A Christian View of Men & Things

Introduction The three-fold purpose of the book "A Christian View of Men and Things" (1952) by Gordon Haddon Clark is: 1) To look at several fields to see what a fully developed Christian worldview is, 2) To clarify the Christian worldview by contrasting it with naturalism, and 3) To serve as a brief introduction to philosophy. The purpose of this paper is to outline the skeleton of the book, leaving the meat for those who read it. To praise God for the flower he created requires us to first have studied, or at least noticed, the flower. In the same way, Philosophizing is an act of worship of God's eternal truths. Some questions of philosophy: 1) Where is history taking us? 2) What is the best form of government? 3) Should each society make its own ethical code? 4) Is thinking actually just electrical energy of nervous excitation? 5) Is any person's opinion superior to any others? Clark asserts: 1) Truth should be a rational system, logically ordered, somewhat like geometry with its theorems and axioms, its implications and presuppositions. 2) Man does not have to know everything just to know something - just as higher mathematics is not required to know the truth of basic addition. If truth is an interrelated whole, then Christianity and naturalism cannot coexist as both being true. Each system proposes to interpret all the facts. The classical proofs for the existence of God fail. For example, the cosmological argument ("there must be a designer") cannot prove God is capable of creating anything more than has already been created, nor can it prove God's omniscience and eternal qualities. What is needed is a comprehensive system of thought that is internally consistent. This method will dispense with many competing world views. When you take actions in your daily life, you have already chosen a philosophic worldview. There is no neutral or intermediate position. Since we must choose a first principle, why not choose the one that is consistent over one that is blatantly self-contradictory. The Philosophy of History The general problem of history is the formulation of laws which will enable us to understand the course of events and to make a probable guess about the future. Many have worked on with this problem. Herbert Spencer concludes "so surely must man become perfect." If man is progressing toward perfection, but the world ends before the goal is reached, then the concept of progress looses its meaning. If this objection is overlooked, what will ensure man's progress? If scientific knowledge can produce evil as well as good, it cannot protect us from extinguishing ourselves with biological warfare. If social planners can reform humans into better members, they could just as easily make mankind worse. If biological evolution does not guarantee man's survival over that of the savage beast or parasite, then it certainly cannot ensure our perfection. The concept of progress demands an end-goal to which progress can be measured. For

The cheif virtue of this book is the range of topics that it covers. It looks at the philosophy of politics, history, ethics, religion and epistemology and exposes the major flaws in contemporary secular thinking in relation to these issues. Most other apologetic works that i have read deal with the defense of the faith in a more narrow sense, but this book aims at showing christians how to think about nearly everything. Quite an ambitious project, and of course, 250 pages is not enough to delve into the details but nevertheless, the book accomplishes what it sets out to do. Another strength is the readability. The ideas are clearly explained and are ready to be taken into use by the reader straight after completion of the book. Here comes the critique: although this book is good at exposing rotten ideas, it does not offer a sufficient amount of biblical answers to the problems of modern thought. It feels like the reader is left with the tools to tear down, but not with the tools to offer a reasonable alternative. All in all, i'd say that this is the one of the best apologetic works i've read. It will definitely provide you with the tools to "tear down strongholds", but if you want to build a christian theory of knowledge, ethics and so forth, you'll need to complement it with other works.

Of Clark's philisophical works, this stands as one of the best, excepting perhaps his larger introduction to philosophy entitled, "Thales to Dewey." His aim in "A Christian View of Men and Things" is threefold (from the introduction): 1) To demonstrate what a a theistic worldview would be by exploring its implications in several fields. 2) To contrast theism and naturalism and trace the divergent implication of these two types through various subjects in order to clarify our understanding of both. 3)To phrase the whole in an elementary introduction to philosophy. The strength of Clark's approach is that although the introduction is very comprehensive in scope, there is no loss of precision and detail. You will see a very well organized and tightly argued work from beginning to end. This work affected me in two ways: After reading so much 'religious' trash,so called 'apologetical' books, and having been heavily influenced by naturalism, i realized that theism can at least be shown to be intellectually viable if nothing else, and secondly, that naturalism is suspiciously full of hot air. Naturalistic arguments are quite simplistic and easy to come-by. There is nothing systematic, no consistency in naturalism--what you have is random chaos. In any case, the defenition of both worldviews and the corresponding explanation of their several implications has proven to be very helpful to me in organizing my thoughts in the hopes of one day accepting either one of the two systems without reservation. And thanks to Clark, i am leaning to the right. THis work is indispensible if you wish to understand the two great systems of philosophy. It is really quite broad in scope and exciting.

Clark's overview of truly Christian philosophy is the best such book that I have read and one of the best books I have read, period. His philosophy is consistent across domains, which is something that many, more famous philosophers have never been able to achieve. To witness such an achievement is something of which no student of philosophy should deprive himself. Clark's lucidity and consistency demand and demonstrate the highest standards in philosophical inquiry and writing, and the final result is compelling. Not to be missed.