6. Chris Firestone, What Do You See as Challenges & Opportunities for Christian Philosophers Today?

you there are a lot of them we now see cultural chains in in you know just really historic proportions I think that's new to Christian philosophy certainly in the United States but in the West in general and how do we speak Christian truth in a culture that isn't really as as prepared to hear it as it once was and so philosophy can help us to to I think get the language in the approach and the methods for reaching people with the truth of the gospel it can other other questions I think the problem of evil continues to be with us and as technology advances evil becomes even more potent in some ways we're seeing it certainly in the United States and around the world and

I think Christian philosophy can help us to frame how culture and how people should be thinking about these questions very difficult questions you know lifestyle issues are really big these days and philosophy ethics and logic I think can help speak into those in ways that aren't confrontational in our of our deepest held beliefs and I think Christian philosophy can get at those things it you know I was convinced many many years ago by Francis Schaeffer's general call that we need people in Christian philosophy at the highest levels because persons get their worldview their belief system down the road trickle-down effect from the ivy towers of the Academy and if we and if all we have are pastors and theologians reacting to cultural change and new

belief systems rather being in the forefront of establishing those in dealing with them in the ivory towers as it were we're behind the eight ball already we're already just trying to catch up and so Schafer you know I don't always agree with every one of his details regarding how we interpret certain philosophers but he had an incredible ability to kind of see the big picture and I was convinced back the day that we need guys not unlike myself not unlike yourself in these positions talking with the with the top people around the world so that we might be ahead of the curve and that is a that goes underappreciated in our churches it goes underappreciated with our financial dealings we got a lot of starving

young Christian philosophers out there trying to do PhDs and trying to break into those ivory towers and it's very hard for people I think to understand how important that really is Schaffer understood it and that's what I always appreciated it about him and we need Christian philosophy influencing the influencers in the in the Academy and that's one of the reasons I went into it in the first place not for the you know for the fame but for the real impact it can have on people's lives in the long run