You know how it is said there is nothing new under the sun? Well.. seriously there is indeed NOTHING new under the sun, the way people think and assume and turn away from one truth in search of another, you can call it one thing or another, but it’s still just a system of thought, and all systems get reworked. SINCE there is nothing new under the sun, studying the philosophers of old will help us gain great insight into how people think now and to trace the development of such thought. People want to find truth.
This searching after truth is one of the goals I have in the education of my son. I want so much for that to be a deep part of his life. If he can, by the time he enters the work force, be able to look at the statements people make and suss out the truth… I’ll think well done lad, well done.
With this end in mind, studying the philosophers of old, gives us a chance to search for the nugget of truth each of them possesses. As we look at what the philosophers taught, we see where they follow eternal truth and where they strayed. 
For a while we studied a new philosopher every week and then life got busy and it fell to the wayside. I am looking to get back into studying them as my lad is getting older and is better able to articulate his thoughts to me.
This means that we study philosophers I will ask him.. What is true in what they believe? Where do you think they went wrong?
In that process he will be learning some important skills
- Communication Skills.
- Critical reasoning skills
- Problem-solving skills
He will be learning to remember how to piece things together. It’s not always an easy thing, To see how one idea connects to another. I know I struggle with that sometimes, but as I was reading in John, sometimes if you remember one truth, it deepens your understanding and faith.
In learning to seek out truth it gives believers a way to connect with those who don’t yet know God. If you can see the truth, it gives you a common ground. Also if you can see where truth is lacking, it gives you a place to steer people toward. The more you understand where people are coming from, the more we are enable to shine the light of Jesus into their lives.
Using the philosophers of old will be a good grounding for learning these skills.
We’ve already studied a variety of philosophers some of which are:
Consider Dinogenes of Sinope. Who lived under a washing tub, giving up all he had in search of contentment and peace. The truth… we do have give up ourselves, giving ourselves over to something else (God) in order to truly find peace. His turning away from truth was in not realizing what we have give up TO God. That without God true peace cannot be attained.
Or Epicurus who believed that losing the fear of death would make a person happy. The bible tells us that death is conquered, we need not have any fear of it. (his seeing truth) This isn’t something we can do in our power though (His turning away from truth).
Then Mozi who thought that treating everyone the same would lead to universal peace. Seeing the truth that God calls us to love our neighbours as ourselves. But not seeing that it is God’s action that needs to peace between peoples.
Studying the philosophers of old, Christian or Not, helps us to better define our worldview and helps us to understand the world view of others. And in this changing world with folks making up their worldview as they go along, understanding how they get there helps us to form connections and thereby help us lead them seeing truth, as much as we can.
I hope you will join us as we embark on this journey.
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