Wisdom for Thinkers: Introduction to Christian Philosophy, Vol. I (Academic Introductions for Beginners)

by Willem J. Ouweneel

Publisher:

Paideia Press

, 2020

Overview

What is a thing? What is the nature of reailty? There are only 26 letters in the alphabet. But with those 26 letters over one million English language words can be formed. There are only 88 notes on a common keyboard. Place those notes at the disposal of trained musicians and their instruments, and Bono or Beethoven will send the soul soaring. The numbers 0 to 9 are whole numbers. That’s all there are - 10 digits. Yet his handful of digits enables numeration to go on into infinity. Science students are intimately acquainted with the Table of Elements. Two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen form water. Without it life ceases. Fundamentals are indispensable to acquiring knowledge. They are the steel beams within which the entire paradigm of knowledge is constructed. So everyone knows their ABC’s, their Do, Re, Mi’s and their 1-2-3’s. But did you know that hardly anyone can summarize, in order, the sixteen different ways all things (entities) on earth exist?

“What constitutes the unity and diversity of reality?”

In your hands you hold a clear explanation of the 16 different ways in which all things function. Willem Ouweneel, who holds PhD degrees in biology, philosophy, and theology, brilliantly takes the reader, step by step, through what are called the “16 modalities”. Willem wrote this book on the assumption that most readers are unfamiliar with what constitutes the divinely structured unity and diversity of reality.

After reading this book, you will have a better understanding and appreciation of creation and the ingenuity of your Creator! In the process you will also find the answer to the riddle that has escaped philosophers since the days of Plato and Aristotle.

Key Features

• Offers a clear explanation of the 16 different ways in which all things function
• Provides readers with a better understanding and appreciation of creation and the ingenuity of the Creator
• Begins with the understanding that most readers are unfamiliar with the divinely ordained unity and diversity that shape reality

Contents

• “What Is” Questions
• Theories are Useful
• The Basic Questions
• Philosophy is Unavoidable
• Two “Legs”
• Our Worldview
• Philosophies are not Worldviews
• Faith and Beliefs
• Religion
• Christian Philosophy
• True and False Religion
• Questions for Review

Knowledge and Wisdom

• Philosophy and Science
• Two Roots
• Early Christianity and the Middle Ages
• The Modern Age
• The Twentieth Century
• Reformational Philosophy
• Religious Ground-Motives (1)
• Modern Philosophical Schools
• Faith, Reason, Feeling
• Some Special Points
• Religious Ground-Motives (2)
• Questions for Review

A Christian View of Cosmic Reality

• The Coherence of the Special Sciences
• Humanities
• Sequential Order and Arrangement
• Phenomena and Aspects
• Sixteen Modal Aspects?
• Idolatry
• Properties of Modal Aspects
• Historical Note
• Finally: Time
• Temporal Modalities
• Questions for Review

Cosmic Reality and God’s Law

• Law-Spheres
• Natural Laws and Norms
• Discovering Norms and Laws
• Subject-Functions
• Object-Functions
• Four Additional Remarks
• Christian Meaning
• Kernels
• Analogies
• The Law as Boundary
• Structure and Direction
• Sin and Redemption
• Questions for Review

A Christian View of Entities

• Kinds of Entities
• Nature and Culture
• The Notion of the Idionomy
• Encapsis
• The Structure of a Plant
• The Structure of a Lower Animal
• The Structure of a Higher Animal
• Questions for Review

A Christian Anthropology

• The First Human Idionomy
• The Next Three Human Idionomies
• Man’s Spiritive Idionomy
• Man’s Ego
• Dichotomy and Trichotomy
• The End of Dualism
• A New Approach
• Marriage and Family
• The State
• The Church
• Other Societal Relationships
• Questions for Review

A Philosophy of Science

• Scientism
• Biblioscientism
• Critical, Well-Founded Knowledge
• Systematic, Coherent Knowledge
• Detached, Unconcerned Knowledge
• Analytical, Abstract Knowledge
• Objective, Reproducible Knowledge
• Criteria Of Science
• Science and Abstraction
• Practical Observation
• “Laden” Sensations
• Practical versus Theoretical Observations
• Theoretical Observations
• Theoretical Entities and Laws
• Questions for Review

Science and Worldviews

• The Sensitive Aspect
• The Logical Aspect
• The Formative Aspect
• The Social Aspect
• The Pistical Aspect
• “The” Western Worldview
• “Scientific” Worldviews
• Naturalism
• Consequences Within Science
• A Christian Worldview
• Questions for Review

Philosophy and Theology

• Theological and Philosophical Guilt
• Some General Statements
• Philosophical Premises for Theology
• Rationalism versus Irrationalism
• No Theology Without Philosophy
• The Origin of Theology’s Philosophical Premises
• Misunderstandings
• Good and Bad Theology/Philosophy
• The Hermeneutical Circle
• Foreign Elements in Christian Philosophy?
• Questions for Review

Truth

• Is Christian Philosophy True?
• Science and Truth
• God Teaches the Farmer
• Theories of Truth
• Correspondence
• Scientific Realism
• Instrumentalism
• Critical Realism
• Theoretical Truth
• Partial Truth
• The A PRIORI Elements of Truth
• Questions for Review

Product Details

• Title: Wisdom for Thinkers: An Introduction to Christian Philosophy, Vol. 1
• Author: Willem J. Ouweneel
• Series: Academic Introductions for Beginners
• Publisher: Paideia Press
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 224
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9780888152596, 0888152590
• Resource ID: LLS:WSDMTHPHLSPHY01
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-06-19T20:02:26Z

About Willem J. Ouweneel

Willem J. Ouweneel  earned his Ph.D. in biology at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands, 1970), his Ph.D. in philosophy at the Free University in Amsterdam (The Netherlands, 1986), and his Ph.D. in theology at the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein (Republic of South Africa, 1993). Among many other things, he has been professor of the Philosophy of Science for the Natural Sciences at the University for Christian Higher Education in Potchefstroom (Republic of South Africa, 1990-1998), and professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Leuven (Belgium, 1995- 2014. He is a well-known evangelical speaker and debater as well as a prolific writer (mainly in Dutch), and has preached in more than thirty countries. Several times he was a candidate for Dutch Christian political parties. Dr. Ouweneel’s many books include The World is Christ’s: A Critique of Two Kingdoms Theology and The Heidelberg Diary: Daily Devotions on the Heidelberg Catechism. He resides in the Netherlands.