Influential Philosophies of Today
This list is certainly not exhaustive and was compiled for awareness use only, if you desire to compare philosophies, find out more about them, or would like to know the names of the people behind these and other philosophies (which is good to know especially if you are reviewing textbooks), please consider the resources presented at the bottom of this list.
Name and/or variant(s): Agnosticism, Philosophical Agnosticism
Description: A viewpoint that God is unknowable.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Atheism
Description: A viewpoint and philosophy that God does not exist. Atheism is generally opposed to monotheistic points of view as some of the basic concepts of atheism are similar to pantheism.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Conventionalism
Description: A philosophical attitude that fundamental principles are grounded on agreements in society, rather than on external reality.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Evolutionism, Darwinism, Neo-Darwinism, Macro-Evolution
Description: The belief that living organisms improve through progressive inherited changes over time and become more complex. Also a philosophy that promotes the idea that the universe exists as the result of random cosmic accidents.
Comments: Although often embraced by Christian organizations as the method God used to ‘create’ through evolution (often called theistic evolution) it is contrary to God’s Word. As discussed in chapter 29, this is a critical issue today as some people attempt to make it compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Existentialism, Postmodern Relativism
Description: A philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Higher Criticism, Documentary Hypothesis
Description: A philosophy that requires the understanding of the original historical context and the literal sense to understand any ancient text.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Materialism, Philosophical Monism, Physicalism
Description: A philosophy that holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature and that all phenomena are the result of material interactions.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Naturalism, Rationalistic Pantheism, Antisupernaturalism
Description: A philosophy that denies any supernatural intervention.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Pantheism
Description: A philosophy and religion that God is everything and everything is God. The view that God is identical with the cosmos, that nothing exists outside of God.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Phenomenology
Description: The study of phenomena or a philosophy that considers experience and consciousness. Most often limited to sensory perception through either hearing, seeing, touching, etc.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Philosophical Idealism, Dialectical Method
Description: A group of philosophies, which assert that reality, or reality, as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Pluralism
Description: A belief that every religion is true. Some may be ‘better’ than others, but all are adequate.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Positive Theology, Romanticism, Cataphatic Theology
Description: A philosophy that only uses ‘positive’ phraseology or terminology to describe or refer to the divine.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Processism
Description: A philosophy based on the premise that being is dynamic and that the dynamic nature of being should be the primary focus of any comprehensive philosophical account of reality and our place within it.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Progressivism
Description: The belief that progress (or advancement) in science, economic development, technology, social structure, etc. is necessary for the improvement of humanity.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Relativism
Description: A belief that there is no way to determine if a religion is true or not. Whatever is considered to be true by someone is true to them but may not be true to someone else, as there is no objective truth in religion. Some adherents even deny the existence of any absolute truth.
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Secular Humanism, Humanism
Description: A philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.
Comments: Not Compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Skepticism, Philosophical Skepticism, Religious Skepticism
Description: A philosophy that requires all information to be well supported by evidence (not beliefs or faith).
Comments: Not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Supernaturalism
Description: The philosophy that believes events and values require supernatural powers or authority for their explanation.
Comments: Most variations are not compatible with Christianity.
Name and/or variant(s): Theological Allegory, Allegorical Interpretation, Allegorizing, Christian Mysticism
Description: A philosophy of Biblical interpretation that requires the use of a hidden or symbolic parallel meanings.
Comments: While many types of figures of speech are incorporated in the Bible (including metaphors, synecdoches, etc.) the use of allegorical interpretation is never used within the Bible (ex. prophecies are always interpreted literally).
Name and/or variant(s): Theological Liberalism, Protestant Liberalism
Description: A philosophy of theology that incorporates modern thinking and developments including relativism and pluralism.
Comments: Although not compatible with Christianity, liberal thinking has infiltrated churches and Christian movements around the world. Some movements that have resulted from this thinking have been the Social Gospel movement, Myth of Christian Origins movement, Emerging church movement, Liberation Theology, Dominion Theology, Reconstructionism, Kingdom Now Theology, etc. Many of these movements deny or restrict the deity of Jesus.
Resources for additional information:
A History of Western Philosophy Volume I: Ancient and Medieval by Dr. Norman L. Geisler.[1]
A History of Western Philosophy Volume II: Modern and Postmodern: From Descartes to Derrida by Dr. Norman L. Geisler.[2]
Biblical Errancy: An Analysis of its Philosophical Roots Edited by Dr. Norman L. Geisler.[3]
Beware of Philosophy: A Warning to Biblical Scholars by Dr. Norman L. Geisler.[4]
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[1] Geisler, Norman L, (2012). A History of Western Philosophy Volume I: Ancient and Medieval. Bastion Books <bastionbooks.com>
[2] Geisler, Norman L, (2012). A History of Western Philosophy Volume II: Modern and Postmodern: From Descartes to Derrida. Bastion Books <bastionbooks.com>
[3] Geisler, Dr. Norman L, Editor (2013). Biblical Errancy: An Analysis of its Philosophical Roots. Revised, Second Edition. Bastion Books <bastionbooks.com>
[4] Geisler, Norman L, (2012). Beware of Philosophy: A Warning to Biblical Scholars. Bastion Books <bastionbooks.com>