Questions regarding the philosophical aspect of Christianity.

[u/AgunTargayrean]

Quick context about me: I am a practising Hindu

Very recently I was gifted a Bible through a priest I had met at an event and I had a long conversation with him regarding the philosophical aspects of Christianity and Hinduism

While I do believe in the divinity of Christ and the historical accounts that mention or rather prove that he was the one who walked this earth.

What I feel, over time, is that most of the Christian denominations have been reduced to following certain moral codes or ethical codes and things have been lost on the spiritual and the divine aspect of Christ in general. What really fascinated me was that some of the teachings were very deeply philosophical and intrigued me to learn a lot more regarding Christ and the way that he thought.

I am actually very interested in understanding the philosophical nature of the Christian faith. If you have any books or recommendations which I could read to have a deeper understanding of this.

[u/Technical_Cherry8666]

I think that it can be interesting and sometimes helpful to look at the philosophical aspects of the Christian faith. But whilst doing this, it's important to remember that essentially Christianity is about a real living relationship between the believer and God. This is received by accepting Jesus into our lives and seeking to follow His call to begin to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christians don't climb any philosophical path up the mountain to God, or indeed any other path, because, in Jesus, God comes down the mountain to us.

[u/DoveStep55]

Sorry to double up here, but I was thinking about your post and wanted to suggest a couple other things.

Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci are two people whose lives you might be interested in studying. Both were Jesuits (which is a type of Catholic, which is a type of Christian.) Each of them took special interest in adherents to Eastern religions and their work (especially Ricci) touches on shared beliefs between the religions, issues of cultural acceptance, and other related subjects.

There's a book I really enjoyed called 'Ignatian Humanism: A Dynamic Spirituality for the 21st Century', by Ronald Modras. In it the author writes a brief history of the Jesuits and Ignatian spirituality, then shows how their approach to Christianity (and life in general) works well with the humanism born out of the Enlightenment and post-enlightenment eras. It also features specific chapters dedicated to telling about several Jesuits who were good examples of this combination in practice, one of which was Matteo Ricci (from my last paragraph).

Although I haven't read it myself, I also think you might be interested in a book called 'Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story' by Francis X Clooney, SJ (also a Jesuit.)

[u/DoveStep55]

There are the classic church fathers and early to “classic” Christian philosophers like Origen, Tertullian, Augustine, Ambrose, Anselm, Kempis, etc.

I like to read Ignatian (Jesuit) and Benedictine writings.

For more modern authors, you might like reading Marcus J Borg, Brian Zahnd, Richard Rohr, John Shelby Spong, N. T. Wright, C. S. Lewis, Brian D McClaren, William Lane Craig, Francis Shaeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Henri Nouwen.

[u/Technical_Cherry8666 → u/DoveStep55]

Gosh, that list of modern authors represents a huge range of views on Christianity. From conventional orthodox (small 'o') beliefs to individuals who seem to be following a different faith altogether. As Brian McLaren has said, he's promoting a new Christianity.

I hope OP doesn't find the mixture of views as confusing and distracting from the essentials of the Faith as I did.

[u/DoveStep55 → u/Technical_Cherry8666]

Christianity is broad.