The Impulse of
Power:
An analysis of Western
Man's guiding Presuppositions by Jack
Kettler
After having had the pleasure of
reading Dr. Michael W. Kelley's two previous
works, On
Stone or Sand, the Ethics of Christianity,
Capitalism & Socialism and The Burden of
God: Studies in Wisdom and Civilization from
the Book of Ecclesiastes, I eagerly
awaited the publication of this present
volume.
I was not disappointed. Dr.
Kelley has emerged as a scholar par
excellence. In this present work, Dr. Kelley
demonstrates his comprehensive knowledge of
the philosophy and history of Western
Civilization. Of significant value is Dr.
Kelley's examination of the enormous influence
Greek philosophy, mainly Plato's, has had on
Western man's view of government: ran by an
elite group of philosopher wise-men or experts
with its oftentimes accompanying tyranny.
His analysis of Christianity's unique
contribution to Western Civilization, both
positive as a moral force and negative when
infused with pagan ideas, is particularly
notable. A man has been accurately described
as incurably religious, or a religious
creature. Consequently, it is not a question
of whether humanity will be religious; it is
the question of which religion will a man
follow. Similarly, Dr. Kelley argues, “that
man has a natural-born `impulse' to power”
(308). In other words, basic to man's created
nature, a man among other things are destined
to be a cultural-creature. It then becomes a
conflict between which religion will inspire
man's “impulse” to build a culture. Will
humanity self-consciously attempt to build a
culture upon his own ideas (humanism) or upon
the revelation of God in Scripture?
Dr. Kelley in this excellent elucidation of
Western Civilization and its formative ideas
challenges the adherents of Christianity to
build a culture with consistency and
faithfulness to its covenantal presuppositions
in the areas of epistemology, metaphysics, and
ethics with the goal of fulfilling God's
ordained purposes in history.
Note: Dr. Kelley's book may be out of print at
this time. However, a search on the Internet
may turn up a used copy. It is well worth
tracking down a used copy of this book if a
new copy cannot be found.
Does Greek Philosophy influence
Christians?
In his book The Reformed Pastor
and Modern Thought, Dr. Van Till says the
following concerning Greek philosophy:
The ultimate concern of the Reformers was
to bring the fullness of grace in its purity
to men. They, therefore, sought to set it
free from the encrustations of Greek
metaphysics, which are the metaphysics of
fallen man. (171)
Van Til's use of the word encrustation shows
how pervasive he believed Greek philosophy to
be. The philosophical positions advanced by
the Greeks influenced mainly the areas of
epistemology, ontology, ethics, and teleology
that the Greek argumentation is a sufficient
cause for positions that have been adopted by
western religions and philosophy.
While admitting that many
aberrational religions and philosophers may
not be aware of the original source of some of
their positions, they nevertheless are
dependent upon Greek philosophical ideas at
numerous points. Apostate thinking down to the
present day has never escaped entirely from
Greek thought. I believe that many forms of
paganism are related, too, and are the result
of the superior apostate thinking of the Greek
philosophers.
Has Christianity been
influenced by Greek Philosophy?
Only Christianity has been able
to break free from Greek apostate thinking.
This is true insofar as the Christian follows
the Reformers in placing the self-attesting
Christ, speaking authoritatively in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as
paramount in all thought. One of the battle
cries of the Reformation was “sola
scriptura.” Paul describes it this way:
“Casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2
Corinthians 10:5). Every other form of western
philosophy has to a large extent resulted from
the thinking of the Greeks. The religions of
the west have suffered from the same problem.
There is a relationship between religion and
philosophy. Philosophy deals with how we know
things, the nature of reality, ethics, and
concepts of history. The Bible also deals with
these same questions although there is a
different emphasis.
Some comments from Gordon Clark's Thales
to Dewey may be helpful concerning
Christianity and pagan influence. Clark makes
the following summary in his section on
paganism and Christianity:
For such reasons as these it may be
concluded that paganism and Christianity are
radically distinct. Any points of similarity
are superficial and trivial. To speak of
them as alike is no better than identifying
Epicureanism and Platonism on the ground
that both were founded by men. This
conclusion is not weakened by two cautions
that should be observed. First, since the
New Testament was written in Greek, it uses
words found in pagan writings. John even
used the term Logos. But the point in
question is not the use of words but the
occurrence of ideas. Logos in John and
hypostasis in Hebrews are not evidence of
pagan ideas. Nor should one find Aristotle
in the Nicene Creed because it says God is a
substance or reality. One cannot forbid
Christian writers to use common words on
pain of becoming pagans. The second caution
is that while Christianity and the Greek
philosophies, as systems, have no element in
common, the Christians, as people, often
held pagan ideas. They had been converted
from paganism and could not divest
themselves of familiar modes of thought all
at once. Therefore when they came to expound
and defend Christianity, they inconsistently
made use of Platonism or Stoicism. By a long
and arduous struggle these inconsistent
elements were gradually removed from a few
fundamental areas, and thus a purely
Christian Nicene Creed came into being. But
on other topics, and especially in cases of
individual authorship, the struggle was not
so successful. Then, too, as time went on,
the attempts to escape pagan ideas and to
preserve the purity of New Testament thought
grew weaker, and one might say, almost
ceased. (195)
“Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach
me thy statutes.” (Psalm 119:12)
“Study to shew thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
(2 Timothy 2:15)
“To God, only wise, be glory
through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.” (Romans
16:27) and “heirs according to the promise.”
(Galatians 3:28, 29)
Mr. Kettler has previously
published articles in the Chalcedon
Report and Contra
Mundum. He and his wife Marea attend the
Westminster, CO, RPCNA Church. He served as an
ordained ruling elder in the Orthodox
Presbyterian Church. He worked in and retired
from a fortune five hundred company in
corporate America after forty years. He runs
two blogs sites and is the author of the book
defending the Reformed Faith against attacks,
titled: The
Religion That Started in a Hat.
Available at:
www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com