I need to recall the name of the ancient christian philosopher who was adamently against knowledge?

Question

I am trying to get the name of this philosopher I just remember he was against knowledge because he viewed it as a threat to religion. He professed that one should know less and focus more on faith.

Answer 1

You might be talking about the Apostle Paul. He talked a lot about how to disarm the world's hold on you by having faith. Here is one passage in particular. The other passages I found when I ran a keyword search of knowledge + faith in several translations was "knowledge of Jesus Christ"...as in, hearing the Gospel. He was not talking about worldly knowledge.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=61&chapter=6&verse=19&end_verse=21&version=50&context=context

Personally, I have a hard time with Paul. I think he was kind of a jerk, and if I haven't gotten the right person you were talking about, I think they have it wrong too.

Faith is accepting what you cannot see, understanding that it doesn't matter if you know it all, but knowing that it doesn't matter. Faith is trusting in the Other because they know more and you believe that the Other will help you through your ignorance.

Faith is so important to Christians. It is how I sleep at night, believing that I will wake to a sun the next morning, and if I don't, that I will wake up with my Creator. But that doesn't mean I can't seek knowledge.

Acquiring knowledge is equally important, and it is essential for evangelism. If you are going to reach out to others, you have to know a little something about them. You want to know how you will be received, how they will best receive your message, what they are missing in their lives (food, clothing, peace of mind, forgiveness, a way to know God) so that you can be seen as someone who helped them see God through you. Not only that, you have to have real world knowledge about how to live your own life...real world skills so you have a way to pay your bills, invest your money, drive a car, feed your family. So education, seeking knowledge about "secular" things...well, that is important too.

I believe we were created with infinite brainpower. Even the most deficient among us have more capacity to know things than anyone can comprehend. It isn't there by accident. We are meant to know things. To seek things.

I guess I can sum it up by saying that knowledge tells you how to navigate the course but faith makes you want to run the race.

Answer 2

I know of a philosopher who shows this thinking, but he is not a christian. But he doesn't see knowledge as a threat to his religion, Taoism. More of a cause of a lot of problems. Taoism is a religion that does not believe in a supreme being. It does not recognize a God as the reason of everything. They have deities and immortals, however they are secondary to the Tao. They only represent ideas of morality and living.

There is a book titled "Tao Te Ching", it is a compilation of 81 'poems' written by Lao Tzu. He wrote this book about 2500 years ago. There are many, many translations of this book. In fact it is the 2nd most translated book that exists, the most translated being the bible.


(This is the 19th 'poem')

By following Tao and abandoning knowledge and human teaching,
The multitude of problems due to the temporal morality will disappear.
By giving up the justice done by laws and rules,
The natural justice will emerge.
Renouncing to profit and expensive things,
Society will get rid of thieves and robbers.
By giving up these three things,
Simplicity, naturalness and abundance will be obtained.

Banish wisdom, discard knowledge,
And the people shall profit a hundredfold;
Banish "humanity," discard "justice,"
And the people shall recover love of their kin;
Banish cunning, discard "utility,"
And the thieves and brigands shall disappear.
As these three touch the externals and are inadequate,
The people have need of what they can depend upon:

Reveal your simple self,
Embrace your original nature,
Check your selfishness,
Curtail your desires.
Embrace the Tao.