Logic and Mystery

"Logic is not devised by man, but neither is it created by God, like maple trees and dwarf stars are. Rather, it is an "attribute" of God which is reflected in creation. We need to be careful here, because it is not an attribute of God that is stated directly in Scripture, as His holiness, love, and righteousness are. But it is a characteristic of God that we see assumed everywhere in Scripture. We do not believe that logic is independent of God and over Him, which would mean that the triune God is not the sovereign God of the Bible. But neither do we believe that God could have created a nonsensical world where He was both the creator of it and not the creator of it. This leaves us with the assumption that all things are ultimately defined by God Himself, rather than by "rules." If we want to learn how to reason as faithful Christians, we begin by assuming that all faithful thinking and reasoning is somehow sharing in this characteristic of God. So when we study logic faithfully, we are studying some of the divine reflection in the world around us...

Through a wooden application of these laws, some logicians have gotten to the point where they cannot understand or appreciate poetry, metaphor, sacraments, or marriage. The world is full of "indwelling" and mutual partaking, because this is also what our God is like. In our study of logic, we must always leave room for mystery."

From Introductory Logic by James Nance and Douglas Wilson