From Marxism to Christian Philosophy: A Testimony of God Who Calls Dr. Tedla G. Woldeyohannes, Ph.D. (TRP Episode 84)
For a time in his Ethiopian youth, Dr. Tedla G. Woldeyohannes, Ph.D., of Huntington University in Indiana, was a Marxist.
But gradually he was called out of that materialistic metaphysics , and out of scientism, into Biblical, historic orthodox Christian belief, and into classically rigorous Philosophy, the search for truth and love of wisdom.
Dr. Woldeyohannes has written a fascinating book in English (one of his 3 languages) just published called “A Philosopher’s Testimony About the God Who Calls,” which is worth every dollar and available for purchase here: https://www.amazon.com/Philosophers-Testimony-About-God-Calls/dp/B0B5KVD4K5/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=a+philosophers+testimony&qid=1661750890&sr=8-1
The book is clearly and beautifully (and at times humorously) written. It describes that inner journey that led him into contact with the rock stars (for lack of a better term) of Anglo/American analytic Philosophy. If Alvin Plantinga, William P. Alston, & William Hasker were Bruce Springsteen, Bono, and Cher, Tedla was receiving signed copies of Born in the USA, Under A Blood Red Sky, and that one song from Groundhog Day, plus money, from these stars *while he lived in Ethiopia !*
Why did he receive these items ? Because he asked. He found their addresses, wrote letters, and asked for copies of books and articles unavailable to him otherwise.
It seems God was and is at work in Tedla’s life.
Tedla joins us from Bill Hasker’s old office there at Huntington University, which illustrates, perhaps even proves, the point.
Through dire poverty, through traumatic family challenges, including the death of his brother (his roommate at the time), through tumultuous economies and politics, through international visa bureaucratic BS challenges and hangups, through enrollments and missed assignments because he had , as Aristophanes said of Socrates, he had his head in the clouds, through failure, delay, and even family death, God called Tedla to study Philosophy, no matter what. God called Tedla, (Dr. Tedla, now) to a life of singular focus on a Christian search for truth.
This is a radical story. It’s gripping.
HIs outer journey accompanies and is as dramatic as his inner journey, taking him from Africa to Lost Angeles County, California to study Anglo-American Analytic Philosophy from a Christian perspective at Biola University, then to Colorado to teach Philosophy for a time (where, as it turns out, the same school that my own parents met, in my hometown), then to Western Michigan to continue his skills in a purely secular Philosophy graduate program, and finally to a Ph.D. in Anglo/American Analytic Philosophy at a Jesuit school under the famous Medieval Scholar and Philosopher of Religion Eleanore Stump and the famous Epistemologist John Greco at Saint Louis University.
Through it all he was financially supported by Bill Alston and Bill Hasker, among some others, like for instance the philosophy celebrity equivalent of perhaps Johnny Cash, Dr. Peter van Inwagen, a famous Philosopher at the University of Notre Dame, who doesn’t even think that money is real (see the 1 hour mark for detail of the metaphysics of ordinary palpable objects).
There are so many moving parts to this story, to this intellectual development, but final detail: Recall, Tedla was not a native English speaker. He had to work for it, and work hard. His first purchases were: a radio, and a good English dictionary. Both for the purposes of mastering English. It has paid off.
The Republican Professor is a pro-mastering-English, pro-Philosophy-done-well, pro-compelling-life-story, pro-turning-from-Marxism, pro-Testimony-of-the-God-Who-Calls podcast.
Therefore, welcome Dr. Tedla G. Woldeyohannes, Ph.D., sitting in Bill Haskers’ office at Huntington (I can’t believe it)
The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.
TRP is currently ranked last in the world in the category of boring podcasts.
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