Sophie's World

Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder is a mysterious book. The first mystery is how I came to possess a copy of this book in the first place. My oldest daughter has a fine at the library. She just bought a new car and has learned that gas and car repairs really eat into your spendable income. She can't afford her fine. She reads a lot. In desperation, she browsed our bookshelves for something to read. She found this book. Neither my husband nor I had read it before. Neither of us remember adding it to our home's library. But, my daughter was thrilled to find that we had something to read!

Her review, "Mom. This book is weird. The philosophy is good, but the story is weird."

My sentiments exactly! The story is weird, but the bird's eye view of philosophical thought is very well done. We home school. For the past three years, my oldest daughter's curriculum has included a combined philosophy and history course. I suspect the book contains everything my daughter remembers from her studies. This book is worth reading for that reason alone; it is quite enjoyable and thought provoking. Highly recommended.

"Nobody asked you to like it. But philosophy is not a harmless party game. It's about who we are and where we come from. Do you think we learn enough about that in school?" (page 186)

What we think matters. It affects how we behave, how we prioritize and what we believe to be true. My thoughts on Sophie's World are colored by my personal worldview. I suspect that most of the people that read here followed me from my regular blog and are aware of my worldview. For those who find this entry another way, I believe man can begin to understand truth through both reason and revelation. As long as I can remember I have had an understanding of the existence of God. I no longer try to answer the question of whether this understanding is innate or a result of my life experiences. As a young adult, I tried life without a theistic worldview and the consequences of my lifestyle choices were unpleasant. The scripture I accept as the oracles of God are the Jewish Tanakh and the first person accounts of life of Christ as preserved by the early church.

"These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." ~ Luke 24:44

Although this book is not anti-Christian, it doesn't present Christianity from a Christian worldview. Christ is presented as a great man and a great philosopher. But, he is presented as a man and not God in the flesh.

"I shall leave a more thorough study of Jesus and his teachings to your religion teacher. He will have quite a task. I hope he will succeed in showing what an exceptional man Jesus was." (page 156).

What I found striking as I thought through this book is how philosophy has led both Christians and humanists to a similar conclusion about society. Compare these two thoughts. First:

"The Enlightenment philosophers thought that once reason and knowledge became widespread, humanity would make great progress. It could only be a question of time before irrationalism and ignorance would give way to an 'enlightened' humanity." (page 312)

And:

"But Kant went further than simply to establish that these weighty questions should be left to the faith of the individual. He believed that it is essential for morality to presuppose that man has an immortal soul, that God exists, and that man has a free will." (page 328)

The first quote reminds me that we are still trying to create Eden through purely human efforts. In my opinion, the second clearly describes what is wrong with the Christian right today. The Westminster Shorter Confession answers the question, "What is the chief end of man," by affirming that we are to to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. While living a moral life might be a means to that end, it is not the end. Yet, ever since I have been old enough to vote, elections and campaign promises have been about legislating another person's life. In the process, America is less free than it was 20 years ago. The Christian right has supported anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, pro-family values candidates without questioning their big federal government, more regulations visions. No one seems to care that our country is broke. We can't create a perfectly moral world by human effort. The church needs to go back to her first commission. We should be making disciples and allowing the Holy Spirit to work out other people's salvation.

"After Marx, the socialist movement split into two main streams. Social Democracy and Leninism. Social Democracy, which has stood for a gradual and peaceful path in the direction of socialism, was Western Europe's way. We might call this the slow revolution." (page 397)

America continues its descent into socialism. As the government takes substantial control over the day to day operations of the country, I will have less choice about how I want to spend my time, talents and treasures. I believe a socialist government is inherently oppressive. But, I will always be free, God created me with a free will. I can choose to act and think in a way that is contrary to my nature.

I was glad that the author of Sophie's World seemed to recognize that socialism doesn't necessarily equate to Utopia.

"There will probably never be a 'promised land.' Mankind will always create new problems to fight about." (page 397)