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PHI 222 - Philosophy And Christian Theology

Department: Philosophy

Description: Philosophical examination of selected central ideas in Christianity, such as the incarnation, the trinity, sin, salvation, and ethics. Standard philosophical methodologies will be employed.

Credit Hours: 3

Current Offerings

For the most up-to-date course information, please check the registration system through your MyIllinoisState portal.

Fall 2025

  • 001 - Lecture (Hybrid): Multiple Meetings, Daniel Breyer - 3.00 hour(s)

Meeting Times:

Instructor: Daniel Breyer

Class Notes: Course Description: Christian theology involves reasoning about God and God’s relationship to creation from a Christian perspective. Philosophy involves thinking methodically and critically about abstract issues of ultimate importance, in the hope of understanding those issues more deeply and fully than before. For 2000 years, Christian theology and philosophy have had an interesting relationship—sometimes friendly, sometimes antagonistic. In this course, we will chart some of this history, as we look at the relationship between faith and reason in the Christian tradition. For the most part, however, we will examine the recent revival of philosophical interest in Christian doctrine and explore contemporary work in philosophical theology. In general, there are two types of philosophical theology. One type is known as natural theology; this is the attempt to argue that certain religious claims (for instance, that God exists) are true without appealing to divine revelation as a source of evidence. The other type of philosophical theology examines whether certain doctrinal claims are conceptually coherent and independently plausible. In this course, we will focus mainly on this second type of philosophical theology, as we will philosophically explore crucial Christian doctrines such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement, among other topics. The course will introduce you to many interesting ideas in philosophical theology and to many important Christian thinkers, such as Origen of Alexandria, Augustine of Hippo, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Alvin Plantinga, among many others. After you complete the course, you should have a deeper understanding of (i) the Christian intellectual history; (ii) the relationship between theology and philosophy; and (iii) the nature of central Christian doctrines. My hope is that you’ll walk away from the course with a new appreciation for the relationship between philosophy and Christian theology and for the clarity and insight that philosophical analysis can provide.

Textbooks are not required for this section.