As you can probably tell from the title of this post, this will be a more theological and philosophical series. Don’t worry though, I will be writing other post’s that are less “philosophical” as I work through this more academic issue. For those who are interested, I will try my best to make these next few posts as understandable as possible. But to be honest the issue of “knowing” in a truly Christian framework is an issue I’m still trying to get my mind around. So I will do my best to be coherent.
To many the thought of even questioning how we know things is a silly pursuit that only strange philosopher types, that have lost touch with reality a few PHD’s ago, would wrestle with. To some degree I would agree. But on a practical level this idea of how we know things goes to the core of one of our highest pursuits as Christians, the pursuit of the knowledge of God. So bare with me as I stumble through such an abstract and complicated issue.
Before I begin I want to lay out an outline of what I hope to cover.
- What is epistemology? How can we know?
- Our cultural epistemology: A historical look at our knowledge of how we know.
- The epistemological war: The battle between those who are certain we can know and those who know we can’t be certain.
- A new epistemology found in Christ that can get us out of our current mess.
So what then is epistemology? In simplest terms, epistemology is a philosophical category dealing with the question “how does one come to know truth?” Epistemology is the study of how we know things.
How we know is usually something we assume and rarely question. When I put my hand on a hot stove I don’t think to myself “this stove appears to be hot, but how can I be certain that it is actually hot, maybe it only appears to be hot, I mean possibly my senses are not in right order so my mind could be tricked into thinking it is hot when in reality it is cold, well it appears that this burning sensation I feel can not give me epistemological certainty, oh well this is quite the epistemological dilemma.” Of course not! When I put my hand on a hot stove I scream out “owwwwww this stove is hot” with quite a bit of certainty. This is a bit of an exaggerated example, but the point is most of us never really question how we know things. Well most of us never question how we know things as adults, but little kids sure do. Have you ever been around a toddler who is just beginning to understand concepts. That little child is just full of deep epistemological questions. Well the child may not see it that way, in his mind he is just curious, and in our mind he is just being annoying. You have probably experienced a small child’s deep epistemological prodding. You are doing your thing, working in the yard, then a young philosopher comes up to you and asks a seemingly simple question. “Hey why do you (fill in the blank)?” You respond with a very clear and concise answer, then continue with your work assuming the child’s question has been answered. Then the once simple question becomes quite complex with a little added question, “well, why?’ You try to give an explanation of why to only receive another response of “why” from that child. This then goes on till you don’t know the “why” behind your previous answer so you respond by saying “just because.” Often we as adults see the child as being annoying, but in reality the child is trying to figure out what we take for granted. The child wants to know “how we know” what we just told them. In technical terms the child is trying to figure out our epistemology. The sad thing is that most children eventually “grow” out of this curiosity. By the time they get to high school they have been trained to not care about “how” the teacher knows what they are telling them and are instead trained to just worry about “what” is being taught so they can pass the upcoming test.
So what is the point? Well the point that I’m trying to make is that academic philosophers are childish! OK not really, but in some ways I wonder if when the bible tells us that we are to come to Christ like little children, it is saying more than we have previously assumed. Maybe we need to stop and look at our epistemological assumptions. Then go to Christ as children, asking “why” seeking to learn from our messiah not just “what” is true, but “how” we can know this truth. Maybe we have just assumed our culture’s epistemology, missing the fact that God wants to transform not only “what” we know but also “how” we know. Maybe I have spent to much time sitting on a mower thinking about this stuff and need to “grow” up and stop asking such silly questions. Well, maybe, but how do we know that such questions are silly?
The reality is we all have an epistemological frame work in which we reason, live, and ultimately try to find “truth’. This is not a bad thing, it is a necessity to function in reality. The problem comes when we begin to realize that this frame work is not shared by all peoples and cultures. So we are left with the question “how do I know that my frame work of knowing is true?” This is where epistemology becomes very tricky because we must function within a framework of knowing while we try to question that which we are using to ask the question in the first place. It would be like a person who is uncertain if the computer program is working properly and the only way he can check the program is by using that same program that he thinks may not be working right. This dilemma is what has caused many to become epistemological agnostics, or in common terms someone who believes that we can never to know truth with any certainty. Others seem to ignore the problem claiming that it is all foolish philosophy and continue approaching the scriptures and life within their current framework assuming that they have it right. I tend to take a middle ground, I don’t think we can just assume our current modern western epistemology is true but I also believe that their is a creator God who has revealed Himself and makes us capable of knowing His Truth with certainty. This understanding is what has caused me to wonder if indeed God is not only teaching us what is true but also through His Spirit is transforming our minds in a manner that changes our framework of how we know truth.
Till the next post, I will just say, go to your heavenly Daddy to not only know Truth but also allow that Truth begin to transform your mind.
