The Consequence of Ideas is a book written by R.C. Sproul as a brief overview of the most influential “thinkers” of all time.
To be honest up front this book was quite a hard read for me. That might just mean I am a bit slower at understanding but truthfully I believe it’s because the art of “thinking” has not been taught in my generation. Nevertheless, as usual, I am going to write a short summary for my own understanding and memory.
Dr. Sproul writes of thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, John Locke, Soren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. He spends about 10 or so pages on each thinker describing the foundation of their psychology and what the impact of their thinking has been on Western culture. Hence the title: “The Consequence of Ideas”. To keep this short I will give a brief summary of my most enjoyable points.
Augustine
Described as the “Doctor of Grace”, Augustine has had a massive impact not just in Western Culture but in the Christian world as well. In the midst of skepticism he speaks loudly of God and the necessity for truth. As Sproul puts it: “For him, all truth is God’s truth, and when one encounters truth, one encounters the God whose truth it is.” He also speaks on such topics as creation, the “problem of evil”, and knowledge & faith. Though not spoken of in the book he reminds me of an ancient version of C.S. Lewis.
Karl Marx
Reading about Marx is quite scary. I see in it a form of evil that screams loudly from the pages. Sproul mentions that he “embraced Feuerbach’s idea that man, not God, realizes himself into history”. Tower of Babel is written all over Marx’s ideology. What he really hates is Capitalism and everything it stands for. The idea of private property is a scam and even religion itself is created by the man on top to keep all underneath in subjection. This eventually led to the Communist party in Russia and China and therefore responsible for the death of millions upon millions of people.
Friedrich Nietzsche
In short, scarier than Marx. Nietzsche coined the phrase: “God is dead”. He hated Christianity, he hated God (if you can hate something that doesn’t exist) and he hated what he claimed both did to society. That is, make it weak. He called out what we would call the fruits of the Spirit as weak virtues that go against the very nature and purpose (though later he would say there is no purpose) of man. Rather real virtue is “the will to power”. King of the Hill. Survival of the fittest. There is no time for sympathy, kindness, compassion, patience, etc. That is, unless it helps you get to the top. It’s horrific even writing about his thoughts. He said: “I regard Christianity as the most fatal and seductive lie that has ever yet existed – as the greatest and most impious lie”. To which Dr. Sproul says: “Apparently he thinks honesty is a transcendent virtue that is normative even for the master. But what if honesty conflicts with one’s will to power? Then it too must give way. Even while attacking herd morality [Christianity], Nietzsche retreats behind one of the virtues he is trying to overcome.”
Conclusion
Dr. Sproul has a statement at the end which I believe summarizes a lot of these “big-brains” into one camp: “So much of modern thought is an attempt to escape the one who is inescapable.” That is mainly what I learned from this book. Such smart IQ’s and intellects that spent their whole life in theory and examination of what they can know. Only to end up meeting the “I AM” from Whom flows reason. Reason is a grace from God. Men spend so much time in their heads and fail to recognize (or know intimately) the God who made their heads. I do recommend the read but don’t fall into the trap of trying to inflate intellect for the sake of having a “big-brain”. May it make you fall before the feet of Him who is Holy and worship Him for all you do understand and, if not even more so, the things you don’t understand.