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Towards a Reformed Epistemology and Its Educational Significance

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Towards a Reformed Epistemology and Its Educational Significance TOWARDS A REFORMED EPISTEMOLOGY AND ITS EDUCATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE JOHN GROSVENOR SHORTT Ph D Thesis University of London Institute of Education •.. ( LONDIN. ■UNIV. ,/ - 1 - Abstract of Thesis This thesis examines Reformed epistemology as it finds expression in the writings of Abraham Kuyper, Cornelius Van Til and Alvin Plantinga. It seeks to develop three main themes of this kind of approach in order to see whether they constitute an adequate foundation for a coherent account of faith and to examine their significance for educational theory. The themes studied are: belief in God may be properly basic in a rational noetic structure; divine revelation can be self- authenticating; and sin has noetic effects. Discussion of the third of these is focused upon rational autonomy and, in particular, upon the form it takes in the pancritical rationalism of W. W. Bartley. The position developed is a moderate form of foundationalism which seeks to ground belief in God in an immediate awareness of him speaking through the propositions of scripture. It opposes an ideal of theonomous response to divine revelation to that of unlimited rational autonomy. The study of educational issues commences with an examination of the relationship between a Reformed Christian worldview and educational (or other) theory construction and argues for the transformation from within of the areas of knowledge through the introduction into them of Christian presuppositions. In accordance with this strategy for the integration of faith and learning, a study is made of the implications of the Reformed critique of autonomy for educational aims and methods and for discussions of the issue of indoctrination. The final issue dealt with is that of whether or not it is right or necessary to set up separate schools of Reformed Christian and other outlooks in our contemporary pluralist society. The conclusion reached is that there is a place for good Reformed Christian schools but nevertheless the Reformed Christian teacher may, in good conscience, teach in a state school. CONTENTS Introduction 6 Part One: Reformed Epistemology and Its Characteristic Themes 1 Some Examples of Reformed Epistemology 8 1.1 The Reformed Epistemology of Abraham Kuyper 9 1.1.1 The Noetic Effects of Sin 10 1.1.2 'Two Kinds of People and Two Kinds of Science' 12 1.1.3 Revelation in the Scriptures 14 1.2 The Reformed Epistemology of Cornelius Van Til 16 1.2.1 Two Basic Presuppositions 17 1.2.2 Self-Authenticating Revelation 19 1.2.3 The Noetic Effects of Sin 20 1.3 The Reformed Epistemology of Alvin Plantinga 21 1.3.1 Faith, Evidentialism and Classical Foundationalism 23 1.3.2 Faith, Evidentialism and Coherentism 26 1.3.3 The Proper Basicality of Belief in God 28 1.3.4 The Place of Argument and Apologetics 30 1.3.5 Sin and Cognitive Dysfunction 33 2 Belief in God is Properly Basic 36 2.1 Belief in God 37 2.2 Epistemic Justification 38 2.2.1 Normative and Evaluative Justification 39 2.2.2 Internalist and Externalist Justification 42 2.3 Foundationalism 44 2.3.1 The Regress Argument 46 2.4 Intuitionism 51 2.4.1 Immediate Awareness 53 2.4.2 Immediate Awareness of God? 58 2.4.3 Alternative Conceptual Schemes 63 2.4.4 The Epistemological Gap 68 2.5 The Basis of Meta-Justification 70 2.6 Summary 71 3 Revelation is Self-Authenticating 73 3.1 The Concept of Revelation 74 3.2 Revelation and Personal Knowledge 77 3.3 The Possibility of Divine Revelation 82 3.4 The Authentication of Divine Revelation 85 3.4.1 Divine Revelation and Evidence 87 3.4.2 Divine Revelation and Immediate Awareness 90 3.5 Summary 97 4 Sin has Noetic Effects 98 4.1 Autonomy 101 4.2 Three Kinds of Rationalism 103 4.3 Reason and Commitment 109 4.4 Some Problems in Pancritical Rationalism 116 4.4.1 Argument without Justification? 117 4.4.2 Commitment and Metacontexts 118 4.4.3 The Anthropocentricism of Bartley's Account 120 4.4.4 Self-Referential Incoherence in Bartley's Account 122 4.5 Summary and Some Concluding Remarks 123 Part Two: The Educational Significance of Reformed Epistemology 5 WOrldviews and Theory Construction 126 5.1 Complementarity 127 5.2 A Hierarchy of Perspectives? 133 5.3 Presuppositions 137 5.3.1 Approaches to the Integration of Faith and Learning 141 5.3.2 Presuppositionalist Approaches to Education 145 5.4 Some Concluding Remarks 155 6 Aims, Methods and the Critique of Autonomy 156 6.1 Indoctrination and Method 157 6.2 Indoctrination and Content 161 6.3 Indoctrination and Intention 165 6.4 Methods, Content and Basic Beliefs 168 6.5 Commitment, Neutrality and Impartiality 171 6.6 Non-Rational Methods and Basic Beliefs 176 4 7 Christian Education in a Pluralist Society 180 7.1 Christian Attitudes to Other Faiths 181 7.1.1 Is Reformed Epistemology Necessarily Exclusivist? 183 7.1.2 Inclusivism and Reformed Epistemology 188 7.1.3 Pluralist Alternatives 194 7.2 Christian Schools in a Pluralist Society? 196 7.2.1 The Child's Right to an Open Future? 198 7.2.2 Do Christian Schools lead to Social Fragmentation? 201 7.2.3 Does Nurture have a Place in School? 205 7.3 The Christian Teacher in the State School 208 Conclusion 211 Notes 216 Bibliography 240 INTRODUCTION Possibly the single most discussed development in philosophy of religion in the eighties has been the coming to prominence, through its advocacy by several fairly well-known American writers, of what is usually termed 'Reformed Epistemology'. Some have described it as an important new approach to the philosophy of religion but in fact, although in the hands of these writers it has acquired a particular form, it is by no means a completely novel approach and the writers in question associate themselves with a tradition that goes back through several influential philosophers and theologians of the past century or so to John Calvin and other leaders of the sixteenth century Reformation. With a distinctive view of the nature of faith and knowledge there has been associated a particular kind of approach to education. This is well represented in the United States and Canada in movements to set up Reformed Christian schools and a number of the new independent Christian schools coming into existence in increasing numbers in Britain are also Reformed in their basic outlook. This study is an attempt to develop three main themes of Reformed epistemology in order to see whether they constitute an adequate foundation for a coherent account of knowledge and faith and to examine their significance for educational theory. The study begins with a brief look into the writings of some philosophers who have advocated forms of Reformed epistemology and in whose work these themes can be identified. This is followed by more detailed study of each of the three themes in turn. The first of them is that belief in God may be properly basic in a rational structure of knowledge and belief. This is the theme that has received most attention in recent discussions, so much so that it has almost become synonymous for Reformed epistemology, and it will therefore receive fairly extended treatment in this study. However, the other themes, although neglected in recent discussions, would seem no less important and they too will be examined in their turn. They are that divine revelation can be self-authenticating and that sin has noetic effects. Discussion of the second of these will focus upon what is often taken 6 to be a particularly significant aspect of the effects of sin in the area of knowledge - that of rational autonomy. The study of educational issues will commence with an examination of the relationship between a Reformed Christian worldview and educational (or other) theory construction. This issue is related to a further theme of Reformed epistemology - that of what has been termed 'the pluralism of the academy' whereby it is held that a person's worldview shapes the products of his scholarship. Following this, some implications of the Reformed critique of autonomy for educational aims and methods and for discussions of the issue of indoctrination will be examined. This will lead into the final area for discussion: that of the issue of whether or not it is right or necessary to set up separate schools of Reformed Christian and other outlooks in our contemporary pluralist society. 1 SOME EXAMPLES OF REFORMED EPISTEMOLOGY Nicholas Wolterstorff, one of the foremost contemporary advocates of Reformed epistemology, has identified five theses on the nature of faith and of reason, and on the relation between them, which seem to be characteristic of the Reformed tradition.' They are so in the sense that they are usually associated with the Reformed tradition but not in the sense that all who locate themselves in the tradition would accept all five of them or that only those in the tradition would accept any of them. First, Wolterstorff says that it has characteristically been maintained within the Reformed tradition that one can be rationally justified in believing in God without doing so on the basis of any reasons or evidence. Belief in God can be justified immediately rather than mediately through reasons or evidence. It can itself form the basis for mediate justification and so is 'properly basic' to a rational structure of knowledge and beliefs. Secondly, according to Wolterstorff, it has characteristically been maintained that belief that the Christian Scriptures are revealed by God can also be justified immediately rather than on the basis of argument from reasons or evidence.
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