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Podcast Throwback: Is the God of the Bible the God of the Philosophers?

, · January 16, 2024

It is not uncommon to hear some Christians today pit the God of the Bible against the “god of the philosophers.” It is assumed that the philosophers reasoned their way to a cold, inert, static, indifferent, and impersonal Being who resembles little the loving, covenant-making God of the Bible. They are distinct, and never the two shall meet. What God has torn asunder, let no man bring together. But is this dichotomy a fair one? In this episode of the Credo Podcast, Matthew Barrett talks to philosopher Eleonore Stump who pushes back against this common caricature. Stump looks to a prophet like Jonah to show that the classical attributes of God do not undermine but actually undergird God’s redeeming presence. Stump also introduces Thomas Aquinas, the most significant representative of the philosophers, and reveals that Thomas the Philosopher is none other than Thomas the Bible Teacher.

Eleonore Stump

Dr. Eleonore Stump is the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University. She is Honorary Professor at Wuhan University and at the Logos Institute, St. Andrews, and a Professorial Fellow at Australian Catholic University. She has published extensively in philosophy of religion, contemporary metaphysics, and medieval philosophy. Her books include Aquinas (2003), Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering (2010), and Atonement (2018).

Matthew Barrett

Matthew Barrett is the editor-in-chief of Credo Magazine, director of the Center for Classical Theology, and host of the Credo podcast. He is professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the author of several books, including Simply Trinity, which won the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award in Theology/Ethics. His new book is called The Reformation as Renewal: Retrieving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He is currently writing a Systematic Theology with Baker Academic.

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