Socratic Methods Used to Cast Doubt on God
The Socratic Method and Its Relation to Casting Doubt on God
The Socratic method, a philosophical approach characterized by questioning and dialogue, has been employed throughout history to challenge various beliefs and understandings, including those related to the existence and nature of God. This method, attributed to Socrates, involves probing questions to encourage critical thinking and expose underlying assumptions or contradictions [2].
Early Christian writers were aware of the Socratic method and its potential implications for theological discussions. For instance, Hippolytus critiques Hermogenes for adopting the Socratic philosophy, suggesting that it influenced Hermogenes' views on the nature of God and creation [1]. Similarly, Augustine discusses Socrates' shift in focus from natural phenomena to ethics, indicating an awareness of Socratic methodology in early Christian thought [2].
The use of the Socratic method to cast doubt on God or divine matters is not directly endorsed by major Christian traditions represented in the sources. Instead, these traditions often emphasize the limitations of human reason and the importance of faith. For example, Calvin critiques those who indulge their curiosity beyond the bounds of divine revelation, suggesting that excessive speculation can lead to error [6]. Similarly, Charles Hodge warns against relying on reason or philosophy as a guide in matters of religion, advocating for a humble reception of divine truth [7].
In the context of biblical interpretation, the Socratic method can be seen as analogous to the questioning and probing found in scripture. For instance, Abraham's dialogue with God regarding Sodom (Genesis 18:23-33) and Sarah's incredulity at the promise of a son (Genesis 18:12-15) illustrate how biblical figures engage with divine announcements or commands. Calvin's commentary on Sarah's laughter highlights her limitation of God's power to her own understanding, demonstrating how human skepticism can be addressed through divine correction [3].
The early Christian fathers also grappled with the challenge of heretical interpretations of scripture, which sometimes employed methods akin to the Socratic questioning to undermine orthodox beliefs. Irenaeus, for example, refutes the interpretations of certain heretics, showing how they misuse scripture to support their own systems [4].
The Reformed tradition, as represented by Calvin and Hodge, emphasizes the authority of scripture and the importance of faith in understanding divine truth. While acknowledging the value of reason, they caution against its misuse in theological inquiry. Calvin discusses the errors that arise from unchecked curiosity and the failure to submit to divine oracles [6]. Hodge distinguishes between a speculative approach, which relies on reason, and a mystical or intuitive approach, which trusts in the inward teaching of the Spirit, though he also warns against mysticism when it distrusts reason entirely [5, 8].
Sources
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 5: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian — CHAP. X.--HERMOGENES; ADOPTS THE SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY; HIS NOTION CONCERNING THE BIRTH AND BODY OF OUR LORD.: But a certain Hermogenes,(5) himself also imagining that he propounded some novel opinion, said that God made all things out of coeval and ungenerated matter. For that it was impossible that God could make generated things out of things that are not. And that God is always 123 Lord, and always Creator, and matter always a subservient (substance), and that which is assuming phases of being--not, however, the whole of it. For when it was b”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 3.--OF THE SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY. (part 1): Socrates is said to have been the first who directed the entire effort of philosophy to the correction and regulation of manners, all who went before him having expended their greatest efforts in the investigation of physical, that is, natural phenomena. However, it seems to me that it cannot be certainly discovered whether Socrates did this because he was wearied of obscure and uncertain things, and so wished to direct his mind to the discovery of something manifest and certain, which wa”
- CCEL (Reformed) “Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 (Gen 1-23), section 22.12: the following circumstances, that the angel had his back turned to the tent, and that Sarah laughed within herself, and not before others. The censure also shows that the laughter of Sarah was joined with incredulity. For there is no little weight in this sentence, ‘Can anything be wonderful with God?’ But the angel chides Sarah, because she limited the power of God within the bounds of her own sense. An antithesis is therefore implied between the immense power of God, and the contracted measure which Sarah imagined to herself, t”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 1: Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus — CHAP. IX.--REFUTATION OF THE IMPIOUS INTERPRETATIONS OF THESE HERETICS. (part 1): 1. You see, my friend, the method which these men employ to deceive themselves, while they abuse the Scriptures by endeavouring to support their own system out of them. For this reason, I have brought forward their modes of expressing themselves, that thus thou mightest understand the deceitfulness of their procedure, and the wickedness of their error. For, in the first place, if it had been John's intention to set forth that Ogdo”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 7: be admitted by all evangelical Christians. And it is because such Christians do hold to this inward teaching of the Spirit, that they are often called Mystics by their opponents. This, however, is not what is here meant. The mystical method, in its supernatural form, assumes that God by his immediate intercourse with the soul, reveals through the Feelings and by means, or in the way of intuitions, divine truth independently of the outward teaching of his Word; and that it is this inward light, and not the Scriptures, which we are to follow”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 29: it indulges its curiosity, and thus submit to be guided by the divine oracles, how much soever the mystery may be beyond our reach. 22. It were tedious, and to no purpose toilsome, to form a catalogue of the errors by which, in regard to this branch of doctrine, the purity of the faith has been assailed. The greater part of heretics have with their gross deliriums made a general attack on the glory of God, deeming it enough if they could disturb and shake the unwary. From a few individuals numerous sects have sprung up, some of the”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 19: reason or wisdom, in order to receive the wisdom of God. Our Lord told his disciples that unless they were converted and became as little children, they could not enter into the kingdom of God. And the Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, and in those addressed to the Ephesians and Colossians, that is, when writing to those imbued with the Greek and with the oriental philosophy, made it the indispensable condition of their becoming Christians, that they should renounce philosophy as a guide in matters of religion, and receive ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 7: § 4. The Mystical Method . Few words have been used with greater latitude of meaning than mysticism. It is here to be taken in a sense antithetical to speculation. Speculation is a process of thought; mysticism is matter of feeling. The one assumes that the thinking faculty is that by which we attain the knowledge of truth. The other, distrusting reason, teaches that the feelings alone are to be relied upon, at least in the sphere of religion. Although this method has been unduly pressed, and systems of theology have been constructed under”