Toward A Christian Worldview - Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed

Chapter 2: Christianity and the Basic Elements of Philosophy
know anything at all? If we cannot talk intelligently about God,
can we talk intelligently about morality, about our own ideas,
about art, politics – can we even talk about science? How can
we know anything? The answer to this question, technically
called the theory of epistemology, controls all subject matter
claiming to be intelligible or cognitive.
In the history of philosophy, there have been three major non-
Christian theories of knowledge: (pure) rationalism, empiricism, and
irrationalism.
FIRST, pure rationalism avers that reason, apart from revelation
or sensory experience, provides the primary, or the only, source of
truth. The senses are untrustworthy, and our apriori knowledge (the
knowledge we have before any observation or experience) must be
applied to our experience in order for our experience to be made intelligible.
In a Biblical epistemology (which may be called Christian rationalism,
or Scripturalism), knowledge comes through reason, as one
studies the revealed propositions of Scripture. In pure rationalism, on
the other hand, knowledge comes from reason alone. Unaided human
reason becomes the ultimate standard by which all beliefs are judged.
Even revelation must be judged by reason. One false assumption
made here by the rationalist is that man, apart from revelation, is capable
of coming to a true knowledge of at least some things, including
the knowledge of God.
There are several errors fundamental to the rationalist system of
thought. First, fallen men can and do err in their reasoning. The possibility
of formal errors in logic is one example. Second, there is the
issue of a starting point. Where does one start in pure rationalism?
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