the world and its structure to learn how to live in it. To live well in the world–to live virtuously–requires sustained philosophical reflection on the world.
Though Pennington deeply admires the ancient philosophical traditions and uses them profitably to reflect on how to live in the world, his primary concern is to show that the Scripture and Jesus, himself, can only be understood well in light of these traditions.
The Bible and Philosophy
It’s often overlooked, but the Old Testament presents itself as ancient philosophy speaking into each of the four major philosophical areas. Metaphysics: It teaches that God is the sole creator of all that exists, that time is linear, and that the world is broken by sin and evil. Epistemology: Knowing is relational and to know is a way of coming to see the world in a particular way. Ethics: The biblical ethic is integrally related to the covenantal framework and promotes virtue: the “sensibilities, values, and habits” that a person ought to possess (47). Politics: Kingdom conduct is centered on the two great love commands that are necessary for human flourishing.
Similarly, the teaching of the NT is philosophical. The gospels are written according to the standards of the ancient biography genre which was commonly used to commend a philosopher’s teaching and way of life. The gospels also cast Jesus using the techniques of ancient philosophy: aphorism, parable, and epitome.
The same is seen in the rest of the NT. Metaphysics: Not only is all creation attributed to God, but Jesus is seen as the organizing and sustaining principle of creation. Epistemology: The NT contributes to our understanding by demonstrating that the only way to true knowledge of God is Jesus and his Holy Spirit. Ethics: The NT teaches an ethic that is fundamentally imitative rooted in God’s character and agentic, meaning that the person doing the actions matter. The only way to human flourishing, according to the NT, is pursuing a virtuous way of living.
Emotions
After Pennington establishes the necessity of philosophy and that the Bible self-consciously addresses philosophy, he focuses on two specific areas of philosophy that the Bible addresses that contribute to human flourishing. The first is our emotions.
There are two primary views on emotions. Some people describe emotions as merely mental states, and others tend to describe emotions as merely physical states. These opposing approaches tend to result in differing methodologies for addressing the negative aspects of emotion. For instance, Plato taught that emotions ought to be restrained to preserve clear thinking. The Stoic school, however, taught that emotions could be trained to produce ataraxia (tranquility) and apatheia (emotional detachment). Aristotle improved upon the Stoics by showing that fortune also impacts flourishing.
The Bible improves on each of these conceptions in a few ways. First, the God of the Bible is presented as emotional, and specifically, Jesus has emotions. So, emotional attachment is not commended. Instead, emotions should be trained and controlled, but not avoided. In fact, a key facet of the NT ethic is the command to educate our emotional life with the “knowledge and hope of God” (115). This occurs both positively (peace, patience, kindness, etc.) and negatively (Jesus consistently critiques the Pharisees for wrong emotions). Christians gather corporately to educate their emotions. And, individually we educate our emotions through reflection and prayer.
Relationships
The second issue in philosophy that Pennington considers is politeia. He does this under the heading of relationships because ultimately everything political is a matter of how relationships are ordered and structured.
In the thought-world surrounding the NT, there was significant thought given to the importance of relationships. Two kinds of relationships tended to be elevated in importance. First, family relationships were seen as the fundamental building blocks of society. Second, Aristotle suggested that friendship was foundational to a virtuous society. This insight has been neglected in modern society.
The entire message of the Bible can be fairly summarized as God’s entering into the world to reconcile and renew relationship between God and creation. The reconciliation of relationships starts with a family that becomes a society that establishes a kingdom. The kingdom is established by its king, God himself, which implies that every citizen should live in a certain way. Outwardly, the citizens of the kingdom, the church, “is an outward-directed, gracious political reality” (170). On an internal level, the citizens relate to each other according to “household codes” that promote flourishing within the household, marked not primarily by biological relationship, but on relationship to Jesus.
Conclusion
Pennington shows that ancient philosophers gave significant attention to topics like friendship, emotions and politics because they knew reflection on these topics was a path toward happiness. Today, everyone desires happiness, but the meaning derived from traditional sources like religion, home and country are disintegrating.
Christianity, however, is a whole-life philosophy that is totally true because it is based in the revelation of Jesus. As the Scripture is examined, this claim is validated by its remarkably sophisticated portrait of the human desire and motivation for happiness, and the way that it provides hope for all those who are suffering. For the reader who has eyes to see, the Scripture demonstrates that, truly, Jesus is a philosopher worth following.
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