1/x. I frequently get asked what to read in philosophy. There are no shortcuts. If you started an MDiv w/o the equiv. of a minor in Phil. you were at a disadvantage fr Day 1. Up to a few decades ago Phil. & Gr. were required by good seminaries for ENTRANCE (!). So what to do now?

2/x. If you have never taken a Phil. course, you need 4 things: 1) a basic understanding of the hist. of Phil. & how it has influenced theology with an emphasis on ancient Gr. phil, 2) metaphysics, 3) ethics & 4) a course in Aristotelian logic. This is the basic minimum.

3/x. Ignore the mod. stuff (Descartes on) initially. You need a grasp of how 4 major figures have influenced West. thot: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine & Thomas Aquinas. The writings of P & Aug are more accessible than those of Aris & Th. Fortunately the latter have great expositors

4/x. Just signing up for whatever your local university or college offers in Phil. is a bad idea. Many college Phil. depts. teach sophistry & not actual Phil. Stay away. Pick profs who focus on anc. & med. figures for the most part. That might mean they actually care about Phil.

5/x. The internet is a rich resource but it is like a flea market. You have to paw thro the junk to find something valuable. I suggest the following books initially. But sooner or later you need to find a teacher.

6/x. Edward Feser has a blog & many books that are clearly written & very knowledgeable. He is a Thomist & a former atheist. Sharp. Does not suffer fools gladly.

'The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism' surveys the history of Phil. - a great place to start.

7.x. 'Five Proofs of the Existence of God' demonstrates that God's existence can be proven by reason. It covers the proofs of Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Thomas, & Liebniz.

'Aquinas' is a little intro to Thomas Aquinas that is as easy to understand as it gets. Read it first.

8.x. Recent writers who are more indebted to Plato &/or Aug. include C. S. Lewis, Lloyd Gerson & Peter Kreeft. Gerson's trilogy on Platonism, defines the central trad. in Phil. Lewis' 'Abolition of Man' is pure gold. See Kreeft's 'The Platonic Tradition.'

9.x. Much of the best philosophy has always been done outside uni. depts of Phil. - esp. today. Some of the great novelists, pol. thinkers & poets are the best phil'ers. Phil. is "love of wisdom" is not merely an acad discipline. We are all phil'ers; few of us are good ones.

10/10. I reccomend W. K. C. Guthrie's A History of Greek Phil. In 6 vols. he covers the pre-Socratics to Aris. If you think this is overkill, you know nothing. A. N. Whitehead said all phil. is a footnote to Plato, which is only a slight exaggeration.

All truth is God's truth.