This is part 3 of my look at the Gospel Coalition Foundational Documents. Having finished up my look at the Confessional Statement in part 2, I’m now going to piece my way through the five parts of the Theological Vision for Ministry. I’ll be honest, I think philosophies of ministry are fascinating. Theology is not worth studying if it doesn’t make a difference in your life and ministry.
This post will just look at section 1 entitled, “How should we respond to the cultural crisis of truth?” or The Epistemological Issue. I’ll admit upfront that I haven’t done a whole lot of study into the history of the philosophical understanding of truth. Nevertheless, I found this section to be very interesting. Here are some thoughts:
- A helpful preface. As I said in part 1, one of the additions to the final form of the GC documents was this preface. It is a diagnosis of the current cultural trends in epistemology. It frames current conversations on truth as a dialog between the rationalistic Enlightenment view of truth and the postmodern view of truth. The preface seeks to navigate between the errors of each view. We do not propose that unaided human reason is able to arrive at truth objectively. This is to discount the noetic effects of sin. The other error to avoid is the proposition that truth only exists within and is created by people groups who share a common societal narrative. This is to discount absolute truth. Whether we like it or not, the church must figure out how to present the truth of the Word of God in the midst of this dialog. The preface does a good job of describing the playing field.
- A nod to David Wells? Maybe I’m reading too much into this preface, but it sounds a whole lot like the four works of David Wells analyzing the most recent cultural shift into postmodernity. I noticed that the second to last sentence contained a phrase that is the title of the first book in Wells’s series, No Place for Truth. Is this a cameo appearance?
- TVM-1a: Scripture presents truth that directly corresponds to reality. What the Bible says is true is true. Scripture describes reality most accurately. This is the point at which someone with a degree in philosophy could add a whole lot more.
- TVM-1b: The conveyance of truth in Scripture is presented in multiple genres that must be respected. Truth is propositional. But the complexity and depth of Scripture cannot be presented solely in propositions. Scripture uses various forms (poetry, metaphor, narrative) to present the whole counsel of God. This is a slight discussion of the relationship between systematic theology and other areas of theological study, like biblical theology. Paul Helm has recently written a good article on this distinction. This issue will resurface in more detail under section two of the TVM.
- TVM-1c: Truth, as it is revealed in Scripture, corresponds to a covenantal relationship with God. Christianity is not just head knowledge. It is a relationship to be lived. God reveals his truth in order to create and sustain relationship with his people. Truth is intended to be lived out in relationship with God. It was the incarnate Son of God who called himself “the Truth”.
- What it looks like. This section concludes with a few thoughts on how these principles are lived out. First, they adopt a chastened correspondence-theory of truth. I’m not quite sure what that exactly means but I assume it is a summary of the tension presented in the preface between rationalism and postmodernity. Secondly, the document reasserts that truth is practical and should be lived out in worship and wisdom. Thirdly, that even though our grasp of truth is partial at best, we can still be certain that what the Bible says is indeed true truth.
Those are my thoughts on section one of the TVM. When I have some more time, I’ll take a look at section two on hermeneutics.
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