Brian Dainsberg
  • Blog
  • Sermons
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Sermons
  • About
  • Contact

Epistemology 101: Pursuing Intellectual Virtuousness

7/22/2020

Comments

 
Picture

Experience is the best teacher. No doubt you’ve heard that one before. There are many things one can learn as they are encountered in life. What should I do if my vehicle breaks down in the middle of nowhere? How does one go about buying and maintaining a house? What do I do if I mess up my tax return? Living within a community of people tends to create a type of “crowdsourcing” dynamic wherein each individual learns from the collective life-experience of the group. This is good and healthy. 

These are matters of “epistemology.” Epistemology is the theory of knowledge; or, how do we discover truth? For the Christian, this is an important area of consideration because God is very concerned with intellectual virtuousness. This is why he gave us the Scriptures!

Emerging within our 21st century American culture is an epistemological approach that spins life-experience in a slightly different way. At the center of it is the belief that certain cultural groups have special access to truth while others are blinded to truth by virtue of the group they’re a part of. What accounts for the difference is lived experience. 

There are grains of truth in this idea. It is wise to be aware we all have cultural blindspots and translate that awareness into listening to the life experiences of others. As Christians, a general rule of thumb is: listen more, talk less (James 1:19).

However, lived experience should never rise to the level of unchallengeable insight. This undermines Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone). The truths we glean through life experience ought always be placed under the microscope of God’s Word. Our authority to speak about the plethora of topics that arise throughout a lifetime ultimately comes from God’s Word, not our experiences. 

One of the encouraging outcomes of this is that no one individual or one group has special access to truth (To say some particular group of people has special access to truth is another form of ethnocentrism). If Scripture is the final arbiter of truth, then truth is accessible to all people regardless of their demographics (Ps. 119:130, 160; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Cor. 2:12-14; Heb. 8:10-12).
​

Comments
comments powered by Disqus
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
     

    Categories

    All
    Sermons


    ​Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Tweets by @BrianDainsberg

    RSS Feed

© 2020 Brian Dainsberg | All Rights Reserved | Website by Graf Technology