Midterm

Question 1

Explain this equation: R-F=M

Answer 1

Reason-Faith=Modernism

Question 2

Explain this equation: F-R=E

Answer 2

Faith-Reason=Existentialism

Question 3

Explain this equation: -F-R=P

Answer 3

-Faith-Reason=Postmodernism

Question 4

What must philosophy be attached to always?

Answer 4

Sociology

Question 5

Which is the best description to the Christian approach to life and Scripture?

Answer 5

Premodern

Question 6

Rationalism focuses on what at the epistemological starting point?

Answer 6

Reason

Question 7

Empiricism focuses on what at the epistemological starting point?

Answer 7

Senses

Question 8

Which best describes postmodernism?

Answer 8

Pessimism of metanarratives

Question 9

What did German Historical Criticism lead to?

Answer 9

Liberalism

Question 10

Who claimed in the 400s BC that “relativism is knowledge”?

Answer 10

Stoics

Question 11

Which two Greek philosophers had the greatest impact on philosophy and theology?

Answer 11

Plato & Aristotle

Question 12

How did Plotinus “baptize” Plato?

Answer 12

Immersed Plato’s thought into the theology

Question 13

When Plato spoke of the “One” how much did he claim we could know?

Answer 13

Not much, mostly agnostic about any positive knowledge about the One

Question 14

What two things made up the “universal” that made sense of all the “particulars” according to Aquinas?

Answer 14

Human Reason & Faith

Question 15

What was the new “center” of Enlightenment hope?

Answer 15

Reason

Question 16

What “universal” did Descartes begin with?

Answer 16

His mind

Question 17

Without scientific proof as the basis of knowing, what did the Enlightenment say you were left with?

Answer 17

Opinions

Question 18

Who believed there were no “innate principles” or ideas in us at creation?

Answer 18

John Locke

Question 19

Why is it important to understand what historical liberalism is?

Answer 19

To see why it collapsed into postmodernism

Question 20

What did modernism lead to?

Answer 20

Postmodernism

Question 21

Once Descartes proves his own existence, what did he attempt from there to go on to prove?

Answer 21

God

Question 22

In the Enlightenment many “christian” thinkers saw revelation as what?

Answer 22

Unnecessary

Question 23

Contrast the Upper floor and the Lower floor describing what is in each.

Answer 23

Upper Floor: intangible things like love, justice, etc.

Lower Floor: the physical or the material world, the observable

Question 24

What is a meta-narrative?

Answer 24

A story that explains all the particulars of life

Question 25

Discuss how the “meta-narrative” engages the Upper and Lower floors.

Answer 25

They are inter-connected, and what you say in one will affect the other. They have to be inter-connected to live coherently.

Question 26

How was Aquinas the “open door” to liberalism?

Answer 26

The mind is not fallen

Question 27

What was the next jump from Aquinas’ notion “we can start with ourselves alone and know God”?

Answer 27

We could start with ourselves and know everything

Question 28

What is the first principle behind studying history for Apostolics?

Answer 28

God knows the meaning of history better than everyone

Question 29

Which ancient people united religious awe and worship with moral law and conscience?

Answer 29

The Jewish people

Question 30

What was the end of epicurean thought?

Answer 30

Hedonism

Question 31

What was the end of stoicism and how was it proven unlivable from the example of its two founding philosophers?

Answer 31

Fatalism, it is illustrated true by the two founding philosophers because they both committed suicide.

Question 32

What is the biggest contrast in ethics for Hebrew and Greek thought?

Answer 32

Greeks taught ethics in theory, Hebrews in practice

Question 33

Scripture contradicts with the Greek idea that “our head judges our heart” by pointing out what instead?

Answer 33

Our heart judges our head

Question 34

Which was the most dangerous of the three options for approaching medieval catholic synthesis?

Answer 34

Supposed Critical Synthesis

Question 35

What has the desire for “academic respectability” done for the Church throughout all history according to John Frame?

Answer 35

It has hurt the evangelism and the apologetics of the church.

Question 36

Why is “the Enlightenment” an ironic term?

Answer 36

It’s deconstructing Truth, and it led to the creation of the darkest time spiritually in history.

Question 37

For the Enlightenment what was the tool that would answer all of life’s questions?

Answer 37

The Scientific Method

Question 38

What “reduction of the heart” did Romanticism reduce humanity to?

Answer 38

Sentiment

Question 39

What did Romanticism lead to (its philosophical child)?

Answer 39

Existentialism

Question 40

Have you kept up on all your reading of Swanson?

Answer 40

Yes