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Vol. 39, No. 5 May 2008
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with
the study of the nature and grounds of knowledge, especially
with reference to its limits and validity. For many evangelical
believers, epistemology is about knowing God and His revealed
word. However, the typical epistemological text discusses
many fascinating topics, including the distinction between
knowledge and beliefs, propositional vs. experiential truth,
intellect and intuition, transcendence and immanence,
cosmology, the relationship of faith and reason, and, in some
cases, analogical truth, Socratic logic, and critical thinking.
Among the classic books on epistemology are E. L.
Mascall’s He Who Is: A Study of Traditional Theism (Archon
Books, 1943, 1970) and Emile Cailliet’s The Beginning of
Wisdom (Revell, 1947), who like Mascall, frequently refers to
Blaise Pascal. In the late 1940s, Cailliet was professor of
Christian philosophy at Princeton Theological Seminary, and a
recognized authority on Pascal. Today, the popular equivalent
of these books might be something like Kent Philpott’s Are You
Being Duped? (Evangelical Press, 2004), or Mark Mittelberg’s
Choosing Your Faith In a World of Spiritual Options (Tyndale/
Willow Creek, 2008).
Until recently, relatively few local churches dealt at all
with the philosophy of knowing God, or the increasing
popularity of atheism, other religions, and spiritual groups/
cults, topics all related to epistemology. Those that do often
explore these ideas in the context of a study for youth and
young adults focusing on worldviews. The fact that such
studies are increasing is a sign of the times in which we live.
Several months ago, in both Christian and non-Christian
media, there was much discussion about the first movie in
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. The fact is, the
number of atheists in America is increasing. Further, they are
writing more influential books about their beliefs, often going
out of their way to label Christians as “deranged followers.”
Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) is
only one among many such popular books, endorsed by such
people as J. Craig Venter (decoder of the human genome),
Penn and Teller, Steven Pinker (a professor at Harvard
University), and Home Box Office’s Bill Maher. Three similar
books that have been equally popular are God Is Not Great:
How Religion Poisons Everything (Hachette Book Group, 2007)
by Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris’ The End of Faith:
Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (W.W. Norton &
Co., 2004), and Harris’ more recent Letter to a Christian
Nation (Knopf, 2006).
Evangelical Christians often point out that we do not seek
so much to know about God, but to know God directly. This
“knowledge” is not achieved scientifically, as we would test and
learn about an unknown species of fish in a marine laboratory,
because knowing God lies not in the sphere of physical things,
but spiritual. Even so, when we seek to know someone or
something, we want to know the reality, the truth. But, how
do we come to know God who is spirit? We do so through His
revelation of Himself as recorded in Scripture, and especially
in Jesus, who claimed and gave evidence He was God
incarnate, the second person of the Holy Trinity. This basic
teaching separates Christianity from the God of Islam (Allah),
as well as the God of Judaism, even though both Islam and
Judaism are monotheistic.
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