Philosophy of Jesus, The

The four great philosophical questions, Kreeft says, are What is real? How can we know what is real? Who are we? and How should we live? They motivate the philosophical disciplines of metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical anthropology, and ethics, and from a Christian perspective, the answer to all four is Jesus. As God with us (Emanuel), he verifies that love is the fundamental reality. As God incarnate, he shows the truth of love, and by acting as he does we verify that truth. As perfect God and perfect human, he reveals that a person is the image of God. And the answer to the ethical question is in Jesus’ injunction, Follow me, the imitatio Christi. Of course, there is more to be said on the Christian response to each question, and Kreeft does it with admirable thoroughness and conciseness, taking care to draw illustrations from tangent conceptions in other faiths, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam besides Judaism, which is inextricable from Christianity. Throughout, Kreeft is the quintessence of lucidity and geniality.